DENVER — There are solely so many possibilities to win. Ian Happ’s profession thus far has been bracketed by the legendary group from the 2016 World Sequence crew that endlessly raised the expectations for the Chicago Cubs to, if it’s not but “Wait Till Subsequent Yr,” it’s getting very, very shut.
Happ debuted with the defending champs in 2017 and capitalized on constant taking part in time after the sell-off on the 2021 commerce deadline. He signed a three-year, $61 million contract extension shortly after Opening Day 2023, pushing for a no-trade clause as a result of he prioritized profitable in Chicago.
To make the playoffs because the Nationwide League’s final wild card, the Cubs (75-72) might need to return near operating the desk. They definitely can’t afford many extra losses of their last 15 video games. To place this stretch run in perspective, The Athletic caught up with Happ earlier than Friday night time’s 9-5 loss to the Colorado Rockies at Coors Subject.
Why this season didn’t go completely sideways
There are not any parades down Michigan Avenue for attempting laborious. The expectations ought to be a lot greater than not being mathematically eradicated from the playoffs in the midst of September. This crew additionally wakened with a document that was 9 video games beneath .500 on the Fourth of July. Digging out from that confirmed a number of the entrance workplace’s problem-solving abilities, Craig Counsell’s administration fashion and the clubhouse’s professionalism.
“The fellows within the room have expertise,” Happ stated. “It’s having seen it performed a whole lot of other ways and understanding that it’s a 162-game season. There’s a whole lot of guys which have posted and performed lengthy sufficient to know that it’s not all the time linear. All people’s going to exit and provides their greatest effort, no matter what’s occurred within the final week, month or 5 months.
“The aim remains to be to exit and win division titles and run away with it. However when the yr shapes up the way in which it did for the primary few months, you perceive that once you’re in Recreation 100, there’s nonetheless two months of baseball and loads can occur.”
Nonetheless ready on the Subsequent Nice Cubs Workforce
Anthony Rizzo and Javier Báez completely deserved their standing ovations, however they not too long ago returned to Wrigley Subject as diminished gamers. Kris Bryant has spent most of his three seasons with the Rockies on the injured checklist. It’s a younger man’s recreation, as Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer would say. The window definitely hasn’t closed, but it surely’s narrowing for Happ, who turned 30 final month and is now mainly a 4-WAR participant on a crew with a 4 p.c probability of taking part in in October.
“I imagine in what our entrance workplace is doing,” Happ stated. “I imagine within the guys within the room, the blokes who’re going to be right here for the subsequent two years after this. I imagine within the younger expertise that’s come up. I imagine in what we’ve put collectively. We had a month and a half, two months of dangerous efficiency as a gaggle this yr that has put us within the place the place we’re (six) video games out and searching up at it. It’s not for a scarcity of effort. I feel you’ve seen what the group is able to within the final two months. We’ll see the place it finally ends up. However I’ve a whole lot of perception within the route of the group.”
Wrigley Subject is taking part in completely different this yr
The Cubs will put up numbers this weekend as a result of they’re taking part in at Coors Subject, however the season-long pattern has proven an offense that produces at a a lot greater price on the street. With Happ’s 1,799 profession plate appearances on the Pleasant Confines, two Gold Gloves as a left fielder and an analytical method to his recreation, nobody on the roster has a greater perspective on the present hitting situations in Wrigleyville.
“Yearly, the wind dynamics are completely different. Sadly, generally you’re out of city for those which might be blowing out, and also you’re on the town for those which might be blowing in. That’s what it’s felt like all yr,” he stated. “The ballpark metrics have it because the second-worst homer park within the league and the second-worst doubles park within the league.
“The one factor about Wrigley, when the wind’s blowing in, is it’s a small outfield. There’s not a whole lot of floor space. So when outfielders can’t get beat over their heads, and so they’re taking part in just a little bit shallow, there’s nowhere to hit doubles. Doubles dangle up, they get caught. The gaps get actually, actually small. The one place for slug is down the road.
“Mentally, that’s a difficult place to be the place one of the best ball you possibly can hit is an out. You hit your excellent swing — and get it off and hit what can be a house run in each different park — and it’s an out at Wrigley Subject. We simply performed the Yankees. Fifteen at-bats in a weekend and the ball’s coming again at you for all 15. That was a three-game sequence with the Yankees not hitting any dwelling runs with these guys in that group.
“We’ve had good years and dangerous years. I feel ’22 was fairly common or perhaps a below-average yr. The ’21 summer season was nice, ’17 was nice and ’19 was nice. You see a few of these years because the wind switches and adjustments. Sadly, it’s simply been a extremely difficult yr, and the ballpark issue backs that up.”
A recreation of failure
Although Happ has evened out a number of the highs and lows that after marked him as a streaky hitter, it’s inconceivable to keep away from slumps. His indifferent view and unemotional assessments are reflective of recent baseball and this Cubs crew. It really works for him. In every of his eight seasons within the majors, he’s produced double-digit dwelling runs and an OPS+ above 100.
“It’s fixed, fixed failure,” Happ stated. “If you’re in these powerful stretches, it’s understanding that the numbers are going to return again to you in some unspecified time in the future. It was only a few weeks in the past that I had a career-low BABIP — it was .270 on batted balls in play. The luck of that — to have hit that many balls laborious and that many balls within the air as constantly as I’ve for the final 4 months — (means) not getting a whole lot of assist from the baseball gods.
“Then I had a stretch the place that reverted again. I’ve struck out greater than I wished to this yr, however I’ve nonetheless walked and hit for energy. There’s a whole lot of issues which have been good. It’s persevering with to make use of previous experiences to know that it’s a course of. That’s one of the simplest ways to get by way of the powerful stretches.”
(Photograph: Nuccio DiNuzzo / Getty Photos)
