Ivy League Cubs

By: Jacob Zanolla

Just as Cubs fans were hoping, the Braves lost in brutal fashion on Sunday Night, with the Phillies winning their four game series 3-1 in walk-off fashion.

The Cubs were absolutely fantastic in August, going 18-8. They scored 155 runs, the third most in all of baseball. On August 1st, a 53-58 record had them in last place in the NL Central, and the 12th best team in the National League. Once August wrapped up, they had jumped to second place in the division, and 8th in the league. While the Brewers will clinch the division sooner rather than later, it’s quite interested to notice how far all of the other teams fell while the Cubs continued to climb the standings.

Other than Cody Bellinger and Michael Busch, the entire offense was borderline elite. Christian Bethancourt joined the squad and had a 1.330 OPS in ten games. His catching partner Miguel Amaya started to hit as well, with a .318 average and 19 runs batted in. The best player in August has to go to Pete Crow-Armstrong though, because his bat was on fire every time he came up to the plate.

Combined as a team, the Cubs put up a 120 wRC+ with a .459 slugging and 36 stolen bases. Going off of wRC+, they were the third best offensive team in baseball, only behind the Diamondbacks and Yankees (tied with the Padres). They also averaged 5.96 runs per game, which puts them in a position to win pretty much every game.

August 28th was easily the best win of the season (so far), proving the resiliancy and talent that we’ve been told was there all along. Thanks to Christian Bethancourt’s seven RBI game, the Cubs came back from down 10-3 and beat the Pirates 14-10. They have three more games against the Pirates, where they once again have to face Jared Jones and Paul Skenes (who we’ve already had to face several times this year). Then again, if this offense stays rolling, there’s no reason another sweep can’t take place.

As of Monday afternoon, Fangraphs has the Cubs playoff odds at 6.9%, with there still being sizeable ground to make up before October rolls around. The Braves are three games above them, but the Mets are only two games ahead. A problem that occured last year, and will once again most likely have a large impact, is the lack of tiebreakers that the Cubs hold over any of these Wild Card teams. Even if it’s pretty unlikely that a playoff appearance happens for this Cubs team, why not have some fun and hope for a miracle? As Ted Lasso says, believe.

Photo Credit: Sportsnet

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