Like football, one of the great things about baseball is that even when the camera spotlights a single individual as hero or goat, every outcome is still usually earned as a team. For the Cubs, that was pretty much the case in each game against the Rangers. One team win, two team losses.
The offense did its job Sunday, but Cubs pitching and some of the defense represented the difference in handing the rebuilding Rangers the opening series. In some ways, it was a reminder of how the Cubs’ sputtering offense last year helped lose two games in the opening series to the lowly Marlins (who actually proved not so lowly by finishing two wins short of .