Maybe it is the 60 game schedule. Maybe it is no fans in the stands. Or maybe, it is his long hair. Either way, Yu Darvish is finally pitching in a similar fashion to his first three years with the Texas Rangers, rewarding the Chicago Cubs, who have continued to hand him the ball, even without great results, for much of the last three years.
On Thursday night as the starter, Darvish carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning against Milwaukee, dominating the Brewers' offense. He struck out an impressive 11 batters, and allowed a mere one hit, a homer to Justin Smoak. That lowered his season ERA to a 3.88.
Credit goes to the defense, though, in big ways, for helping Darvish through those seven innings of no-hit baseball. Manager David Ross is a proponent of the shift, which has its positives and negatives. For one, it has taken away a lot of would-be base hits. However, as we saw in the bottom of the ninth last night, it has one major flaw. With the infielders set up so far from the bases, runners are free to advance one base with virtually no opposition. Avisail Garcia found his way to first with two outs in the ninth last night, and proceeded to steal second, then third, even before Cubs' pitcher Adam Wilk had begun his throwing motion. That is because, Wilk had nobody to throw to. Third base, in fact, the entire left side of the infield was nearly unguarded. Garcia came around to score on a double by Smoak that same at-bat, making the game a bit interesting before the Cubs finished it off.
As the Cubs continue with the league's best record, I have been convinced on two things this season. For one, I was always against teams giving former players with zero managerial experience a job right away in the big leagues. However, Ross has more than proven himself, guiding the Cubs to a 13-3 record heading into Friday's showdown against Milwaukee. With the best record in the league, it is obvious the team rallies around him. After all, for guys like Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant, he was their teammate not too long ago. He can relate to the players in some ways better than a 60 or 70 year-old manager. In addition, while I'm not sold on the shift, it has been proven to work. It helps that the Cubs have great speed in the infield. Late in yesterday's game, David Bote, playing third base but standing near the shortstop's position on the shift, raced over on a groundball hit by Christian Yelich near third base, swiftly backhanded it, and fired it to Rizzo for the out. With this kind of hustle, we should expect to see the Cubs in the Fall Classic this year. If any team in recent years has reminded me of the 2016 World Series squad, it is this one. Not strictly because of the winning, but because it is a team built on young talent, guys like Nico Hoerner and Ian Happ, who aren't yet stars outside of Chicago, but have the makings of blossoming into all-star caliber players very soon. These guys, along with veterans like Rizzo, Jason Heyward and Bryant, combine to form a ballclub that is younger, yet experienced, and is ready to take the NL Central by storm.
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