If Craig Kimbrel’s meltdown in the ninth inning Monday night in Cincinnati felt magnified for a first appearance of the season, that’s because it is.
Everything is magnified during a 60-game season in which the Cubs’ first four games is closer to the 162-game-season equivalent of 11.
And because of that, Kimbrel’s role as the Cubs’ closer is especially magnified.
He also has been a $43 million enigma since the Cubs signed him at midseason last year, a seven-time All-Star who struggled in big moments late last season and who went to spring training as a significant question mark in a bullpen full of them.