CHICAGO — The Chicago Cubs will never know if Justin Verlander could have transformed their 2016 World Series core into a dynasty. That situation was so complicated after the end of a 108-year championship drought. Verlander’s renewed success with the Houston Astros might not have been easily replicated. Winning is always hard.
It still might not be too late to merge the end of Verlander’s Hall of Fame career with the beginning of the next glorious run at Wrigley Field. That idea would be both going back in time and getting too far ahead of ourselves. But Verlander standing in the middle of the Friendly Confines on Thursday afternoon made you think about the possibility.
These two franchises now appear to be heading in opposite directions. The Cubs are ascendant again while the Astros are in freefall.
Yes, it’s still early. There have been so many injuries that the Cubs don’t know exactly what they will need three months from now or who will be available at the trade deadline. There is still time for the 7-19 Astros to get their pitching staff healthy and watch their offense explode. These moments, however, are always years in the making.
In sweeping the Astros out of Wrigleyville with Thursday’s 3-1 victory, the Cubs notched another impressive series win. The Cubs have already won series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, last year’s National League pennant winners, as well as a Los Angeles Dodgers club that will consider this season a failure if it doesn’t end in a World Series parade.
The Cubs have a 16-9 record while Kyle Hendricks has a 12.00 ERA and Justin Steele has a simulated game scheduled for Friday in Arizona. Seiya Suzuki and Cody Bellinger are also on the injured list, diminishing a lineup that still forced Verlander to throw 95 pitches in less than five innings.
“This is how it works,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “There’s going to be that stuff thrown at you. It doesn’t have to all go right. You just have to show up the next day and play a good baseball game, no matter what’s going on.”
Counsell is a beneficiary of the changes the Cubs have made in recent seasons. That progress was illustrated throughout Thursday’s win, from homegrown starting pitcher Javier Assad lowering his ERA to 2.00 to talented swingman Hayden Wesneski buzzing through his assigned part of the Astros lineup. Héctor Neris, the de facto closer since Adbert Alzolay lost his job, worked around two walks in the ninth inning to record his third save in six days.
The game-changing swing came from Pete Crow-Armstrong, the top prospect who started his major-league career on an 0-for-16 skid, going back to his September call-up last year and extending through his two strikeouts against Verlander. In the sixth inning, Crow-Armstrong launched a 95 mph fastball from Astros reliever Bryan Abreu out toward the right-field bleachers for a two-run homer. This was a bonus as Counsell stressed to Crow-Armstrong that the Cubs simply needed his speed and defense in center field during Bellinger’s absence.
Pete Crow-Armstrong’s first Major League hit is a homer! pic.twitter.com/oLy9RM7yIs
— MLB (@MLB) April 25, 2024
“You’re in the wrong place if you’re not trying to win,” Crow-Armstrong said. “Getting to come into a situation like this is pretty cool. Not many people get to do that coming up. If anything, the way I see it now is it just takes pressure off of me, knowing that I’m here because I will be impacting (the team).”
Don’t try to do too much. The Cubs expect Crow-Armstrong to be a role player for certain matchups and late-game situations, not an MVP who has to replace Bellinger’s production. It’s like that for a lot of young players now that the Cubs have amassed so much depth and so many interchangeable pieces. That’s why there’s so much confidence inside the clubhouse.
“It’s just next man up,” Hendricks said. “Craig does such a good job of starting this process early in spring. It’s been known we’re going to be using a ton of guys. It’s a long season. We’re using a lot more early than we would have wanted to, obviously, but this is just what’s going on right now. Those younger guys are so prepared. They’ve put in so much work. They’ve known from the start that they were going to contribute at some point.”
The Cubs seriously explored a trade for Verlander at the 2017 waiver deadline, when the Astros jumped in and made a blockbuster deal with the Detroit Tigers. That summer, the Cubs had already depleted their farm system in the Jose Quintana trade with the Chicago White Sox. There were concerns about Verlander’s declining performance as well as some hesitation to the concept of taking the financial flexibility from Quintana’s club-friendly contract and immediately using it on an aging pitcher.
Verlander, 41, began this season on the injured list with right shoulder inflammation. In his second start, he showed flashes of that greatness, wriggling out of four walks by getting seven strikeouts in 4 1/3 scoreless innings against a Cubs lineup that has consistently demonstrated patience and discipline.
The Cubs are playing like a team that will deserve a pitcher such as Verlander at the trade deadline. It doesn’t at all feel like this team is overperforming. In fact, the defense hasn’t been very good and the rotation hasn’t been covering enough innings. Eventually, the schedule will get easier, and it will get warmer at Wrigley Field and louder with bigger crowds.
“It’s very energizing when you have production from so many different places,” Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner said. “Unfortunately, that’s been because of some injuries, but it’s going to be huge for this group moving forward. There’s always going to be more challenges and more unique situations. We’ve handled each twist and turn really admirably so far.”
(Photo of Justin Verlander: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
