The Chicago Cubs are currently 18-12 and in second place in the NL Central behind the Cincinnati Reds. As they battle through several injuries to their pitchers, the biggest one being Cade Horton out for the season, the offense has stepped up big time to combat those. Chicago is currently second in the MLB in runs scored with 164, third in batting average with an average of .261, and fourth in home runs with 40. The best player has been second baseman Nico Hoerner, who is 7th in the MLB in hits with 36 and third in runs batted in with 26. Nevertheless, everyone has made contributions to the team, and the Cubs are looking good so far.
Chicago started the season with series against the Nationals, Angels, Guardians, Rays, and Pirates. They went 7-8 in that stretch and were actually struggling a little bit. The injuries started to pile on, and the offense wasn’t so hot to start. The Cubs played at home against the Nationals, Angels, and Pirates and traveled to play the Guardians and Rays. A little concern was mounting as available pitchers were going down and not a lot of runs were being scored. However, a certain spark put those worries to bed.
That spark was a 10-game win streak where the offense blossomed. It started with 2 wins in Philadelphia, and then the Cubs swept the Mets at home. I was at the April 19 game where Chicago won 2-1 in the 10th inning on a walk-off RBI sac fly by Nico Hoerner. Next, the Phillies came to Chicago for a four-game series and were swept as well. Finally, the Cubs went to LA to play the Dodgers and won the first game of the series 6-4, as they came back from being down 4-0. This was much-needed for Chicago, as lots of runs were scored and they got to a 17-9 record from those wins. Currently, the Cubs are in San Diego playing the Padres and just won the second game of the series 8-3 last night. The finale is today at 3:10 PM with Jameson Taillon as the starting pitcher. Overall, the Cubs are doing well so far, and hopefully they can continue to do so as they look to go further in the playoffs than last season.
