Written by Billy Witz at New York Times
It is almost as if the Chicago Cubs arrived back in the National League Championship Series by acclamation.
They won the hot stove league, stealing away free agents from their most serious rivals. They had not been out of first place since the vines at Wrigley Field sprouted leaves, and once the playoffs began, the Cubs won their first two division series games before putting pesky San Francisco away.
But after getting shut out by the Los Angeles Dodgers for the second consecutive game, 6-0, before a raucous Dodger Stadium crowd on Tuesday night, the Cubs face their first genuine crisis of the season.
They trail the Dodgers by two games to one in the N.L.C.S. and if their offense does not kick into gear soon, they could be headed for another disheartening exit. Game 4 is Wednesday at Dodger Stadium.
“Obviously, I have no solid explanation,” Manager Joe Maddon said. “We’ve just got to keep working at it. We’re just not hitting the ball well. We’re doing the same kind of routines, the work is the same, the batting practice is the same — or the lack of it is the same — and we’re just not getting the results right now.”
He added: “It’s more of a mental exercise than it is a physical one right now for me.”
The Cubs historically do not do panic well. They have a long list of playoff collapses dating back 1929, when they were on the verge of evening the World Series at two games apiece but blew an 8-0 lead to the Philadelphia Athletics.
A little fresher on these minds is last season, when the Mets’ powerhouse pitching staff, led by Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard, dominated the Cubs, sweeping them out of the playoffs. This series is beginning to look that way.
The 1-0 loss to Sunday might have been easily explained, since it came at the hands of Clayton Kershaw, the Dodgers’ left-handed ace. But the Cubs were just as bamboozled on Tuesday night by the journeyman Rich Hill, who was pitching in an independent league a little more than a year ago.
“It’s a momentum thing,” outfielder Chris Coghlan said. “It is contagious. We can try to pretend that it’s not, but it is. So each person, it’s not a lack of trying. Sometimes in this game, and it’s tough for me, too — you almost have to try less.”
Coughlan added, “This game, you can’t will. It’s not like football.”
Maddon tinkered with his lineup Tuesday, dropping Anthony Rizzo from his customary third spot to cleanup and moving Addison Russell, who has often batted fifth, down to seventh. The moves helped neither hitter.
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