It has been a long, long, long time since the Chicago Cubs have had a reason to celebrate or even look forward to baseball at Wrigley with championship aspirations. Now usually I don’t buy into the hype but this one time I will allow myself to fall in love with a mainstream story. If you haven’t taken notice the Chicago Cubs seem to be the real deal this year. I know, I know it’s a long season, it’s early, they haven’t played anybody, “come on dude it’s the Cubs we’re talking about.” Trust me I’m with you on any given year in my 20+ years of baseball watching but this year, for 2016 I think we have to buy into the hype.
The Chicago Cubs , and I have to specify because the other team in Chicago is playing some good ball themselves, are not just winning games but statistically they are whipping people. They are top 10 in just about every statistical category offensively except strikeouts and in that case they are in the bottom 10 in the league. Batting average, RBIs, Walks, Home Runs, Doubles, Hits…I mean the only thing they haven’t managed to do a lot of is hit triples. And the crazy thing about this team offensively is that they can actually be better. I know it is cliche to say that, but I really think that this team hasn’t hit it’s peak on the offensive side of the ball and that’s beyond scary for the National League. You’ve got two guys in that line up in crucial positions who have yet to deliver like we know they can. Those two guys, Jason Heyward and Jorge Soler, still find a way to impact the game by drawing out at bats and putting pressure on teams when they do get on base by stealing. And on days you think you’re going to catch a break guess what? You have to deal with a talented bench of Javier Baez, Matt Schzur, and Tommy La Stella. That’s three guys batting over .300 coming off the bench and making an impact on any given day or night.
And don’t think that these Cubs are just a hitting machine. You can’t talk pitching in MLB without talking the Chicago Cubs this year. It goes beyond their ace Jake Arrieta, this Chicago Cub staff is holding opponents to a combined .201 batting average in this first month and have a collective ERA of 2.48. As a matter of fact the Chicago Cubs are the only team with a winning record who has single digit save opportunities so far. In the 30 games they have played Chicago has went into the 9th inning with a save opportunity just 8 times so far! If you look at the differential in the runs given up ( a league low 75) and the Runs scored by the Cubs (a league high 184) you start to wonder just how high these guys can go. And you know what got me a tad bit excited about these Cubs? This weekend they took on a more than game Washington Nationals team who came in red hot with big wins on their road series. Chicago all but whipped them up until today and in extra innings guess who won the game for them? Javier Baez, the kid off the bench. With depth, youth, experience, and the ultimate anti-curse, good luck charm, Theo Epstein, this Chicago Cubs team just …might…exorcise the demons that have held Chicago baseball back for 100 years.
The Ghost of Chicago Past looms as the 2016 Cubs fight a history of bad luck
“7th inning stretch”
-Don’t sleep on the other Chicago team either. The White Sox might not be as appealing as the Cubs but they have the best record in the American League and don’t seem to show any signs of slowing down any time soon. With both Chicago teams playing so well early in the season I’m reminded of a series of commercials that were highly underrated Chicago v Chicago
– The Washington Nationals are playing really good ball but until they figure out how to protect Bryce Harper they may continue to lose close games. Bryce set a record by reaching base 7 times today without an official at bat. He was walked 6 times today, one time with runners on 1st and 2nd and two outs in extra innings. When the guy behind him is batting 2-15 in the series expect Bryce to be avoided as long as a base is open.
-I have been dominating the sports group I’m in with #’s for baseball. #youthmovement for big time plays by guys under 28, #nonathlete for all athletic plays, and #fatmansport for plays made by guys who’s BMI makes them overweight (an inside joke in the group). With that being said the play of the year has already been made and the guy who made it fits the latter # and his name is Bartolo Colon. His homer was so historic that it got it’s very own baseball card. The story behind Bartolo’s comeback in the league is even more fascinating and a great read. He’s truly become the ambassador for the slow pitch softball bodied athletes left in baseball today. Eat your heart out Babe
-As superstitious as the game of baseball is it’s a wonder that the guys agreed to switch to pink shoes, bats, hats ,and mitts for today’s games. It was all fun and games until a struggling Tigers offense didn’t get a hit until they broke the pink bats and were forced to use their regular bats
-David Ortiz is the official Yankee killer and if you didn’t know that just check his stats this year as he’s saying good bye the best way he knows how….taking them yard Big Papi gonna Big Papi
-Lost in all the action so far is the fact that Major League Baseball is looking to expand. Now I don’t know if that is good for the sport or not yet as some people would have us believe baseball is dying, but something must be going good for the league to want to expand. One of the cities reportedly interested in taking an expansion team is none other than Montreal. I for one would love to see the old expos back in action.
-This week’s fun stat is brought to you by the Radio broadcast for the Tigers and Rangers game. According to the Rangers broadcast, in 2015 the Rangers had 100 less hits than Tigers. The Rangers were such a more efficient base running team that they took an extra base 47% of the time the opportunity was given to them. The Tigers on the other hand took an extra base 34% of the time. The difference in runs for each team? With a 100 more hits the Tigers scored almost 70 less runs. Just a reminder that the little things add up in baseball
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