Chicago Cubs 2018 Season

#251      
Hey wake up Cubs, spring training is over. Apparently they still have a World Series hangover from two seasons ago.

They had a similar start to the season last year and went on to the NLCS. It's not fun to watch right now, but I'm hesitant to generalize two-ish weeks into the season.
 
#252      
Coming into the game today, they were 10th in MLB (6th in NL) in runs scored per game and 10th in MLB (5th in NL) in runs against per game. Not great in either respect, but also hardly bad, and the combination of the two should result in a winning record over the long term if they keep up the rate.

No one has started off too horribly with the bat except for Rizzo who's on the DL.

The starting pitching has been inconsistent. One good start, one bad start, but the bullpen has been lights out.

They're batting a ridiculously unsustainable .193 with RISP (27th in MLB, 14th in NL) versus .242 overall (8th in MLB, 3rd in NL). That will even out over time. They were .255 overall and .253 with RISP last year.

My conclusion: Small sample size bad luck that will sort itself out over time.
 
#258      

KBLEE

Montgomery, IL
The weather has taken a slight turn for the better and the bats have already woken up. 6-1 Cubs in the 3rd inning.
 
#259      
The weather has taken a slight turn for the better and the bats have already woken up. 6-1 Cubs in the 3rd inning.

Long 10 game (scheduled) road trip to start the season plus 5 rain outs in the first 15 games. It’s been a strange herky-jerky start to the season.

I expect things to start to look more normal once the team has an opportunity to get into a rhythm.
 
#262      
Please, Javy, keep hitting like this.


I think it's pretty safe to assume that he's not going to slug .740 for the season.

But if he can keep laying off the low and away breaking ball while taking the ball the other way if the pitcher leaves it up in the zone, there's no reason he can't slug about .550, with an OPS in the .900s, 30 home runs, while leading the league in scoring out of the 2 hole. Which would be spectacular.

Schwarber keeps up what he's doing, Almora hits .300, and Heyward posts an OPS+ in triple digits and the offense will be unstoppable.
 
#263      
[ W ] #10

What a wild end to a wild game.

Back above .500 (again). Almora with a great day in the field.
 
#264      
Cubs ‘11 through ‘14 first round draft picks, Baez, Almora, Bryant and Schwarber have combined to post a .306/.375/.593 slash line in 293 plate attempts so far this year.

Hopefully ‘15 first round pick Happ has busted out of his slump and the .318/.348/.545 he’s posted over his last 8 games is a sign of things to come from him.
 
#265      

KBLEE

Montgomery, IL
Cubs ‘11 through ‘14 first round draft picks, Baez, Almora, Bryant and Schwarber have combined to post a .306/.375/.593 slash line in 293 plate attempts so far this year.

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#266      
Cubs ‘11 through ‘14 first round draft picks, Baez, Almora, Bryant and Schwarber have combined to post a .306/.375/.593 slash line in 293 plate attempts so far this year.

Hopefully ‘15 first round pick Happ has busted out of his slump and the .318/.348/.545 he’s posted over his last 8 games is a sign of things to come from him.

Has there ever been another instance of a team having 5 consecutive first round draft picks in the lineup together?
 
#269      
Never in the same lineup at the same time because two were pitchers, but the White Sox had a pretty amazing run of ‘87 Jack McDowell, ‘88 Ventura, ‘89 Big Hurt, ‘90 Alex Fernandez.

The Astros have ‘11 Springer, ‘12 Correa, ‘14 Fisher and ‘15 Bregman. Pretty amazing how they weathered their disaster of a ‘13 draft.

While quickly checking other teams’ first round picks, I noticed that the Yankees had a grand total of 2 first round picks in the 11 drafts between 1978 and 1990 due to free agent compensation penalties. Think that might be why they went through that mid-80s to early-90s dry spell?
 
#270      
[ W ] #11

Nice to see the offense put up a 10-spot on one of the best pitching staffs in baseball (without Kris Bryant in the lineup).
 
#271      
I don’t think it’s appreciated how young the Cubs’ position players still are. Even now, two years post World Series, only the White Sox and Phillies have a younger group of position players on average.
 
#272      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
Never in the same lineup at the same time because two were pitchers, but the White Sox had a pretty amazing run of ‘87 Jack McDowell, ‘88 Ventura, ‘89 Big Hurt, ‘90 Alex Fernandez.

The Astros have ‘11 Springer, ‘12 Correa, ‘14 Fisher and ‘15 Bregman. Pretty amazing how they weathered their disaster of a ‘13 draft.

While quickly checking other teams’ first round picks, I noticed that the Yankees had a grand total of 2 first round picks in the 11 drafts between 1978 and 1990 due to free agent compensation penalties. Think that might be why they went through that mid-80s to early-90s dry spell?

They turned Appel into Ken Giles who is their closer or at least was last year. That's the benefit of having a deep minor league system. I guess one could consider it a disaster since Appel is out of baseball but he never pitched for the Astros.