Off Day Cubs Math Before the Dodgers Steamroll Them

In Other Topics by Rice Cube109 Comments

I’m mostly kidding about the title but not really, as objectively the Dodgers are quite good at baseball, but then again the Cubs have also shown some promise and given us cause to be excited, so perhaps it will be another situation where the Cubs win one, lose one, and the third game is a coin flip just as in the opening series against the defending World Series champs. But I saw this random tweet from Baseball-Reference and had a chuckle:

The Cubs have only played six games and those guys up top in Assad and Imanaga have only pitched once each, but I guess B-Ref needed content and engagement so we got it! It certainly is nice to have 0.00 ERAs instead of whatever obscene number Kyle Freeland currently has. This also motivated me to just look some stuff up on the 2024 Cubs so far. Yeah sure the small sample size caveats absolutely apply, but it’s still fun to look at!

Batting Average: Yeah, nobody should really look at this these days, but it’s still fun to see five Cubs regulars batting .300 or above, and of course that is totally sustainable. The Cubs are led by Ian Happ’s .391 which was boosted by his one bonkers game where he just hit everything, and followed by Christopher Morel (who is making contact like crazy), Seiya Suzuki (ditto), Michael Busch (who reached this with the Rockies series when he warmed up in the cold, ironic, don’t you think), and Dansby Swanson. In limited action, Garrett Cooper is also hitting .500 because that’s what matchups do!

On-Base Percentage: Because the Cubs are playing new Moneyball, we like guys who get on base, and it seems Ian Happ is doing that at a .500 clip. Including Happ, seven Cubs regulars have OBPs at .370 or above, and the team lead in walks is shared between Happ, Mike Tauchman (!), and Nico Hoerner (!!!) at five each. Everyone but Yan Gomes has reached base safely so far, so poor Gas Money is obviously washed and should retire now.

Power: The Cubs have smacked a few homers so far and that’s been fun! Even if we ignore Garrett Cooper’s ridiculous small sample line, we have Christopher Morel and Seiya Suzuki leading the way with two bombs apiece, and Morel’s regular-ish lead in OPS is 1.131 which is fun.

Defense: Ewww, six errors already. This is a bit more visual because of Morel’s early troubles at the hot corner, but I feel like they’ll give him just a tad more leash to clean it up. Dansby and Nico being sloppy is also rather unexpected, but I’m going to say it’s the weather and Texas being lame.

Anyway, just fun stuff to do on a Cubs off day while barely listening to this HR seminar.

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  6. berselius

    Mets still have a hilarious chance to go into extra innings and lose in both games of a double header

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  13. berselius

    Series Preview: Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles (7-2) at Chicago Cubs (4-2):

    The Dodgers are really good

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  14. berselius

    Dang, old pal J-Hey is on the DL with a back injury. A true team guy, hurting his back in solidarity with Bert.

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  16. berselius

    To-day’s base ball squadron

    LF Happ
    RF Suzuki
    CF Belli
    DH Morel
    SS Swanson
    1B Busch
    2B Hoerner
    3B Madrigal
    C Gomes

    P Cyle

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  17. Author
    Rice Cube

    berselius,

    Do hope Morel gets a bit more runway at 3B but today makes sense with Kyle the contact manager…Morel seems to be in his own head sometimes but maybe they can get him a sports psychologist to work that out, the range is there, the arm is there, just gotta put it all together, but I don’t think they have the luxury of too much more time.

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  22. andcounting

    berselius,

    Rice Cube,

    I don’t think it’s all that psychological because he’s never been very good at third and hasn’t been that much worse lately. Conditions are still shit, and he can still practice like crazy focusing on 3B. DH-ing is not like when he’s switching positions every other day trying to make adjustments back and forth, so it’s still a much different plan. Hendricks is likely to see a lot of balls in play, and you simply can’t afford to give the Dodgers extra outs.

    No offense, but I do pretty much hate the “give him runway” metaphor. He’s not getting up to speed or improving his efficiency. He’s trying to stop screwing up all the time, and that’s not what runways are for (dying Boeing).

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  29. andcounting

    Betts/Ohtani/Freeman is such a joke (dying laughing). That’s going to be 1–3 in the NL All-Star lineup as well.

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  35. andcounting

    Nothing but strikeouts from literally the hardest throwing and lightest throwing starting pitchers in the majors (based on fastballs).

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  43. berselius

    Seems like the netting down the 1b line is way baggier this year, maybe Nike is branching out from uniforms

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  55. andcounting

    berselius:
    This might be the first time I’ve seen a starter shelled on their birthday (dying laughing)

    (dying laughing)

    I’ve never seen a pitcher go from total dominance to totally dominated from the first to the second inning quite that dramatically.

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  77. Author
    Rice Cube

    All things considered this was a better start for Kyle than the one in Texas, rough slate to pull to start the season for him but gotta find a way for him to get through at least five more often than not

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  86. Author
    Rice Cube

    Perkins,

    It has to be on Counsell’s mind to some degree but I do think Morel gets his time at 3B until Shaw is ready (which honestly might not be until June even if he’s blazing)

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  103. andcounting

    Rice Cube,

    Sure, but the point is, today was pretty much an average offensive day today. 6.4 runs a game, no games with fewer than 5 runs. If the wind changes direction, this shit is going to be wild.

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