Hear Me Out...Who has been more disappointing, the '18 Cubs or the Predator franchise?

On the surface, it might seem like the 2018 Chicago Cubs and the Predator movie franchise don't have a lot in common but believe me they do. I just made the connection this week, so don't feel bad if you didn't link the two.

On the way to see the latest Predator movie at the Washakie Twin Cinemas. I was thinking about my favorite baseball team, the Cubs if you haven't figured that out.

All season long the Cubs haven't really put it together and have been a good but non-contender team. They've had their spurts like in July when they gained the division lead from the Milwaukee Brewers or at the end of August, beginning of September when they went on a seven-game winning streak. Granted that winning streak was against a bunch of bums, nonetheless, they still crushed them, outscoring the Reds, Mets and Tigers 46-16.

Outside those spurts there's been a lot of winning big, only to be followed up by losing big. Just this week the Cubs played a good Diamondbacks team, beat them 5-1 and 9-1, but closed out the series with a 9-0 loss. On the mound for Chicago was Cole Hamels, who was great for the team in August when he came over from the Texas Rangers.

In August, Hamels started six games, was 4-0 with an ERA of 0.69, didn't give up a single home run and struck out 38 batters.

September has been a different story for Hamels, in four starts he's gone 0-1, with a 5.18 ERA, given up five home runs and only struck out 21.

It's not Hamels' fault the Cubs are in the position they're in, it's just a sample of a team that lacks consistency. By standard statistics and metrics, the Cubs should be better than their record. But for whatever reason, they're falling short.

Things might get tougher for the Cubs since closer Brandon Morrow is done for the season because of injury and his backup Pedro Strop is out for what looks to be the rest of the regular season. Those are big losses to Chicago's bullpen especially with nine games remaining, three of which are against the St. Louis Cardinals.

And to top it off, infielder Addison Russell is likely out of the lineup, and rightfully so, until the domestic violence allegations against him are sorted out.

Even without Russell, the Cubs have too much talent and shouldn't be leading the NL Central by 2.5 games. It's absolutely frustrating. I know they won the World Series in 2016 but I've turned into that fan. I thought I'd be good with them winning a World Series in my lifetime, but that's no longer the case.

One hundred eight years between World Series or not, this team should be a serious title threat. (The 2017 team gets a pass because of the World Series hangover and they still made the NLCS.) I'm not sure this Cubs team can make it out of the NLDS, let alone a fourth straight appearance in the NLCS.

The Cubs aren't alone in frustrating their fan base, the Predator franchise is in lock step with them.

It's important to give movies time to breathe, let the story unfold before unleashing any criticisms. However, the opening of "The Predator" was an immediate red flag and eventually, my biggest concern came into play. Instead of opening with an elite squad of soldiers in some jungle, mountain or desert, we're in space in the middle of a spaceship chase.

What makes the Predator movies awesome, aside from the over-the-top violence and cheesy one-liners, is they're basically a sci-fi version of "The Most Dangerous Game" and what that opening scene did was tip Fox Studio's hand. We weren't going to get what we loved about Predator, instead, we were getting a universe establishing movie with a lot of unnecessary exposition.

Every studio wants a Marvel-esque Universe but won't put in the legwork and time needed to build it. Rather, their plan is to dump several movies worth of world-building on you all at once with the hopes that it catches. If it doesn't work out they'll wait four to five years and repeat the process with another reboot.

Like with the Cubs, there are parts of "The Predator" that work and are worth seeing. But unlike the Cubs, the Predator franchise doesn't have a shot at righting the ship. They're left with squandered potential and wasting the talents of Sterling K. Brown and Keegan-Michael Key

I'm sure Fox Studios will scratch their heads at why the 2018 reboot didn't work and when they go back to the drawing board they'll forget any lessons learned. They'll probably even try to tinker with universe building story more, rather than looking at what made Predator (1987) and Predators (2010) the franchises successful.

So there you have it, the Predator franchise is the most disappointing between them and the Cubs. As a hedge though, if the Cubs miss the playoffs or lose in the wildcard game, they'll leapfrog The Predator as the biggest disappointment.