The Chicago Cubs currently have the best record in all of baseball. With a 16-5 mark, they lead the NL Central by a relatively wide margin over the St. Louis Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Pirates, and they also are at the top of the overall standings thanks to timely hitting, great pitching, and a stellar job from the bullpen.
Several experts have questioned them, and others say they are likely to cool off because this kind of performance isn’t sustainable in the long run.
We can put all those comments to rest. The Chicago Cubs are set to dominate the league both this year, during the rest of the decade, and probably a few years after that. Based on the team’s youth, the length of the contract in the core players, and the fact that their most important elements are all 25 or younger, there’s no question Chicago is well equipped to make a run at a World Series title sooner than later.
It all starts in the dugout with the leadership of Joe Maddon and Dave Martinez. The former Tampa Bay Rays manager won the NL Manager of the Year in 2015, and he’s the early favorite for the award in 2016 due to the marked improvement the Cubs have shown early on.
The rotation has been stellar as well. Jake Arrieta currently leads the Majors with a 5-0 record and a 1.00 ERA, and he also registered the first no-hitter of the season against the Cincinnati Reds last week. The team’s success, however, doesn’t rely solely on the reigning NL Cy Young: Arrieta, Jason Hammel and Jon Lester all have an ERA under 2.00, and Kyle Hendricks has a respectable 3.52 mark. Any team would gladly take that sort of effectiveness from its fifth starter.
The bullpen has very pretty solid, too. Hector Rondon and Adam Warren have yet to allow a run, and the group of Justin Grimm, Pedro Strop, and Travis Wood all have an ERA under 3.50. The Cubs might not have the bigger names coming out of the pen, but they certainly have one of the most effective corps in all of baseball.
The offense has been even better. Despite the fact that they lost Kyle Schwarber for the entire season with a serious knee injury, the team hasn’t missed a beat, and they currently have baseball’s best run differential with +74. To put things into perspective, the next best team in that department is the St. Louis Cardinals with +48.
The real picture of how dominant the Cubs have been this year lies on the batting average of some players. The Chicago Cubs are already 11 games over .500 with the following averages in its everyday lineup: .224 (Addison Russell), .213 (Anthony Rizzo), .208 (Miguel Montero) and .185 (Jorge Soler). Out of the regular starters, only Ben Zobrist (.257), Kris Bryant (.289) and Dexter Fowler (.356) are hitting over the .250 mark.
Fowler, in particular, has enjoyed a hot start to the season. After getting close to sign with the Baltimore Orioles during the offseason, the outfielder chose to return to Chicago on a one-year deal, and the move has paid off so far: Fowler ranks Top 10 in all of baseball on both average and OBP (.473). Rizzo also separates himself on the statistics as the first baseman ranks in the Top 10 on both home runs and RBI.
As we can see, the Cubs have been pretty successful both on offense and defense. It seems like they have the right mix of players to succeed, and there’s talk of them being capable enough to break The Curse. The Cubs haven’t won the World Series since 1908, and it seems they are pretty close to do it this year.
It’s a long season, but we can’t deny the Cubs are here to stay. They certainly are the team to beat in the young 2016 MLB season.