A Lovely Funeral in the Wrigley Bleachers

1) A writer like Paul Sullivan is probably better equipped to tell the why of it, but the what is that the Bleachers are the best place in Wrigley, and thus arguably in baseball, to watch the game. Like Lambeau Field or LSU’s Tiger Stadium, it’s an environment where you’re immediately friends with everybody around you. Even as this experience has been well recognized and gotten up there in cost, it hasn’t lost its splendor. On one side of you might be a father who really extended to take his two kids to the game, and on another could be a longtime season ticketholder who groans when Jorge Soler goes down 0-2 because he’s a particularly bad hitter in that count. You know you’ll meet people, but you never know who. It’s just a melting pot.

3) Despite the obligatory galleries of depressed Cubs fans, this was a crowd that was appreciative of what the team has given them this year. And everybody knows the future is bright. Nevertheless, this series exposed some flaws, which seemed less dramatic a few days ago when Chicago was favored in the series, that Theo Epstein and his team need to address. At least one more stud pitcher is a necessity. These don’t grow on trees. To quote the venerable Chris Russo, Jorge Soler and Kyle Schwarber can’t catch a cold in the outfield. The Mets pitching is great, but the Cubs’ formidable lineup underperformed.

The Cubs were not without their chances. They had the bases loaded with no outs in the fourth, and only scored one. In the fifth, Kris Bryant had runners on first and second with two outs, and was fanned by Bartolo Colon. The crowd was quite into it in these moments, and would have ERUPTED if the outcomes had been different. That being said, it’s not as though the fans were totally un-demanding. Jason Hammel, who did not make it out of the second, was booed, as he would have been anywhere.

4) Joe Maddon and Jake Arrieta deservedly received a whole lot of praise this season, so it’s only fair that they also share in some of the blame. On one hand, Maddon’s not out there with the bat in his hands. But, a baseball manager is a psychologist by profession. When the Cubs were hitting, Maddon was an outside-the-box thinker whose use of conspicuous props purportedly kept them loose. This team scored eight runs in four games. Can it be said that Maddon failed to push the right buttons? And Arrieta, who’d been un-hittable since the All-Star break wasn’t bad, but he was mortal. Everybody on the team got cold at the exact wrong time.

Renowned philosopher Marlo Stanfield once observed that tomorrow ain’t promised to no one. These are, after all, the Cubs. However, one hopes their future is as bright as it appears. A World Series championship with this nucleus is far from being out of the realm of possibility, and would be seismic.

5) And let’s give credit to the Mets, who were indefatigable. With the exception of Matt Harvey, who, from afar, comes across as thick, everybody up and down that team is likable and vivacious. Daniel Murphy has probably added more marginal dollars to his next contract than I’ll earn in my lifetime. The ball leaves Yoenis Cespedes’ bat like a superball. Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom look like consummate everymen. Yes, they’re from the biggest media market. But, due to dire financial constraints, they haven’t been assembled that way.

6) If you think back to the beginning of this season, the Cubs were getting castigated for absurd bathroom lines. The unfinished bleachers were an eyesore, as construction had been delayed when planners failed to foresee a cold Chicago winter, which was hardly unforeseeable. Scott Boras was tarring and feathering the organization over Kris Bryant contract entanglements. This had the makings of another clown college season, until it wasn’t.

7) I’ll acknowledge that part of my perspective on these things is because I’m not somebody who follows the team every out, or every game, or even every week. Despite living on the north side of Chicago for the past 6+ years, I just made the decision to start consciously cheering for the Cubs last week. It’s easier to shrug off this series loss when I didn’t have true emotional investment in the buildup. But, the Wrigley faithful has, for now at least, surpassed my expectations for what it would be like when the Cubs got good. The proportion of die hard lifers to corporate bigwigs there to amass social media ‘likes’ and get wasted on expensive light beer was quite favorable in the two playoff games I attended.

8) As I wrote a few weeks ago, StubHub changed its advertised policy to show you its fee before checkout as opposed to embedded in its primarily displayed price. For me as a consumer, this had an unintended consequence for the company. As I’ve never sold tickets there, I didn’t realize how outrageous their vig was. Once I discovered that it was $50-60 for these playoff games, it made more economic sense to buy from a scalper on the street.

Right before first pitch, I wound up getting a single ticket in the first row of the second level of centerfield bleachers for $200. This was a bit more than I intended to spend, but also more than $100 cheaper than what I would’ve had to pay as StubHub’s market was closing. Now, many people would just as soon accept this difference as a worthwhile convenience fee. Dealing with scalpers is stressful, and so is heading to a stadium without a ticket in your hand. Some fans can’t handle that anxiety.

In many places, the combination of StubHub (and their bevy of competitors), as well as local regulations, have ostensibly stamped out the in-person secondary market. This is not the case outside of Wrigley, where scalpers are licensed and always have supply. When prices start to get up there, this route, which eliminates the middleman, has better value for me than the model of paying steep online commissions.

9) From this day forward, the Cubs can no longer claim house money as an asset. Instead, they will face soaring expectations, and are entering unfamiliar territory where failing to reach or win the World Series will be classified as a disappointment. Time will tell how they handle that bullseye. Whatever the outcomes, this will be a compelling story to watch play out.