David Ross recently recalled a conversation with Theo Epstein from the fall of 2016, about the Cubs' trade for Aroldis Chapman. In the midst of that season, with Chicago holding a big lead in the National League Central, Epstein had traded star prospect Gleyber Torres and others to the Yankees for Chapman, and at the time Epstein made the deal, he was transparent about his motive: This was a trade made to win the World Series. Nothing less.
Epstein told Ross that the only way he would've felt OK about trading Torres would have been if the Cubs had won the championship. Chapman mostly thrived in his short time for the Cubs, and although the left-hander was weary from a heavy workload and struggled in the epic Game 7 of the World Series, the team won its first championship since 1908, and Chapman, catcher Ross and GM Epstein cemented their places in Chicago history.
Which brings us to the 2019 Los Angeles Dodgers, a great team with exceptional starting pitching, a good defense, an excellent offense. A great team with a bullpen problem.
