This Cubs season reminds me of a sequel to a superhero origin film. All these blockbuster movies follow the same narrative, but the first story after the origin sometimes uses a plot contrivance that I hate, the hero loses his powers. In Superman II (the Christopher Reeve series), Superman goes through a process so he can be human. In the second Tobey McGuire Spiderman movie, Peter Parker loses his power due to anxiety! In the second season of the Flash, Barry Allen gives up his powers to save someone. Even in Star Trek Into Darkness, Kirk loses his command.
(They really went overboard with this in the third season of Heroes, but only because the second season was cut short by a writer’s strike.)
Then, somehow, the heroes regains the power and really kicks butt.
The Cubs go into 2017 looking like a super team. They sailed through the origin movie, vanquishing opponents until they came across a worthy foe, the Cleveland Indians. All seemed lost, but the Cubs rose up and in a seemingly impossible feat, defeated the foe and won the World Series. Who could stop them? They were still young but more mature. They would have their secret weapon, Kyle Schwarber, for the whole season.
But they faltered. Some teams in their division got better. Some players didn’t perform up to their 2016 levels. The pitching got a little old. After games on July 15th, they found themselves in second place, 5 1/2 games out of first, with a 45-45 record.
Then they started to play well. In a few days they were back in first place, but couldn’t put their foes away. Then suddenly, when it looked like their foes were ready to pounce, they reel off five straight wins where they outscore their opponents 51-17. Their super power appear restored, and they are saving the day. Now we’ll see if they can emerge victorious once again.
from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2xIUXxp
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