CHICAGO – It is too early in the calendar to begin obsessively looking at the scoreboard, but it also has to be difficult for the Cubs to ignore what their rivals to the north are doing. As Chicago’s offense has hit a team-wide lull, the Brewers have remained scorching hot, beginning to build some distance at the top of the division.
Cubs manager Craig Counsell does not see any point in wasting mental energy on what is happening in Milwaukee at the moment.
“I don’t really spend much time thinking about that,” Counsell said prior to Tuesday’s 5-1 loss to the Reds at Wrigley Field. “We have five more games where we can control their outcomes. Time spent worrying about them other than that is not helpful.”
The five games Counsell referenced start with a doubleheader against the Brewers on Aug. 18, opening a crucial four-day series between the teams at Wrigley Field. That twin bill is a makeup of the rainout back on June 18, which also happens to serve as a sort of separation point for the Cubs and Brewers right now.
At that juncture in the season, the Cubs’ potent lineup had helped the team run to first place in the National League Central with a 6 1/2-game cushion. Dating back to Milwaukee’s win over the North Siders on June 19, the Cubs have gone 20-20, while the Brewers have rattled off an MLB-high 30 wins in 39 games to push Chicago a season-high four games back of first.
Yes, the Cubs still hold the top Wild Card spot – with a three-game lead over the Mets in that race – but capturing the division crown was the stated goal from the jump. That said, this is not late September. This is still early August. There are 49 games left on the slate for the Cubs to find their footing and try to chase down the Brewers.
“It’s so easy to get caught up in looking ahead and scoreboard watching,” Cubs veteran Justin Turner said this past weekend. “Watching the scoreboard, seeing what other teams are doing isn’t going to help us. We’ve got to take care of the stuff that we can take care of, and at the end of the year we’ll be in a good spot.”
To make that happen, the Cubs have to get their lineup clicking again.
In the first five games in August, the North Siders have averaged 2.4 runs with a .192 average and .295 slugging percentage as a team. Lefty Shota Imanaga turned in a strong performance (one run allowed with seven strikeouts and no walks in 6 1/3 innings) on Tuesday night, but the Cubs lineup managed only one run on four hits.
The Cubs’ lone breakthrough was a homer from rookie Matt Shaw, who has hit .320 with five homers and a 1.033 OPS since the All-Star break. Beyond Shaw, however, it has been a tough go for regulars Kyle Tucker (.696 OPS), Carson Kelly (.602 OPS), Dansby Swanson (.518 OPS), Michael Busch (.505 OPS) and Seiya Suzuki (.498 OPS). Pete Crow-Armstrong has posted an .855 OPS since the break, but has gone just 1-for-14 with 10 strikeouts in the past four games.
“We were never going to continue hitting the way we did for the first two months,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said before Tuesday’s loss. “And we’re a better offensive team than we’ve shown recently. That’s just the nature of a long season. We have a very good position-player group. I think that’s the strength of the team – our offense and our defense with this group.
“We’ll get hot again. Hopefully it happens fairly soon. No one wants to watch us grind out these games scoring a couple runs, but these are long seasons. There’s going to be ups and downs.”
The Cubs averaged 5.9 runs per game in March/April and have watched that rate decrease throughout the year (5.6 in May, 4.6 in June and 4.9 in July). The team’s overall slugging percentage has steadily dropped in the process: .451 in March/April, .443 in May, .442 in June and .436 in July.
The recent funk has just so happened to coincide with the Brewers getting red hot, but the Cubs are doing what they can not to focus on anything beyond their own tasks at hand.
“The most important thing for us,” Shaw said, “is [49] games from now, when we’re at the end of the season, what that looks like. That’s a lot of games left. Again, we’re really just looking at tomorrow. We’re going to get rolling. It’ll be good.”