A Tale of Two Teams

  June 5, 2018

Cub fans led by Chicago Tribune’s Paul Sullivan are all giddy regarding the Cubs recent 5-1 road trip.  In the words of Seth Meyers let’s take a closer look.

The Cubs split a brief two game series with the mediocre and fading fast Pirates. Losing the second game with their powerful offense scoring one run. The next four games were against the awful Mets. This team has one of the worst line ups in baseball.  They have scored 231 runs. For comparison the Cubs have 293. Aside from Chatwood the Mets scored 2 runs in three games The Cubs couldn’t hit deGrom but no one does. He is one of the best pitchers as he leads the league in ERA. My favorite is game four of the series. The Cubs didn’t hit much but the Earl Weaver play of the pick off to first resulted in Baez stealing home. The second run, a sacrifice short fly could have been averted if the right fielder calls off the second baseman to make the catch. Ah you can’t beat fun at the old ball park.

I know you have to play the schedule, just don’t get too excited about dominating the Mets. On a more promising note the bullpen has been really good and Brandon Morrow up to this point a great closer. This bodes well in today’s game where winners have to possess great relief pitching.

The Cubs can thank the White Sox playing their best games of the year, taking two of three from the Brewers shrinking their lead to two. Dylan Covey looks like he has figured things out after getting pounded last year. He is now the mix along with Carlos Rodon coming back this weekend against Boston. This series has all the makings of a disaster. Boston is the best team in baseball, the other Sox one of the worst.

 The Brewers are one of those teams following the lead of the great bullpen that led Kansas to a World Series title.  They have pitchers to cover the 7^th 8^th and 0^th innings. However, if you get the starters out early or have the game tied, the middle relief is very beatable. The White Sox won beating up on two former Sox relievers Matt Albers and Dan Jennings. Contrary, the Sox finally got some good relief pitching.

The hitting has been spotty at best. Moncada hasn’t got his stroke back after going on the DL. To combat his high strike out totals, it’s good to see him more aggressive earlier in counts. Abreu  leads the league in doubles andis hitting close to .300. Would like to see more home runs. Danny Polka can hit and would be a perfect DH but that means a bad Trayce Thompson plays. Don’t look now Adam Engel is hitting over.220. Considering he was well under .200 this is good. Probably this won't last.

 The Seattle Mariners are in first place one game ahead of the Astros in the AL West. Although this is surprising let me tell you why. Jean Segura .331 and Dee Gordon .296 , 19 stolen bases set the table for Mitch Heniger 42 RBI and .871 OPS  and the always dangerous Nelson Cruz. This line up

gets even better when Robinson Cano returns. The starting pitchers led by James Paxton who has a no-hitter and Felix Hernandez who is starting to look like his old self. The Mariners also have the best relief pitching to cover the latter innings. James Pazos, 1.99 ERA, Chasen Bradford 1.31 ERA ad Edwin Diaz 21 saves and 2.84 ERA.