How the Cubs fans in here doing? Hurt? Numb? Excited about the future?
People can say all they want that
"Well they were a year or two ahead of schedule- we'll be right back next year" but lets be honest- its the Cubs and nobody really knows what may happen. They were arguably the hottest team in baseball going into the post season and just completely hit a wall. I'd say the feeling is more of deflated, rather than hurt. And excited about the future- but obviously reserving any extreme optimism because its the Cubs and they still play in the same division as StL and Pitt who will be good teams again, and the Reds should be better next year too.
But they have done much better drafting and developing players and using cash to fill holes (No UL pun, lol). As good as they were in spurts offensively, the young guys still need to become better and more consistent hitters... and defensively they were pretty awful. The Mets and Terry Collins have done everything right going back to the trade deadline and the end of the regular season. Resting guys, shutting down pitchers, etc...they will be a tough out in the WS.
My dad was like a small child in chicago. We've been to Wrigley for around 40 or so games that we could remember, and he's spent the last two spring trainings in Arizona watching them, so it was cool to cross a post season game off of our list. We hit Murphy's, Cubby Bear, and 2-3 other bars in the area pre-game. Spent some time on Waveland watching 100 or so people catching BP home run balls (ranging from little kids to grown ass men in full replica uniform with eye black)- and were in the stadium long before the first pitch just to take it in as much as we can. He was a lot more torn up about the series than I was... Kept trying to come up with scenarios that they could "get back in it"... knowing he was delusional.
Insult to injury was walking to the train in a downpour right after the game. Actually had to call 911 for the first time ever when we were on the train platform- saw a car skid on the interstate, go off the road and flip over 2-3 times before hitting an embankment. Everyone just stared in awe for a second waiting to see if anyone emerged from the car. Called 911, and as they showed up on scene in under a minute, saw someone kicking out the remains of a windshield and crawl out. Not sure if anyone else was in the car but it was scary.