Winter is here: Stunned Cubs prepare for change after shocking postseason elimination
Rockies upset Cubs in wild-card instant classic
SportsPulse: USA TODAY Sports' Bob Nightengale recaps Colorado Rockies' victory over the Chicago Cubs in a memorable 13-inning wild-card game and how they'll fare against the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLDS.
CHICAGO -- Cubs catcher Willson Contreras sat motionless, still in full uniform, wiping tears from his eyes at 1 in the morning Wednesday, staring at the floor.
First baseman Anthony Rizzo, with smeared eye-black still on his face, walked around the clubhouse, hugging teammates, not knowing how many of them he'll be seeing next spring.
Center fielder Albert Almora sat still, looking at the ceiling with tear-filled eyes, unable to fathom he has played his last game until spring training.
Winter is coming awfully early in Chicago.
The Cubs' season is over. They lost 2-1 in 13 innings to the Colorado Rockies in the longest postseason elimination game in baseball history, and longest postseason game played at Wrigley Field.
The sellout crowd of 40,151 sat in stunned silence as they watched another team in back-to-back nights celebrate on the field. It's the first time in Wrigley Field history there have been back-to-back champagne celebrations in the visiting clubhouse.
The Rockies, who didn't arrive to their team hotel until 3 a.m. Tuesday after losing their NL West Division tiebreaker game to the Dodgers in Los Angeles, became only the third team in history to win an extra-inning elimination game on the road. Their triumph comes nearly 11 years to the day they won their 13-inning NL West tiebreaker against the San Diego Padres en route to the World Series. They now will bus 90 minutes to Milwaukee to play the NL Division Series against the Brewers.
The Cubs are going to gather Wedneday, say their good-byes, and wonder if they'll even recognize their team when they convene again in February in Mesa, Ariz., for spring training.
"Sometimes,'' Cubs ace Jon Lester said, "you need to get your [expletive] knocked in the dirt to know where you're at. Maybe we needed that. Maybe we needed to get knocked out like that.
"Maybe, this will be good for us.''
The Cubs kept telling everyone who'd listen how proud they were of the team, but change is coming. It always does when expectations are not met. This is a team that had the best record in the National League for the last three months, picked up second baseman Daniel Murphy and starter Cole Hamels for the stretch run, and still fell short.
Never before has winning 95 games in a season felt so empty.
"We won 95 games,'' outfielder Jason Heyward said, "but we don't consider it a success. We didn't pop any bubbly this year. So how can it be?
"Our mindset is World Series or bust.''
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Yes, they made the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year, but with World Series aspirations, they never got around to celebrating their playoff berth. They were waiting for the division title. It never came.
Their postseason experience lasted 4 hours, 55 minutes.
"It sucks losing this early,'' Rizzo said. "What day is this, Oct. 2? And we're out?
"It really sucks.''
It was such an abrupt ending that the Cubs had an awkward toast immediately after the game, with a few players giving speeches. There was no champagne. No plastic lining covering their lockers. And no music.
Just quiet, with players talking in whispers, almost numb.
The biggest question now for the Cubs is just who pays the price for this abrupt ending.
Does manager Joe Maddon take the fall with one year and $6 million left on his contract? What happens when the Cubs tell him there will be no extension? Will Maddon seek permission to talk with other clubs, with five current managerial openings and other teams who certainly would fire their managers for a chance at Maddon?
Do they retain hitting coach Chili Davis, with the Cubs producing just two runs and nine hits in the last 22 innings in their biggest games of the season? Do they trade outfielder Kyle Schwarber? Will shortstop Addison Russell, who's on administrative leave while MLB investigates domestic abuse charges, ever wear a Cubs uniform again?
These are questions the Cubs never envisioned having to answer three weeks ago, but suddenly, there are a whole lot of angry and frustrated folks in that Cubs' front office, and anything could happen.
"I know I heard a month ago that everyone in Chicago wanted Joe's head,'' said Lester, who yielded just four hits and one run, striking out nine in six innings, but was out-pitched by Colorado native Kyle Freeland. "I think Joe is very good at what he does. He manages our clubhouse, he manages our personalities well. He is not the reason why we're going home. Nor is any other coach in that room.
"Hell, it ain't the coaches' fault. I don't think you ever blame coaches for a lost season, or give them credit for a winning season. It's all about the players. Good, bad or indifferent, we've got to take responsibility for that.''
There were others who also came to Maddon's defense, with Rizzo calling this Maddon's best season considering their injuries and laborious 30-day stretch without a day off. Rizzo didn't second-guess his boss for pulling him out of the game in the eighth inning for pinch-runner Terrence Gore. Gore, after stealing second base, tied the score when Javy Baez ripped a double to center field.
"I thought we were going to win the game right there,'' Rizzo said.
So did virtually everyone else at Wrigley Field, only for the Cubs' offense to go down meekly inning after inning, with their last 19 batters unable to produce a single hit.
"I'm not here to denigrate anybody,'' Maddon said. "Our work's put in, the hay's in the barn. Everybody cares, it just didn't work out this way offensively.
"It's something we really have to focus on in the off-season.''
The Cubs, who had the second-biggest payroll in the National League, vow to be back. They still have their nucleus returning. Lester is back. Maybe Yu Darvish, their $126 million free-agent bust, gets healthy and becomes the pitcher they thought they signed. Former MVP Kris Bryant, playing with a sore shoulder much of the season, should be healthy. And it's still a young team.
"This is a year that will make us better, I really believe that,'' Schwarber said. "Right now, it's just hard to swallow. No one is trying to brush this off. It happened. We accept it.
"It's just going to take some time.''
Follow Nightengale on Twitter @BNightengale
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