I've been working in Croatia for the entire 2020 season so I've missed a lot. Catch me up with some of your favorite highlights this year! The TL;DR of the season is that Kwis Bwyant now wears gold chains, right?--Brooke
Tina:
• Ian Happ broke out with his bat and looked solid in CF.
• Yu peed on everyone!
• Heyward's bat came back!
• Kipnis was a surprise for me with his bat, glove and especially his cheerleading.
• Jeffress was consistent all season, saving the bullpen when the bullpen was really struggling.
• Kimbrel got back to his Dirty Craig ways (somewhat) after a really disappointing 2019 and beginning of 2020.
• Hendricks was as solid as ever. What a beautifully pitched opening day game (my favorite game of the season)
• #NerdAlert Mills threw a no-hitter! Who woulda thunk?
• Contreras' framing was much improved.
• Ross' first year was solid, guiding the team well thru a pretty weird season.
• The chirping and cheering in the dugout was really fun to see. Also, I'm really proud of how the guys took the season seriously with Covid compliance, being the only MLB team with no positive tests.
Staci:
Tina covered a lot of it, but there was also...
• Good Chatty! Until he started struggling with injuries, Tyler Chatwood was dominant. It was super promising and good to see him pitching so well again. (I miss Chatty! ~Tina)
• The return of Bullpen Dance Party! Which we all missed so much!
• #NerdAlert threw a no hitter! #NERDALERT THREW A NO HITTER! That was a pretty awesome highlight, was it not?
• Lil' Bertie gave us a glimpse at the end of the season of some serious dominance potential. His last two outings were, quite simply, filthy. If he can pitch like that next season, we might just have plugged one of our starter spots.
• The Cubs brought Stropy back! No, he never threw a pitch due to injuries, but the Cubs brought Pedro Strop back into the fold and he finished the season a Cub as God intended.
Pronk:
• 2020 NL Central Champions. The Cubs have been to the postseason 5/6 years, and have won the division half the time for the competitive Theo/Jed era. If you could talk to your 2014 self and talk about the 5 playoff runs, the next to no pointless baseball, the WS run, the division titles... that 2014 version of you would be happy.
• We saw Hendricks, Darvish, and Mills each take large steps forward. They all figure to be pieces of a at least decent rotation in 2021.
• David Ross's first year managing was a success. He had a few rookie blunders here and there, but overall kept the team loose and brought them back into the postseason after a rough 2019 collapse.
• Mills's no hitter was a great highlight I won't ever forget.
• Kyle Hendricks's opening day shutout.
• Jason Heyward had the second best season of his career. (by RC+ at least)
• Ian Happ emerged as the extra bat the Cubs have needed for the last few years.
• Contreras took steps towards well rounding his game defensively, and had a quietly solid season.
• The bullpen got through some early struggles. The front office found a few hits, and figure to have a good starting place for 2020.
• Ian Happ's Compound podcast: the insiders look into the game that we didn't know we needed.
• We had baseball. In March, we thought we'd have a near full season. April/May, it did not look like a season would even happen. Even once the season got started and the Marlins/Cardinals irresponsibility was revealed, there were plenty of loud calls to cancel it. But we got over that hump as well. In a tough time when so many people would rather just do nothing at all rather than try, MLB pulled off a season. That's an accomplishment worth celebrating. It was messy along the way, but in the end, we had the baseball we so sorely needed.
AssMatt:
• We had baseball! Seriously, this could be the only thing on the list. During a crazy year that was filled with uncertainty we were able to forget some of it for a while and just enjoy baseball. It was wonderful! • My number 1 on the list of what went right? The boys were having FUN again!
• Yu's continued dominance was a sight to behold. We have a helluva 1-2 punch with Yu/Professor.
• Theo added to the team for the stretch run. Even if it was on the cheap, and guys like Martinez and Osich didn't work out, they did try to address team needs during a season with no fans/funds.
• Maybin and Chafin looked like interesting candidates for 2021
• Emergence of 2 potential cheap, 'home grown' starters for 2021 (Mills and Bertie)
• Mills' No-No (and tongue out celebration)
• Willy and Happ taking the next step in their game.
• Manager David looks like the real deal.