On Wednesday, the Chicago Cubs won a baseball game against the San Diego Padres, 23-3. Dansby Swanson had 3 home runs and 8 RBIs, coming off a game where he had 2 home runs and 3 RBIs. Then yesterday, the Chicago Cubs lost a baseball game 17-1 to the St. Louis Cardinals. Dansby Swanson, who came into the game hitting .210, now sits at a measly .208. I know, if you can't take it, don't deal it, but it's gotta be a wild 48 hours for the Cubs. The Padres might even be a better overall team than the Cardinals, but in those games, the stars both aligned and slammed shut to provide the outcomes we got.
The Cubs are a truly confusing team, in that they should be better than they are, and oftentimes do capitalize on the talent they have but not in a way that boosts them long term. Without Justin Steele, Cade Horton, Jameson Taillon, Ben Brown and Edward Cabrera, this team is sort of balancing plates trying to keep teams down. Matt Boyd is back, he's been fine thus far, if still a bit imperfect. Imanaga's been struggling but is still a decent option. Rea's having an awful year, Assad's mostly eating innings, and David Peterson got the snot kicked out of him yesterday. Additionally, the bullpen's falling apart as well, with Palencia, Hoby Milner, Phil Maton, Ethan Roberts, Riley Martin, Hunter Harvey and Shelby Miller all out. If the pitching injuries was actually a map of the active roster this would be a first place team. Unfortunately it is not, and this team is just plugging guys into places [Bryse Wilson, Trent Thornton, Tyler Ferguson] and hoping nothing goes wrong.
And it sucks because this team truly can hit, and confidently so. The team's sent down Moises Ballesteros, who went cold after May, and Michael Conforto's been playing DH in his place, and he's not half bad. Hitting .248, 7 homers and 21 RBIs. Not Mets good but a good role player. Seiya Suzuki's got 13 homers and 42 RBIs, and Ian Happ's got 17 homers and 41 RBIs, meaning with PCA that's an entire outfield of solid run producers. With the exception of the DH spot, it's an entire lineup of people with a WAR of 1.4 or higher [weird that Nico Hoerner's bringing up the rear after a great start], and all of these guys know how to score runs and keep pitching scared.
But, as we've seen time and time again, that means nothing without a comprehensive pitching staff. And the Brewers are leading this division, handsomely, because they can backup their lights-out lineup with guys like Jacob Misiorowski, Kyle Harrison, Brandon Sproat, Brandon Woodruff and Shane Drohan. The Cubs don't really have more than just one of those guys right now, at best. Which is why a team can take them for 17 points. I think if this pitching staff can grow back over time, and recoup to the level its potential let on, this team could make a wild card run, but...even then, Cabrera was on and off before getting hurt, Taillon's just completely off this year, and there's no chance of Horton being back til midyear next year. Steele is still a 'wait and see' thing, and who even knows what he'll look like when he gets back.
The Cubs should hold onto days like Wednesday, where they can take a team for over 20 points, and figure out how to get around days like yesterday. Cause they have a team that could compete, it's just not complete yet.
Coming Tonight: A man I've never known to throw a pedestrian season...yet here he is throwing one..
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