The 2026 Cubs, Baseball Narratives, and Story Archetypes

I took a philosophy course in college once to fulfill a breadth requirement, and only really did AP Psychology in high school, but some things really stick with me and enrich my view of the world—even though the rest of my coursework and career was basically science and math. It does speak to how we need more arts and culture to enliven us beyond the "hard stuff", particularly when everyone craves new content (but often don't want to pay for it, ironic right?). Anyway, despite us nerds understanding that baseball is a marathon full of hills and valleys throughout the months-long grind, every win and loss brings with it a narrative shift, overanalysis of someone's swing or pitch mix, and thoughts on what's going on in our sports heroes' minds as they try to find some "consistency" in their baseball work (whatever that means, with the inherent chaos that is a baseball put in play). 

Aside from the philosophy of baseball that I tried to address in the previous entry, which is oddly prescient knowing that a few wins have been pissed away by poor bullpen performance exacerbated by the myriad injuries the Cubs have to navigate, I was thinking about a Maslow's hierarchy piece but for Cubs (though that may be more appropriate for the upcoming offseason, if we don't have a protracted lockout, or perhaps for the trade deadline). However, something more fitting for the day-to-day grind of baseball is the story archetypes, or basic plots, that sports writers probably draw from unknowingly as they pen their postgame pieces or character sketches. I'll do it in a slightly different order than the Wiki article, but I think the basic plots really encapsulate all the emotions we've felt in what's only been half of the season so far.

The Quest
Some of us may rationalize our baseball fandom as just wanting a competitive team year in and year out, but the ultimate goal isn't just to make the playoffs, but to win the whole thing. If the Cubs make it to October (and right now there are so many games remaining and the National League and MLB as a whole have so many middling teams that we can't rule it out) and pull off what right now may seem like an improbable victory (and really, even the teams with the best World Series odds are in the realm of "improbable"), there will be multiple books written about the journey of this team to the promised land. This is more of a whole-season narrative, but every day of the 162-game grind is a part of the main quest. There will be side quests with the All-Star Game and Happ's podcast and the Lovable Reunion and all that, but the primary focus is to make it to October and grab the prize.

Rags to Riches
Far be it for me to say that a young superstar-in-the-making who got a pretty sizable draft bonus can be considered "rags," but we've already seen this with both Nico Hoerner and Pete Crow-Armstrong signing surprising but sensible extensions. Perhaps later on, we might see others showing out in the minors and proving their mettle in the Show to secure that big payday, but if they do get into October, those postseason shares could add up, too! Ooh, here's a true rags-to-riches: Pedro Ramirez only signed for $75,000 over five years ago. Now, he looks like a big-leaguer with staying power, making $75,000 every fortnight or so.

Voyage and Return
This more applies to key prospects (or at least we hope so) like Moisés Ballesteros, who was recently optioned to Iowa to get more playing time and reset his bat. While Ballesteros doesn't have to fend off Sirens and fight a Cyclops (at least I don't think Iowa is that bad), the journey should be helpful for him to get the bat right again, plus get more time behind the dish, where he's shown enough proficiency for the Cubs to want him to continue as a catcher. Hopefully, it's a situation similar to when a struggling Happ was sent down and then came back to become the infuriatingly boring but consistent player he is for the Cubs now—though we also hope Ballesteros shows some extra oomph from that quick bat!

Comedy/Tragedy
Famously the two sides of the universal symbol of drama and theater, the struggles the Cubs have experienced are a combination of both comedy and tragedy. It's been simultaneously hilarious and painful to wonder which Cub will pop up on the infield or strike out or line into a double play because the BABIP luck dragon hates their guts when the bases are loaded, but we know that simple regression will let them finally cash in all those baserunners they're racking up. And just when the offense looks like it's getting on track again, the bullpen finally shows cracks. It's confirmation bias and self-fulfilling prophecy and all the jargon rolled into one for this conundrum of a Cubs team, but still we soldier on to see what happens for the remainder of this season's story.

Rebirth
As Matthew Boyd is slated to come off the injured list Thursday and Justin Steele eventually (hopefully) makes his way back to contributing to the club, the name of the game is survival until key pieces return and the pitching staff is, in a sense, reborn to what we hoped their potential would be before the season began and the injury demon destroyed all the depth. Then we could get better performances, as we also hoped, with Alex Bregman, awakening bats such as Seiya Suzuki, some batted-ball luck for Hoerner, and even average production from Dansby Swanson, among others, to get the offense humming again. Like Superman coming back from the dead or Batman recovering to defeat Bane or the Avengers finally defeating Thanos, this could be a fun narrative should the Cubs find enough strong performances (and some luck) to come all the way back, which leads us to...

Overcoming the Monster|
...why are the Milwaukee Brewers always so good at racking up wins? It defies logic, and yet there they are again, with a comfortable lead in the division and finding ways to snatch victories from the jaws of defeat over and over again. The Cubs have a chance to put a dent in their devil magic armor to end the month of June, and a huge part of completing their quest may come down to defeating said Brewers in October, something they couldn't quite pull off last year. Barring the heat death of the universe or MLB and ownership killing baseball as we know it, at least this story will have a sequel, but I sure would love a happy ending to this chapter before the cliffhanger.