Arbitrary Home Run Facts That Prove the Cubs are Getting Better

Photo of Evan Altman Evan AltmanApril 15, 2015

Through the first eight games of the season, the Cubs have hit 8 home runs. That may not seem like much, but when you consider that they tallied none in their first three contests, it starts to look a little better. Rizzo’s first dinger of the year meant that they’ve now homered in 5 straight games, which hasn’t happened since, someone help me out here…

Thanks, Carrie. Yeah, that sounds right. It seems to me that there was something significant about one of the games during that stretch too. If only I had a walking research department to help me recall what it was…

There you have it folks. Not only have I begun each of my paragraphs with a “th” word, but the Cubs have now begun (defined loosely, since the homers weren’t from the leadoff spot) games with homers over 4 months earlier than they did last year.

That’s not to say the team is better simply because they’ve hit first-inning homers earlier in the season, though it’s certainly a nice sign. On the whole, though, the team just appears to have a much better approach, something that is borne out in plate discipline stats.

This is too early to be talking about playoff contention and such, but it doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to figure out that if you are seeing more pitches and putting more men on base, good things are going to happen. When you put those men on base in front of mashers like Anthony Rizzo, Jorge Soler, and Chris Coghlan (get behind me, regression to the mean!) even better things happen.

Think they can make it 6 games in a row when the Padres come to visit on Friday?

 

Photo of Evan Altman Evan AltmanApril 15, 2015
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