Post by Matt Meyer | @Bluto51 on Twitter
Entering the 2023 season, the question surrounding the Chicago Cubs was how close they would be to becoming a legitimate playoff contender. Four weeks into the season, early returns suggest that the Cubs are on the right track.
Start on the mound. Chicago has the 7th best ERA in baseball. Marcus Stroman and Justin Steele have formed one of the best 1-2 punches on anyone’s rotation. Drew Smyly has had a solid start to his season, taking a perfect game into the 8th last week against the Dodgers. After a slow start, Jameson Taillon has shown signs of getting back to his 2022 form before missing some time with a groin injury.
The bullpen has been good as well, although the roles of the relievers are somewhat in flux a month in. Oklahoma City native and Deer Creek product Michael Fulmer got the first shot at being the closer, but he’s blown a couple saves and has struggled so far, particularly in a couple of games against Los Angeles. The rest of the pen has been pretty effective, led by Keegan Thompson and Mark Leiter Jr. Since getting healthy, Brandon Hughes has been the go to left hander out of the pen, and the Cubs could probably use another lefty or two to balance things out.
Offensively, the Cubs have the 2nd best batting average, 2nd best on base percentage, and the 5th most runs scored in the Major Leagues. 2B Nico Hoerner has been fantastic leading off, hitting .336. SS Dansby Swanson has cooled a bit after a fantastic start but has had a nice first month in Chicago. LF Ian Happ has continued to hit like an All Star. Cody Bellinger looks like his old self at the plate, hitting .300 with 5 HR’s so far, and he’s been tremendous in CF. RF Seiya Suzuki has been solid since returning from an injury in spring training. 3B Patrick Wisdom has 9 HR’s. The Cubs don’t hit a lot of long balls, but they make a lot of contact, striking out the 3rd fewest times in baseball to this point. Chicago’s 25 SB’s are fifth best in the game as well. My kind of offense. Lot of contact, good amount of speed, low strikeouts.
Cubs are in the bottom half of the league in fielding percentage and errors committed, but Bellinger, Swanson, and Hoerner are all tremendous defensively, and Suzuki has been solid in RF.
Chicago has a nice thing going but they could use to add another bat, maybe two bats, and you can never have enough pitching. Maybe the return of Kyle Hendricks will bolster what’s been a good rotation so far. Is this team a World Series contender? No, but if they can remain relatively healthy and continue to play as they have in the first month, a playoff berth isn’t out of the question.