It was just a little more than a month ago that the Cubs knocked off the Cardinals in an 11-0 laugher that ran their record to 54-36, and pushed their NL Central lead to a very comfortable 4.0 games over the Brewers.
It was a high point for Chicago, as starter Matthew Boyd struck out nine batters in five innings on the mound, and all nine starters reached base either via hit or a walk. The team was hitting .257 collectively and had posted an impressive .779 OPS.
Since then, though, things have gotten rocky. The Cubs can’t hit, and can’t hit for power–in their last 27 games, they’ve batted .241, and their OPS is just .696. The pitching is not much better, as the team’s 3.78 ERA on July 6 is now 3.88, with the staff yielding a 4.21 ERA in that stretch.
That has led the Cubs to a stretch in which they’ve gone 13-14, at the worst time possible. That’s because the Brewers have been steamrolling opponents, with a 24-4 mark since July 6, turning that Cubs 4.0-game lead into a 6.0-game lead for the Brewers.
Cubs Manager Craig Counsell Getting Record Salary
And it’s all falling on Craig Counsell, the manager the Cubs plucked from the very same Milwaukee team that is now tormenting them. The North Siders apparently believed that the secret sauce that kept the small-market Brewers consistently in contention emanated from the manager’s office, and gave him a record five-year, $40 million for it.
But that has not worked out.
Veteran Cubs beat writer Paul Sullivan, hardly a hothead columnist, called out Counsell in the Chicago Tribune. If you’re a Cubs manager who has lost the Tribune, that’s trouble.
“The blowback against Counsell over the last couple of weeks has been amplified on sports-talk radio and social media, which is something we haven’t really seen on the North Side since the Mike Quade era in 2011,” Sullivan noted.
Cubs Fans Are Not Happy
The blowback has been widespread on social media, too.
As one Twitter/X user wrote, “Craig Counsell should donate his salary to charity because he for sure hasn’t earned a single penny of it.”
Added another: “It’s clear to me now that Craig Counsell isn’t the right manager for this team. I was very happy when they hired him because I figured he could bring that Milwaukee type of work ethic with him to Chicago but the reality is that Pat Murphy was the magic up there, not him.
And another: “I honestly thing Craig Counsell is one of the worst mangers in the league and if you fire him, it would be a net positive for this team.”
Counsell on the Hot Seat
Fans complaining on social media, though, does not necessarily signal doom for a manager. But the ill feeling on Counsell is stretching even to the level-headed in Chicago. While the Cubs founder, that’s trouble for Counsell.
“Like a player with a huge contract, the expectations on Counsell to live up to his deal are immense,” Sullivan wrote. But he can do that only by winning, and now that the Cubs have hit a speed bump, whatever he did in the first half is deemed irrelevant.
These final seven weeks of the regular season will make or break the Cubs — and perhaps serve as a referendum on Hoyer’s decision to steal Counsell from Milwaukee.
Cubs Manager Craig Counsell Facing Backlash in Chicago Amid Swoon