MILWAUKEE — This might be a brutal start to the season for the Cubs, but lifelong fans can think of any number of depressing starts to a season over the last few decades.
Many have even mentioned the 1997 team that started out 0-14 and use that to keep this early-year skid in perspective.
Well, this year's team has now officially gotten off to the worst start in Cubs history since that 1997 season, dropping to 1-6 after Friday's beating at the hands of the reigning NL Central champion Brewers.
The 13-10 final score will make it appear as if it were a close game and a slugfest, but in reality, the Cubs lost this game before the second inning even ended. The Milwaukee lineup that had previously been unable to solve Jose Quintana (1.62 career ERA in 11 starts vs. Brewers entering the game) jumped all over the Cubs southpaw and built a 6-0 lead by the third inning.
The Cubs offense battled back and started to make things interesting, but then the Cubs bullpen came on and continued their early-season struggles, as Carl Edwards Jr. gave up a 2-run homer in the 5th and Brandon Kintzler served up a 3-run shot in the 7th.
No matter what happens the rest of the weekend, the Cubs will return to Chicago for their home opener Monday at least 3 games under .500 and no better than 3.5 games behind the Brewers in the standings.
"It's only up from here," Kris Bryant said. "There's no panic."
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"I've been in different situations; it's never fun," Joe Maddon said. "I really like the way our guys are going through the moment right now. They're doing it the right way, if there is such a thing. Mr. Churchill said, 'When you're going through hell, just keep on going.' I don't want to minimize war, we're just talking in a baseball sense.
"You just keep going. You get back in the huddle. You come back the next day and you play the game and that's what our guys have been doing and I appreciate that."
The Cubs plated 10 runs, collected 10 hits, 2 walks and a pair of hit-by-pitches and yet still couldn't put a stop to their losing streak.
It's the third time this season the Cubs have scored in double digits and they managed to win only one of those games.
They're averaging more than 6.5 runs a game and have just one win to show for it.
"Normally when you score that many runs, you win those games," Maddon said. "That's the tough part for all of us."
But it's not just the pitching. Cubs fielders have committed 11 errors in seven games on top of another couple mental mistakes or miscues that didn't show up in the box score.
"We're just not playing good baseball right now and it's early in the season," Bryant said. "We don't like it. ... It's not what we talked about in spring. We wanted to get off to a great start, but it's gonna make our story that much better.
"There's no time to put our head down or sit here and complain and whine. We got so many games left. It's important to stay together here."
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