I saw a Chicago Cubs stat that instantly struck me as so incredible that I had to go through the last month and a half of box scores just to be sure it was correct:
If it’s not immediately clear, what that tweet is saying: in the last month and a half, the Chicago Cubs have not had A SINGLE GAME in which they came back to win.
Let that marinate for a moment and, although it’ll feel true in your gut, you will probably pause as I did. Are you saying the ONLY games the Cubs have won after July 2 are games where they first took the lead and then held on? You’re saying they never even fell back by a SINGLE RUN early on and then ultimately won? FOR A MONTH AND A HALF? Can that possibly be true?
It is.
Like I said, I went through the box scores one by one, and the last time the Cubs trailed at ANY POINT in a game that the went on to win was that July 2 game against the Guardians. They have literally not won a single game since then in which they have trailed. Sixteen times they’ve fallen behind in a game – early or late or whenever – and sixteen straight times they’ve lost that game.
The Cubs won the next two games after that Guardians game, by the way, reaching 53-35, 4.0 games up in the NL Central. It was a happy time. Since then, they’ve gone 14-16, and trail the unbeatable Brewers by 7.5 games.