The Cubs came out of their first series having left 42 runners on base. Now, to be fair, counting extra innings, the Cubs have played almost one more full game than most teams, and we’re talking only one weekend.
But still, they left 42 runners on base in Miami.
Their offense has gone eight runs, then one, then 10 runs, then none. Their offense has gone like last year, and if you forgot, that was aggravating and inconsistent.
The Cubs’ situational hitting stinks this year, even worse than last season. In 2017, the Cubs hit .253 with runners in scoring position, tied for 19th in the majors. This year, their .149 average with runners in scoring position ranked third-worst coming out of MLB’s opening weekend.
The leadoff spot had two hits since Ian Happ’s homer on the first pitch of the season. Anthony Rizzo went 3-for-20. In the 17-inning loss Friday, the Cubs received the equivalent of two quality starts and rewarded neither, as the 3-4-5 hitters combined to go 1-for-21 while the Cubs left 15 men on base and finished 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Just to clarify: Not a good thing.
Yeah, it’s early and a small sample. But this doesn’t represent an improvement. This is worse in an area of the game where more of the same would be considered worse, as well.
Maybe it’s local bias, but this feels like it shouldn’t happen with a lineup that often runs Kris Bryant, Rizzo, Willson Contreras, Kyle Schwarber and Addison Russell. If you’re scoring at home, that’s MVP, potential MVP, potential MVP, potential MLB home-run leader, and potential MVP. Maybe that’s why this looks so aggravating. This lineup should never be bad, should never fail to get the runner home.
But it does. We’ve seen this before. We saw it last year. It’s back, and that’s the early concern, something that has carried over, like Jon Lester losing velocity.
Yu Darvish allowed five runs on five hits and two walks in 4 1/3 innings against the miserable Marlins, who forced him to throw 102 pitches. That’s some debut for the $126 million starter.
But Darvish didn’t think he was “too bad.” Quick, someone teach him the translation for lousy. Darvish is new around here. He has never won a World Series. The grading scale around here is different.
Michigan coach John Beilein said the Wolverines eventually will reunite the “Fab Four.’’ Just like the first time, it’ll take money.
The Dallas Stars have been eliminated from the playoffs, meaning the two winningest active coaches, Joel Quenneville and Ken Hitchcock, will sit out the postseason while an expansion team gets the second seed in the Western Conference. I’m not sure that’s anything more than coincidental, but you watch, it’ll get some coaches and GMs fired.
The Patriots met with the mess formerly known as Johnny Manziel both before and after his workout last week, according to reports, and the disaster formerly known as Brandon Weeden, who hasn’t played since 2015, just got a contract. But Colin Kaepernick, with Super Bowl experience and a career quarterback rating of 88.9, does not have a deal, or even a sniff. Apparently the NFL’s defense in court has moved from overt blackballing to its default setting of utter stupidity.
What’s up, Pat Borders?
