Cubs News: Maddon blames sleep deprivation on team's slow start |
Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon knows that his team has not been playing up to their capability in the first few weeks of the season. The defending World Series champions currently have a mediocre 17-17 record and sitting fourth place in the National League Central.
Cubs fans have pondered why the team has played so poorly through the first 34 games of the season as last season they jumped out to an impressive 25-6 start. Maddon thinks that it comes down to physical fatigue and lack of sleep this season. "I sense sleep deprivation more than anything, Maddon said to reporters on Wednesday. "Sleep deprivation has a lot to do with it. Right from the beginning of the year our schedule has been awkward. No one has had a chance to settle in." Maddon knows that this current Cubs team is different from the 2016 curse-breaking team. "I don’t think anyone is taking anything for granted," Maddon said. "I love the word expectations, I do, but on the flip side of that it’s going to be a different path this year. It is. It just has to be." The Cubs will try to get back on the right track with a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
