On May 2, the Pittsburgh Pirates will face the Chicago Cubs for the first time in 2016. Three weeks into the season, the Cubs are living up to their preseason hype.
As Jake Arrieta was mowing down the Cincinnati Reds as part of his 18-0 no-hitter on Thursday, a sobering realization likely fell over Pirates fans.
These Chicago Cubs are for real.
Give credit where it’s due. Although there was nothing inherent in Arrieta that suggested his performance would greatly regress, there was some thinking that his lofty numbers might cool down with the advent of a new season.
That simply has not happened.
Jake Arrieta last 24 regular season starts:
20-1, 0.86 ERA, 178.0 IP, 91 Hits, 173/33 K/BB, 0.697 WHIP.
These are REAL numbers. #Cubs— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) April 22, 2016
Of course, there is more to the Chicago Cubs than Arrieta. The north-siders stole headlines with the signings of Jason Heyward, Ben Zobrist and, to a lesser extent, John Lackey. But, their best move this season might have been re-signing Dexter Fowler.
After some drama in the offseason, Fowler returned to the Cubs and has been a revelation. Through Thursday’s game, he had posted a 1.6 WAR by way of 20 hits and a .392/.523/.706 slash line. Fowler has always been a good on base guy who could do a bit of everything. If he can maintain even a percentage of his early season performance, his presence would mean more to the club than other higher-priced acquisitions.
In looking over the rest of the Cubs, most of their other major cogs are performing more or less where you would expect them to. The bullpen would be an exception. Thought to be the one glaring chink in the Cubs’ armor, the relief corps – especially their late inning options – has been outstanding. Hector Rondon in particular has surprised, with a 0.250 WHIP and a negative FIP (-0.96). Pedro Strop has been an exemplary set-up man, with a 0.474 WHIP across his seven appearances.
Having said all of that without even mentioning Kris Bryant or Anthony Rizzo would likely lead you to believe that the Cubs are officially “for real” even considering that we are only three weeks into the season. I’m going to tack on a qualifier or two.
They are probably for real. Maybe.
Look, it’s hard not to look at some of the numbers the Chicago Cubs are putting up and marvel at what they are doing. But it’s also hard not to look at that bullpen back-end of the rotation and wonder if they can’t be gotten to. It’s also fair to wonder what their lineup’s production might look like if Fowler comes back down to earth and other bats have cold stretches.
The Pittsburgh Pirates will have a chance to exorcise some demons next week when the Cubs return to PNC Park for the first time since ending the Pirates’ 2015 season. Their performance against the early NL Central favorites will tell us a lot about the Pirates, but it may tell us even more about the Chicago Cubs.
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