Cubs have been consistently bad through April

Through the first month of the season the Cubs rank 9th in the NL in runs per game. They’ve scored 4.08 runs per game and the NL average is 4.25.

The Cubs pitching has allowed 5.27 runs per game, which is 3rd worst in the NL. Only Arizona (5.35) and Houston (5.59) have been worse.

The Cubs have the second worst Defensive Effeciency in baseball at .664. Some of that is luck of course, but some of it just the poor defense behind the pitchers. Only Houston’s .642 is worse. The Cubs average of Total Zone, DRS and UZR is 4th worst in baseball at -9.3. Only Seattle, New York Mets and Houston have been worse.

The Cubs have made the 5th most outs on the bases (does not include stolen base attempts, pickoffs or force plays). It includes getting doubled off on a liner or flyball, making an out attempting to take an extra base, trying to advance on a fly ball, wild pitch or passed ball.

The only thing that’s surprising is the rank of the pitching staff. We were expecting them to be above average. We expected the Cubs offense would be below average and we expected they’d be pretty bad defensively and on the bases.