Almost a month into this MLB season, you can’t talk about the top teams in the National League and omit the Chicago Cubs from the list. With a top-tier offense and a never-say-die attitude that’s already led to multiple late-inning comebacks, the Cubs have been among baseball’s most entertaining team to watch from a fan’s perspective so far.
If you felt the atmosphere in Wrigley Field during any of this team’s dramatic rallies against the likes of the Arizona Diamondbacks or Los Angeles Dodgers, you would think the playoffs were being played in April. That is because fans everywhere have been dying for their beloved Cubbies to return to the postseason after a five-year hiatus, and with Kyle Tucker now in the mix, it looks like they are finally on track.
After a two-game sweep of L.A., the Cubs enter the weekend at 16-10, three games clear of the pack in the NL Central. But why stop there? Chicago just dispatched the consensus best team in baseball, after all; so is it time to start taking them seriously as World Series contenders?
The argument for the Cubs as the NL’s top team is two-fold. For one, they’ve had the most challenging schedule in the league and they’re still six games above .500 after season series wins against the Dodgers and Diamondbacks plus a split with the San Diego Padres and a series win against the Texas Rangers.
After losing Justin Steele for the season, the Cubs have not skipped a beat, and a Tucker-led offense is making the North Siders one of the most feared offenses in the league. As great as Tucker has been in his debut season, superstar-in-the-making Pete Crow-Armstrong leads the team with 1.9 fWAR. Tucker is also in the top five with a 1.6, and if they can collectively put together numbers like this against the best pitching in the league, the sky is the limit.
As great as their league-leading 6.27 Runs Per Game mark has been, the Cubs’ downfall has been their bullpen struggles, which sits near the bottom of the league. Still, it hasn’t been enough to take away what this team has thus far accomplished.
Is what we’re seeing sustainable from the Chicago Cubs?
The Cubs offense has been dominant of late, and it’s hard to assume they will regress that much with a lighter schedule coming up. The glaring weakness on this team is its bullpen, but Jed Hoyer is vigilantly looking for upgrades to both the ‘pen and starting rotation after Steele’s injury.
With high prospect capital, Hoyer has the funds and farm system to make several key additions at the trade deadline without taking the Cubs over the luxury tax. Chicago doesn’t need to add another bat to its lineup for once; Tucker, Seiya Suzuki, Michael Busch, and Crow-Armstrong are on pace for over 90 RBI. They will need to add a couple of arms to this roster to make it deep into October, but there’s no reason to believe they won’t be able to do just that.
Ultimately, it’s hard to determine “the very best team” in the NL after only 25 games. The Cubs are right there in the conversation, but it will be their leader, Hoyer, who needs to ensure they remain in that category. For now, you’re watching arguably the best baseball from the Cubs since they won the World Series in 2016.
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