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If the 2016 Cubs truly are back, it's hard to think of a better litmus test than a home series against the Cardinals. Of course, the Cardinals have been disappointing relative to non-BP expectations as well this year. The main thing that has taken a step back is their offense, which trailed only the Cubs in wRC+ among NL teams …

The Cubs are in the middle of a brutal scheduling stretch that has just three home games in a span of three weeks. At least the Nationals are only the penultimate team during this stretch, rather than the capper. Who the hell schedules back to back four game road series like this? Good job, good effort, MLB. Though it's not …

I feel extremely vindicated in my confidence that the Rockies were going to be good this year. Please disregard any comments that I may have made in the podcast to open the season about how they would end up with a worse record than the Padres, that must have been deceptively edited. Oddly enough, the Rockies record is not built …

Well that was, uh, not great. At least the Cubs transition from playing one of the best teams in the league to one of the worst. Weird shit tends to happen on west coast road trips though, so who knows what will happen. The Padres are as bad as their record, with the second worst offense in baseball by wOBA …

The Dodgers pitching is tops in the league, which is not a huge surprise, but their offense is way better than I would have guessed as well. They were fourth in the NL in offensive production last year, and are right there again in 2017. Turner, Grandal, and Seager are having big years as expected, but they are also getting …

As much grumbling as there has been at the Cubs slow start, this series offers a stark reminder that it could be much worse. The Giants season can be summed up with the fact that Giants ace Madison Bumgarner, who has been out since late April due to a dirtbike accident, has the team's third highest offensive WAR on the …

There's a little less smoke and mirrors going on with the Brewers record compared to the team the Cubs just swept. The Brewers are simply scoring a crapload of runs, in large part thanks to Eric Thames's scorching hot April. He has slowed down a bit in May, but he's anchored what has been a pretty good offense, middle infield …

Well, here we are in fourth place with a losing record. Just like we thought at the beginning of the season, right? The Reds have been streaky all year, already with two four-plus game winning streaks and losing streaks. Votto continues to be Votto and Cozart is building on last year's solid season, but the WAR leader on the team …

While the Cubs scuffled against the Yankees and Rockies, the Cardinals ripped off a six game winning streak because, Cardinals. Their pitching has rebounded from early season struggles to have the second best ERA in the leage (n.b. they are tied in FIP with the Cubs), and their offensive wRC+ is smack on 101. They even have fewer HR than …