But the up-and-down Cubs are making a run at it, trying to achieve their sky-high, championship-level goals all while their season has, to this point, jerked upward and downward with the frequency of a commercial jet.<\/p>\n
You know the highs and lows by now. A 10-game winning streak. Then another. Then a 10-game losing streak to kick off a monthlong slump. Then the bats roared back to life. Then 10 straight series without a series victory. Then six straight series without a series defeat.<\/p>\n
They won a game by 20 runs<\/a>. They lost the next by 16<\/a>.<\/p>\n Whiplash, anyone?<\/p>\n These Cubs say they\u2019re equipped to handle such a season, constantly trumpeting this group\u2019s ability to show up to the ballpark each new day having forgotten about the emotional highs and lows of the previous day.<\/p>\n That they held the National League\u2019s top wild-card spot when that flight took off Tuesday morning shows they might be right.<\/p>\n They\u2019re taking Ted Lasso\u2019s advice. They\u2019re selling this roster as a collection of 26 goldfish.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the first six weeks of the season or eight weeks of the season,\u201d outfielder Ian Happ said Tuesday, \u201cjust the ups and downs of that certainly made it more important to understand that whether we win 10 in a row or lose 10 in a row, one two-week stretch isn\u2019t going to determine whether we have a great year or not.\u201d<\/p>\n This might sound like Baseball 101. But considering how fans\u2019 emotions swung wildly between high and low during the Cubs\u2019 numerous streaks and stretches, the guys actually going through it must be feeling something, right? They must be battling some sort of human nature to place weight on the moment, right?<\/p>\n How does one learn to wipe away what came immediately before in service of the now?<\/p>\n \u201cA baseball season teaches you to do that,\u201d manager Craig Counsell said, \u201cbecause you can have an emotional game end at 11 o\u2019clock and there\u2019s another game at 1 o\u2019clock the next day. You get taught to do it through that.<\/p>\n \u201cIn that sense, the game\u2019s a really good teacher, and you learn that it\u2019s required of you pretty fast, whether it\u2019s a consistent season or a really streaky season.\u201d<\/p>\n You know who else were good teachers, at least for one current Cub? The guys with rings on their fingers.<\/p>\n Happ made his major league debut the year after the Cubs rode into Grant Park to celebrate winning the World Series and learned from players who had been to the mountaintop \u2014 and knew what it took to get there.<\/p>\n Now he\u2019s the connective tissue between that team and the one chasing a similar goal.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to be ready for the next day, and dwelling on what happened the day prior doesn\u2019t really help,\u201d he said. \u201cYou learn it when you\u2019re young from veteran players. I learned it from that group that I came up with that had a ton of experience and won at the highest stage. You learn from those guys and kind of carry that forward.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s more from actions and coming to work every day. There\u2019s definitely times when [someone is] going through something where some words help, just [letting them know that a] one-week stretch or two-week stretch isn\u2019t going to define the season.\u201d<\/p>\n Experience can be a pretty effective teacher, too, and though they didn\u2019t plan it, the Cubs now have the experience of riding through a streaky few months.<\/p>\n Can they use it to their advantage as the summer goes on? We\u2019ll soon find out.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Latest on the Cubs<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/p><\/a><\/div>\n [month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone] <\/p><\/a><\/div>\n [month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]![\"Cubs-Orioles](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/7f75eca\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4032x2699+0+163\/resize\/490x328!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Ffe%2Fb2%2F745954494115a3830a55aaaccef9%2Fimg-3588.jpeg\"\/)
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