Well, that escalated quickly.
The Cubs tried as hard as they could in the last four days to erase the effects of their scorching hot start, but David Bote steered his club away from the iceberg of what would have been five straight losses to the teams immediately trailing them in the division. It’s a race again to be sure, but it’s hard to overstate the value of not getting swept in Monday’s doubleheader.
The team performance? While it’s been unambiguously maddening, it’s not as bad as it could have been thanks to some middle late-inning heroics on Monday evening.