On Sept. 6, the Chicago Cubs completed a sweep of the San Francisco Giants with an easy 8-2 victory, giving them 14 wins in 20 games.
With 22 games remaining in their season, the Cubs were 76-64 and sat just 1.5 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central.
While also just 1.5 games back of the Philadelphia Phillies for the top spot in the NL Wild Card standings, David Ross & Co. were sitting pretty as the No. 5 seed as they were 3.5 games clear of the Miami Marlins and four full games ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
But that was as good as it would get for the North Siders.
Over those final 22 games, the Cubs won just seven of them and were officially eliminated from MLB postseason contention on the penultimate day of the regular season.
Chicago ultimately finished nine games behind the Brewers, seven behind the Phillies, 1.5 behind the Marlins, and one behind the Diamondbacks. Arizona took six of seven from the Cubs during Chicago's September swoon.
Now, the easy person to blame here is Ross. But that seems a bit too simple, don't you think? Sure, the World Series hero made plenty of mistakes, perhaps playing a few too many veterans when his young players were getting the job done.
But, again, he's an easy scapegoat, which comes with the job. So, let's dig a little deeper and pinpoint a few players who contributed to the Cubs' collapse.
Cubs who should take the fall for the collapse: Christopher Morel
On July 31, Christopher Morel had a solid slash line of .281/.344/.541.
But just as the Cubs did as a team, Morel went cold down the stretch. Only his cold streak lasted longer.
In August, the 24-year-old slashed .149/.222/.324. He was a bit better in September -- but not by much -- with a line of .228/.299/.582.
The only saving grace was the fact that Morel hit 10 home runs over the final two months. But six of those came after the aforementioned win on September 6, which, of course, is when Chicago's slide began. So those dingers didn't mean much.
As Morel was the Cubs' designated hitter in many games the last two months, his job was to provide some offense, and he simply didn't get it done.
Cubs who should take the fall for the collapse: Dansby Swanson
Like Christopher Morel, Dansby Swanson was having a solid season before the calendar turned to August.
On July 31, the former Brave was slashing .263/.348/.429, strong numbers that had earned him a second straight trip to the MLB All-Star Game. Swanson sadly had to skip the Midsummer Classic with a left heel contusion.
And while he played good baseball in the first seven to 10 days after making his return from the disabled list, he faltered the final two months.
In August, Swanson slashed .184/.264/.398. Like Morel, his September was slightly better but still inferior to what Cubs fans had gotten used to seeing. Over the final month, the clubhouse leader hit just .236 with three home runs and 14 runs batted in.
In the three-game set against his former team during the final week of the season, Swanson went just 1-for-10 as Chicago was swept by Atlanta. At least he got that nice tribute, though.
To his credit, the 29-year-old at least acknowledged his poor play, saying he hadn't "performed in moments recently" and that he was "just playing bad." He certainly wasn't lying.
Cubs who should take the fall for the collapse: The bullpen
Yep, we're copping out here. Instead of picking just one guy, we're placing blame on the entire Chicago Cubs bullpen.
If we did want to pinpoint one individual, however, it would likely have to be Mark Leiter Jr.
Prior to September, Al Leiter's nephew had a 2.84 ERA with 26 holds and four saves. But during the final month, the 32-year-old had an 8.59 ERA with just two holds and blew two saves, including the middle game of the series against Atlanta, which the Cubs lost in extra innings.
One could also point to Marcus Stroman, who made a couple of relief appearances upon his return from the disabled list, one of which resulted in a blown save against the Diamondbacks.
But, again, the entire Chicago bullpen needs to take some heat here. After all, the unit as a whole made some unfortunate MLB history in the final two weeks of the season.
From September 16 to September 28, two days before they were officially eliminated from the playoffs, the Cubs held a lead in seven different innings on the road in the eighth or later. They blew the lead in the bottom half of those innings all seven times.
Prior to that, no MLB team in the modern era had blown a lead in more than five consecutive road innings in the eighth or later. So there's that.
But what's done is done. Assuming David Ross keeps his job, which he likely will, seeing as how the Cubs weren't even supposed to contend for a playoff berth this year, he'll simply have to learn from this experience and move forward. The same goes for each and every player who faltered during the final three weeks of the season.
Just wait 'til next year, right?
