Chicago Cubs looking to attain .500 goal as second-half of season gathers pace – MLB News
As the second-half of the season is in full swing, the Chicago Cubs' manager Dale Sveum on Friday, July 20, said that the team’s goal is to finish the season at .500. The goal, which apparently seems too big for the Cubs, is something Dale Sveum does not see as something beyond the bounds of possibility.
Starting Friday, the Cubs will have a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals. The goal that the Cubs’ manager has enunciated will have numerous challenges to contend with. Take, for example, the fact that the current record of Cubs stands at 38-53.
With the St. Louis Cardinals being ever aggressive, thanks to their resurgent defence, the Cubs shall have first of its challenge on Friday. However, despite all the odds that could potentially work as a setback for the Cubs, the team manager is confident of attaining this goal.
"There's no reason having a goal if it's not set high," Sveum said Friday. "To get there, it's going to be tough, obviously, to play 23 games over .500 to get to .500, but that's a goal. When you set goals, that's what you reach for -- you might come up a little short but you're a lot better off than setting a crappy goal and coming up short on that. Then you're really screwed."
There are a few facts that go to the favours of the team right now. Since June 25, the Cubs have had a record of 14-5 which remains the best in Major League Baseball. That comes at a time when they did not seem capable of doing that given their defeat in majority of the games.
The team manager attributes it to the players’ consistency now.
Sveum said, “Whether people call it 'trying to change a culture' or whatever, that's the idea of everything we do is try to be consistent with preparation and understanding about making yourself a better player every day.”
Whether the Cubs, at the end, succeed in achieving the set goal is something of a guess. However, if one has to look back at their record since the last week of June, there is a possibility that they end up achieving it.
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