Well I'll be flavor-blasted. It appears that the Cubs are actually gaining ground again.
Right at the end of the Phillies series, this team burst back to life, and has been dominating the Angels and, surprisingly, the Orioles ever since. That was the wild part to me, because the Orioles are one of the best teams in the league, and yet they only put up 2 points against them over the entirety of the series. Though, in fairness, it might be their turn to go cold, considering how the Yankees did against them last night. But the Cubs, for the first time since April, feel overpowering, multifaceted and just plain good.
It boils down to their top 4 in the rotation. Even without Assad, this rotation just works. Jameson Taillon, Shota Imanaga and Justin Steele are all in terrific shape right now. Steele had a dicey start but has had an unprecedented run since, and has his ERA at 2.71 now, lower than Imanaga. Not that Imanaga's been bad, it's just been rougher compared to his start, but he's still 8-2 with 98 Ks. Taillon, just like last year, has been a refreshing surprise midyear, he's 6-4 with a 2.99 ERA. I like that Taillon no longer feels the need to completely overpower people anymore, and he's definitely found his control since his comeback in New York.
And the strange variable here has been Kyle Hendricks, who's been Jekyll-and-Hyde all year. He was terrible to start, then he found his control and had a nice June run, then he lost it again. Last night against St. Louis he seemed to have his stuff once more, but who knows how long that'll last. Still, for this specific moment in time when the Cubs are surging and need guys like him and Hayden Wesneski, it's very helpful that he's switched back on.
We're also finally seeing more from this lineup. Nico Hoerner's picked July to get hot, he's already hitting .270 this month with 5 RBIs. Swanson's also heating up, and has 17 RBIs since the start of June. Seiya Suzuki's also back to his earlier dominance, he's got 42 RBIs and 12 homers. And Ian Happ is slowly and surely doing Ian Happ things, he's now got 14 homers and 56 RBIs. I think Happ is happy he stuck around, as he could have been dealt circa 2021-22.
The Cubs are now toe-to-toe with the Pirates for third, and are catching up to the Cardinals during this series. It is entirely possible they work their way back. Not inevitable, the Pirates and Cardinals, and Reds, are still very good. But it could definitely happen, and this week could be the first step in that direction.
Coming Tonight: Imagine if you knew there was a party in your house coming up that most of the people that actually live in your house weren't invited to. That's probably how this guy feels heading into All Star week.
It was certainly surprising that they swept the Orioles in dominating fashion. There were rumblings about being sellers at the deadline, which could still happen, but this may be enough to put a stop to that plan
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