Emma: Never Short On Perspective, Cubs Are Playing Good Baseball
By Chris Emma--
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Rooted deep within the heart of each Cub is the Joe Maddon mantra.
"It's one game at a time," Maddon said Monday afternoon. "I'm a psychobabble dude."
Many would treat this as a cliche. Maddon views it as a way of life. It's how the Cubs' unconventional manager stays even-keeled throughout the course of a long season. Of course, this means there's no extra emphasis on facing the Mets after being swept in four games during the trip to Queens a few weeks ago.
Naturally, there's no revenge factor in place for the Cubs against the team that crushed their World Series dreams last year. After all, the Cubs went 7-0 against the Mets during the 2015 regular season. Then New York was 4-0 in the games that mattered, sweeping Chicago in the NLCS.
The Cubs finally got the Mets for one Monday, taking the first of their three-game set at Wrigley Field in a crisp 5-1 victory.
"We couldn't care less about what's happened the last seven games," Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant said after the win. "We just took it as another game."
I tried to break the Maddon "psychobabble" and ask if a fierce competitor like Bryant can truly stay even-keeled when facing the Mets.
"That's what you need as a baseball player," Bryant said. "You got to approach each game the same, whether it's a last-place team or a first-place team. It was nice to see that today. We approached it as another game, and it turned out the way we wanted to."
Maddon's shtick hasn't gotten old. In fact, it's the driving force behind the Cubs.
The Cubs really do take care of their business one day at a time. In the third inning, Anthony Rizzo worked a 10-pitch at-bat in which he fouled off seven pitches after being down 0-2. He worked the count back to 2-2, then launched the game-turning three-run homer to the right-field bleachers. Maddon was giddy about this workmanlike approach.
Cubs catcher David Ross called Rizzo the team's "staple" for success, with moments like Monday's serving as prime evidence. A terrific leader for his Cubs, Rizzo was one of the few to acknowledge the opponent. Then he jumped right back to the primary objective.
"I'd say it was good to get a win against them," Rizzo said. "We're just playing one game at a time. I feel good about where we're at. We just want to keep going."
Ross was smiling as he leaped out of his stance and joined teammates to celebrate the victory. Javier Baez had just finished the game with a nifty double play, and Ross ran to closer Hector Rondo and began the postgame high-five line.
During the recent stretch of 24 games in as many days, those victory moments were rare. The Cubs (56-36) lost 15 of their final 21 games heading into the All-Star break and looked like a far cry from the best team in baseball.
For the 39-year-old Ross, in his final season of baseball, joining teammates for the victorious high-fives is his favorite part of each win. The Cubs then head to their newly renovated party room around the corner from their dugout and celebrate each win, whether it comes against the Mets or the Reds.
Playing good, clean baseball is what the Cubs enjoyed the most on a humid Monday night at Wrigley Field. The Cubs didn't suddenly become bad when the Mets were taking it to them at Citi Field. The Cubs were just worn down from a fluke stretch of games the regular schedule forbids.
"The rest helped," Ross said. "We're still playing the same way, we had the same meetings, got the same scouting reports. Same scouting report going against these guys last time. Nothing has changed. It's just that guys are rested. A little bit of a break, mentally and physically, can always help."
Added Bryant: "It was great to have the All-Star break -- four days to forget about what really happened."
The Cubs struggled in many facets of their game leading into the All-Star break, with poor efforts all around. Most notably, their league-leading rotation had a 5.96 ERA in those final 24 games and failed to get a quality start of six innings and three or fewer runs during the 10 July games leading up to the All-Star break.
Four games out of their needed rest period, and the Cubs earned a Meatloaf with two wins out of three games against the Rangers and now earned a victory from the Mets.
Speaking like Maddon, the future manager Ross was right in pointing out "there are no big games in July." With that in mind, the Cubs took the field Monday against the Mets -- a team with which they have bad history -- and played a sound game of baseball.
Perspective flows all throughout the Cubs' state-of-the art clubhouse, straight from the word of the wise manager. The Cubs hope their worst is behind them.
"There's going to be ups and downs to the season," Ross said. "You just try to keep fighting and not get too down on yourself."
Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago's sports scene and more for CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670 and like his Facebook page.