This is What John Lackey is Here For
There has been some worry going around Chicago Cubs fans, which isn’t warranted in the slightest. The Cubs have had the best team in the Major’s all season. They had the best hitting. They owned the best pitching. They fielded the ball better than anyone. They were managed better than any other team in the league. Now part two of the four step process in 2016 will fall tonight in San Francisco.
It seems that anytime the Cubs face adversity there is a certain faction of Cubs fans that think the sky is falling, and I get it, I really do. From the 108 year championship drought, to the odd occurrences when the team has a quality product. They have all too often just fizzled out when the money is on the line.
The hardest thing for Cubs fans to do is actually separate this 2016 Cubs team from the 140 Cubs teams that preceded it. This is especially hard as the last 108 teams that have gone championship free.
Fans have to learn to even separate the ’16 team from the 2015 team. There are several major differences between this team and last season’s. Then there is the maturity and growth from another several key players, namely Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, Kyle Hendricks, and Javy Baez.
One of the largest differences in the roster is the Game 4 starter, John Lackey.
John Lackey didn’t come here for a haircut, not in the least. He came to win a World Series. While I have read way too many status updates by Cubs fans saying they are scared of Lackey throwing tonight, he packs the resume that can get the Cubs over that hump.
His resume is a lot more polished than fellow Cubs hurlers, Kyle Hendricks and Jake Arrieta, and is very comparable to teammate, Jon Lester in the postseason. In 10 Division Series matchups, Lackey has a 4-2 record with a 2.89 ERA in the American League and a 2.60 ERA in the National League. Overall Lackey has a 3.11 postseason ERA in 20 postseason starts.
If you want to look even further, Matt Moore, the Giants starter in Game 4 has four postseason appearances, giving up 9 runs in 16 1/3 innings pitched. In 2013, against the Boston Red Sox, Moore gave up an average of 12.1 hits per nine innings while walking four more batters. As long as his recent postseason play continues (the playoffs are a funny thing) it plays right into the Cubs hands, and Chicago closes this series out tonight.
