Outmuscled

 

It really is this simple, even still. The Cubs have six guys in their starting lineup with over 500 plate appearances, and all of them are among the best hitters at their position. Bregman, PCA, Suzuki, Happ, Hoerner, Busch. All show up every day and do their absolute best and outhit everybody, and they do that. One of them's probably winning an MVP unless Shohei has anything to say about it. The Cubs' hitters are hitting .250, there's three guys with over 20 homers [the whole outfield], and even the less-heralded positions have extremely good security. And yet because the pitching staff has a combined 4.6 WAR, compared to the hitters' 31.5, I'm not sure what kind of playoff team the Cubs are going to be.

Like, let's be honest, the Cubs went into July knowing they needed to fix the rotation, and they did. They already picked up David Peterson, then they got Kevin Gausman and Clay Holmes. The rotation is now Imanaga-Boyd-Peterson-Holmes-Gausman, and you all see how that's better, right? Holmes has been terrific in 4 starts, with a 1.96 ERA, and Gausman's continued his steady but not prime season with a 2-1 record and 22 Ks. Peterson's 4-1 with a 3.93 ERA in 9 starts. Obviously this is better. But it's still not elite. Without Justin Steele, Cade Horton or Ben Brown, it's not elite, and the Cubs will need to hope that Imanaga stays this sharp, or that Boyd continues his upswing. They have Daniel Palencia back, he is closing games, but he's still a little shaken. The bullpen's a liability in general still. They got Ryan Zeferjahn to prevent this and he hasn't helped at all.

So the idea is just to keep hammering away, which is effective. PCA's now going for the 30/30/30 season, he's at 26 doubles. Happ has come alive again all of the sudden, he's looking for his 25th home run sooner or later. Carson Kelly's been very steady, he's got 8 homers and 45 RBIs, continuing his positive production from last year. Michael Conforto's been an excellent DH, he's got 12 homers and 33 RBIs. Pedro Ramirez has been a HUGE help filling in for Swanson, he's hitting .291 with 21 RBIs and 10 doubles. They've had some huge wins in the past week, including scoring 19 runs against the Mariners, and now get to play the Reds this weekend as they head towards a quiet fall.

I just know that the other teams in the NL will be more balanced. The Phillies have great pitching and some definite stars in the lineup. The Braves and Brewers have both facets in droves. The Dodgers obviously are balanced. I can see this team outmuscling the Padres but that's basically it. Unless the Cubs somehow figure it out in a way that fixes all the issues the pitching has had all year, they may exit the postseason around when they did last year, and I really don't want that for them.

Coming Tonight: One of the single most consistent all-around performers in the game. He's got two World Series rings. Right now he's trying to get his team to the playoffs, which is way tougher than it should be.