What’s wrong with the Chicago Cubs?
By Brad Weiss
A year removed from winning the World Series, the Chicago Cubs have gotten out of the gate slow in 2017, which has been surprising.
108 years.
That is how long it took for the Chicago Cubs to win their latest World Series, the longest drought in Major League Baseball history. The 2016 season was one of magic for the Cubbies, who won the National League Central by 17.5 games, their first division title since 2008. With a nice blend of young superstars and veteran leaders, the Cubs steamrolled the competition. They won a league-best 103 games and cruised into the playoffs looking to avenge their 2015 National League Championship Series loss.
During the season, the Cubs made it clear that they were going for it all. They traded away one of the best prospects in baseball, Gleyber Torres, to the New York Yankees for closer Aroldis Chapman on July 25. That move gave the team the shutdown closer they would need to make a serious run towards the World Series, which came to fruition in October. With home-field advantage during the National League playoffs, the Cubs beat the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers to make it to the Fall Classic for the first time since 1945.
The incredible run that was the 2016 season looked to be over, as the Cubbies fell down 3-1 to the Cleveland Indians in the World Series. Not only did they need to win Game 5 at home, but then go on the road and win Games 6 and 7 inside Progressive Field. They did just that, clinching their first title since 1908 in a 10-inning classic that saw Chapman pick up his second win of the playoffs. It was a fitting end to a season that finally ended the Curse of the Billy Goat.
Coming into the 2017 season, many predicted the Cubs would once again be the premier team in the National League. During the offseason, Chicago lost Chapman back to the Yankees, who signed him as a free agent to be their closer for the next five seasons. In his place, the team traded outfield Jorge Soler to the Kansas City Royals for Wade Davis, who saved 27 games in 30 opportunities for the Royals last season.
In the rotation, the team added Brett Anderson, who battled back issues as a member of the Dodgers last season. The biggest addition to the offense is a player who was injured for nearly the entire regular season in 2016, as Kyle Schwarber will be counted on to be the team’s leadoff hitter in 2017. Schwarber was able to make it back for the team’s championship run last season, and having him at the top of the lineup will provide pop that most teams cannot match.
On paper, this team should be better than last year’s group. However, this team has struggled out of the gate, winning only six of their first 13 games. The hitting has been shoddy, and though the pitching staff has done a nice job holding up its end of the bargain, the inability to drive the baseball is a bit alarming.
Last season, this Cubs lineup finished in the top-five of the National League in slugging percentage and batting average. This season, the team is 13th in slugging, and has hit a league-worst nine home runs. No player on the team has more than two home runs through the first 13 games of the season,while no regular batter is hitting over .290 so far.
The lone bright spot on the offense has been Jason Heyward, who struggled mightily during his first season with the team in 2016. Heyward leads the team with a .283 average, which is a great sign after batting only .230 last year, while pretty much being a non-factor in the playoffs. Kris Bryant, who won the Most Valuable Player Award last season, is last among regulars with a .212 batting average, while World Series MVP Ben Zobrist is hitting only .214.
As a team, the Cubs have struck out 119 times in 447 at-bats, which includes 509 plate appearances. That is a high number for a team that is mostly made up of younger players who have gotten ample experience during their first few seasons.
Luckily, Chicago has the best team ERA in the National League, with Jake Arrieta, Jon Lester, and Anderson leading the rotation. John Lackey and Kyle Hendricks have been hit hard to start the season, but nothing too alarming . Davis, who has replaced Chapman as the team’s closer, has also looked good, allowing no runs during his first six appearances for the Cubs.
If there is a silver lining, the other expected contenders in the division have also struggled out of the gate. The St. Louis Cardinals look awful this season, and the Pittsburgh Pirates received word on Tuesday that star outfield Starling Marte will be suspended for 80 games due to PED use. The biggest surprise of the season has been the play of the Cincinnati Reds and Milwaukee Brewers, who currently sit in first and second place.
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Bryant and Zobrist are going to hit, and while he is only on pace to hit around 11 home runs this season, Anthony Rizzo is certain to crush that mark. Schwarber looks healthy enough to play every day, and players like Albert Almora Jr. and Jon Jay have shown to be pretty clutch with the stick through the team’s first 13 games.
If the pitching holds up, the Cubs should be in the thick of things before long, recapturing their spot as the best team in the National League. The addition of Anderson to the rotation looks like a stroke of genius early on, and general manager Theo Epstein will have some moves up his sleeves come time for the trade deadline. It looks bad in Chicago right now, but by the end of May, this slow start will be a thing of the past.