The journey toward fielding a competitive baseball team can happen in a multitude of ways, but as long as winning is the result, the other details will take care of themselves.
A perfect example of this is what’s going on in Chicago right now with the Cubs and White Sox.
Based on their young roster and improvements made over the winter, the Cubs are a popular pick to win this year’s World Series. Predictions be damned, they still have to go out and prove it. Even though the season is barely two weeks old, the results have been excellent. Chicago’s National League squad is entering Friday’s game against the Colorado Rockies with an MLB-best 8-1 record.
Meanwhile, the White Sox have seemingly flown under the radar in their own city with an equally impressive 7-2 record. At the moment, they’re tied for first place in the competitive AL Central with the Kansas City Royals.
The schedule is 162 games long for a reason and what happens over the first couple weeks brings no guarantee for the remainder of the year. Still, it’s interesting to see how these two Chicago teams have taken completely different routes with regard to roster construction and on-field play before seeing similar results through nine games.
After watching Joe Maddon and the Cubs produce a 97-win season in 2015 and reach the NLCS for the first time since 2003, most people (if not everyone) expected them to be one of the NL’s best teams once again. Finally, the process of completely tearing things down and rebuilding the organization is paying dividends with a young and elite core group of players ready to break a championship drought that’s over a century old.
http://gty.im/519300426
Those feelings only intensified upon spending big in the free agent market and acquiring guys like Jason Heyward, Ben Zobrist and John Lackey, along with bringing back Dexter Fowler, who is red-hot to start the season.
But on the South Side, those feelings from 2015 didn’t feel as warm and fuzzy. They went for it all the previous winter by acquiring guys like Jeff Samardzija, Adam LaRoche, David Robertson and Melky Cabrera and it just didn’t work. The pitching was strong, but the offense was anemic, and they finished with a disappointing 76-86 record.
With Chris Sale, Jose Quintana and Carlos Rodon on the mound along with Adam Eaton and Jose Abreu in the field under affordable deals, this wasn’t the time to tear things down. It was a time to get a little more creative than the winter before and bolster the lineup without putting a large financial strain on the payroll in the future.
They did just that with trades for Brett Lawrie and Todd Frazier to give Abreu much-needed lineup protection. Chicago continued by bringing in Alex Avila and Dioner Navarro to share catching duties, Jimmy Rollins to provide depth at shortstop and Austin Jackson to help lock down the outfield.
The White Sox adequately equipped themselves with necessary pieces to be a competitive ball club this year, but it was tough to make headlines with their neighbors on the North Side making big splash after big splash. Now that the regular season is underway, it’s interesting to watch these clubs both get off to hot starts, and in essence finding a similar result by going completely different routes once again.
Although the Cubs will definitely miss Kyle Schwarber in the lineup at some point, they haven’t yet missed a beat. Their .820 team OPS ranks fifth in baseball, while their 14.3 percent walk rate is the best and they lead the league with 64 runs scored. The tone is set at the top with Fowler, who’s slashed .467/.590/.733 with six RBI and eight runs scored in 30 at-bats.
They haven’t been too shabby on the mound, either. A cumulative 2.35 ERA (third in MLB) and a crazy 0.89 WHIP (first in MLB) are some of the best numbers produced by any team in the young season.
On the other hand, the White Sox are still waiting for their offense to really come to life. In a small sample size, this group has been better than the 2015 crew, but their .651 team OPS ranks 22nd in baseball, while they’re tied with the Royals for 17th in runs scored, with 34.
http://gty.im/521025066
Manager Robin Ventura and his squad have been leaning on the pitching staff to carry them to success, and it’s been working so far. Chicago’s 2.22 ERA is one of only two teams in baseball that’s currently better than the Cubs, while their 1.01 team WHIP is in a three-way tie for second in the league.
What’s the scariest part when it comes to Chicago’s two streaking MLB teams? Some parts of their lineups haven’t even gotten hot yet. Heyward (.569 OPS) and Anthony Rizzo (.182 average) have combined to drive in 17 runs and score another 13, but they’re far from performing to their career norms.
The same can be said about the White Sox. Abreu (.926 OPS) and Eaton (.960 OPS) are off to hot starts, but Frazier (.556 OPS) and Lawrie (.600 OPS) haven’t done much of anything yet. If the pitching continues to perform and the lineup catches up, the race in the AL Central just got a whole lot more interesting.
The ultimate result for both the Cubs and White Sox hangs in the balance with regard to how they progress from these fast starts. Nearly everyone expected this from the North Side of town, but not so much from the South Side. It goes to show us once again that big splashes in the offseason can be very helpful toward putting a winning product on the field, but it’s far from the only course of action for a team to employ in order to reach the same goal.
From what we can see, there’s every indication to think the Cubs are for real. If the White Sox can follow suit, it’s going to be one helluva summer for baseball in Chicago this year.
Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter so we can chat about baseball: @mmusico8.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
