There’s been a palpable difference from the Cubs teams we’ve seen over the last couple seasons and those that burst on the scene in 2015 and then took the league by storm the following season. And as much as their World Series title exorcised legions of demons, the previous season probably offered the most unadulterated fun of any in recent memory. Those young Cubs didn’t know what they didn’t know as they eschewed old-school decorum for playground pleasure and never seemed to let the pressure get to them.
But there’s a sense that finally pushing that boulder over the top of the mountain left them tuckered out and needing to sleep, like a hybrid of Sisyphus and Rip Van Winkle.