Injury, inconsistency, idiocy. All can stand in the way of a team’s success, whether in terms of fruition or continuation. We can pretty assuredly rule out the latter of those factors when it comes to the Cubs, but the former pair can still sink their poisoned fangs into the team. And since getting hurt is a matter of random consequence, we’re left with only the troublemaker in the middle.
Flagging performance can stem from manifold physical influences, to be sure, but I’m more concerned for the time being with the mental side. What goes on between the ears can have a serious impact on what happens between the lines, and to think otherwise is to deny the humanity of the game and reduce its practitioners to mindless automatons.