Late Loss, Justin Steele Scratch Obliterate Optimism Immediately

The Cubs lost twice on Monday night, first to the Pirates and then when it was announced that Justin Steele was being scratched from Tuesday’s start due to elbow soreness. Making matters worse, at least in terms of perception, Kyle Hendricks is taking the turn coming off one of the worst outings of his career. That might have been a good thing a few years ago because it would indicate The Professor was due for a gem. Now, not so much.

With a 3-0 lead through seven innings, the Cubs were on the verge of pushing their win streak to seven and moving to within 2.5 games of the Braves in the Wild Card. Roughly 20 minutes later, they had given up five unanswered runs and faced much longer odds. Not that a 6.9% postseason probability was something to crow about, but it’s better than the 3.9% as of this afternoon.

Then came the news on Steele, which immediately conjured worst-case-scenario thoughts of the lefty missing the rest of the month and possibly much longer. And for good reason, as you don’t typically associate elbow soreness with a quick recovery. But hey, maybe the Cubs are just being super cautious here and it’s just a matter of Steele hitting his funny bone on his locker or something.

Outside of a booted double-play ball or a game-tying homer, I can’t remember a time when optimism evaporated so quickly. Besides, it’s different when you’re talking about an individual game and a possible turning point — I agree, Patrick — for an entire season. Although I suppose in the cases noted, the game and season were one in the same.

Monday night was like the point at which Sisyphus, having toiled in vain for weeks, got his boulder moving again only to slip and watch it tumble back down the mountain. This didn’t feel like a gut punch, though, just as the disgraced king of Ephyra wasn’t blindsided by yet another failure. His neverending punishment was both well-earned and quite repetitive, so it was really just a matter of the when and how rather than the what.

This imperfect Cubs roster is a microwave burrito that was hot early and late while remaining frozen in the middle. You can’t throw a rock without hitting at least three people who will happily tell you they knew during spring training the Cubs had no shot at playing in October. Of course, the Cubs do still have a shot even if recent developments make that less likely.

It’s just wild that almost everyone had written them off by mid-August before a hot streak had many feeling downright giddy for the first time in years. Then, poof, the air was let out of the balloon. Not with a pop, but a fart noise that would have been funny if it wasn’t so disappointing. This isn’t about blame or explanations or anything, just an observation that Monday night was…I guess weird is the only way I can put it.

Now I guess they need to get really hot again for at least a week so we can all laugh about this later.

Update: Steele told reporters his MRI revealed no structural damage and that he expects to pitch again this season once the inflammation goes down.