Soriano: "We can't sprint"

Alfonso Soriano has a theory on why the Cubs didn't win in the postseason. Soriano says the Cubs can't win in series play.

"Yeah, it's tough," he said. "We tried, but it just didn't happen. We played all year like a very good team and we expected a little bit more, but it didn't happen."

While he didn't pass the buck, Soriano said he believes the Cubs were built for a marathon, not a sprint.

"We're a very good team for [162] games, but we don't do nothing after that," he said. "That's the difference. We're not put together for [a short series]."

I think this assessment is only fair in terms of the Cubs being too right-handed in terms of their power. Only Jim Edmonds brought a routinely robust bat from the left side. When the Cubs face a team like the Dodgers with a righty-only rotation, this right-handed stacking can only hurt their opportunity to score runs.

The Cubs, however, still thrived against all sorts of pitchers all season long. They dominated the National League, winning 97 games, and they might be the most well-rounded team in baseball. Their rotation trotted out three aces against the Dodgers, yet each looked extremely hittable. Well-rounded teams with front-line pitching is perfectly built for the postseason. The Cubs just failed to put anything together in any facet of the game. Call it tightening up, choking or poor playing; the Cubs were built to succeed but didn't.