PITTSBURGH — The out-of-town scoreboard on the right field wall at PNC Park showed the Brewers in the early stages of a blowout victory in Cincinnati, and Cubs manager Joe Maddon took the next opportunity to sub out first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who had been playing through an injured ankle.
Just like that the chill of fall hit the Cubs on Wednesday night like a north-wind gust.
“It’s definitely a stinging feeling,” said Cubs starter Jon Lester after the Pirates sent the Cubs to their eighth consecutive loss by a 4-2 score Thursday. “It hasn’t happened too often for me. It’s a weird feeling.”
Officially eliminated from playoff contention for the first time in five years after a week-long slide that was “surprising,” “shocking” or “stunning,” depending on who was asked, the Cubs’ attention turned toward next year with team president Theo Epstein’s “reckoning” upon them.
Maddon said he expects to talk in the next few days with Epstein about his managing future with the club – and clarified that his “optimistic” comment earlier in the day on the team’s flagship radio station was only a general reference to his future.
Optimistic he’ll be asked to return? “I don’t know,” he said.
Epstein, who joined the team in Pittsburgh Wednesday for the rest of the trip, wouldn’t offer a timeline for a decision or announcement. “I’m going to keep that between me and Joe,” he said. “It’s not something I’m comfortable talking about.”
What’s certain is that changes are coming – and the only question is how dramatic, if not seismic.
“There’s obviously change needed in a lot of areas,” Epstein said. “That’s been made even more clear by the nature of what’s happened down the stretch. But I think it was made clear over the course of the year, too, in a lot of ways, and back to last year in a lot of regards, too. And just for the record, I’m not talking about Joe.”
Epstein said he regrets referring to 2019 as a “year of reckoning” for the organization “because of the way it’s been regurgitated over and over.”
But there’s no mistaking what it means now, at least once the bitterness and emotional heat fade in the next few days and weeks.
“It sucks. It sucks going forward,” said Lester.
Lester, a clubhouse leader who has the front office’s ear, wouldn’t speculate on how significant he expects the shakeup to be – in terms of the roster or field staff.
“When you go through things like this, the extreme nature of what’s happened can make things clear or make things unavoidable,” Epstein said. “You can’t spin a narrative for yourself and avoid facing some realities. There are some important things that we need to examine and fix in every aspect of our operation. That’s the mindset that we’re all going to take.”
The wheels already are in motion for changes in an unproductive player-development department.
But how deep will the cuts be on the big-league roster?
One thing both Maddon and Epstein seem to agree on is that the championship window remains open for at least most of the roster core – suggesting that “blowing up” the roster and going through anything remotely close to an actual rebuild is off the table.
“Absolutely, the goal is to win a championship next year, 100 percent,” Epstein said. “That’s what this organization is about.”
Maddon said a starting pitcher and a “couple of contact bats” would go a long way to putting the Cubs back on contention track.
“We just had a tough year in a lot of different areas this year, but the talent level is still spectacular, there’s no question about it,” Maddon said. “There’s different things you may have to do, but the core group is still a very firm group.”
And most of it under club control for two more seasons – which happens to coincide with the end of Epstein’s contract, too.
“The thing that gets you excited even in the face of this adversity is waking up and trying to build the next championship Cubs team,” Epstein said. “We want that to be as soon as possible. I think we have to build the next championship Cubs team.”
