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If I had to describe the Cubs season-opening four-game set in Miami in one word?
Meh.
Generally speaking, expecting a team to win three out of four games heading into a series is unrealistic. Split your fours, win two out of threes and you’ll be sitting pretty come September. Especially on the road.
However, the Marlins may be the worst team in baseball on paper and one would expect that playing down to the competition would be unlikely given the first weekend of the year adrenaline. So, all things considered, Cubs fans were expecting three or four wins this weekend, so coming away with only two was a bit underwhelming.
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An opening day homer-fest, a 17 inning loss, a 10th inning win, and a shutout loss. Let’s get to the details.
THE GOOD:
Bullpen
23 innings. 2 earned runs. 1.08 WHIP. All without closer Brandon Morrow recording an out.
7 scoreless (until Morrow came in an allowed an inherited runner to score the winning run) frames in extras from Eddie Butler was the highlight of the weekend, but six other relievers pitched at least twice in the series and they all looked really, really good. Bullpen depth is key, so it was a great sign to see everyone firing on all cylinders on opening weekend.
Addison Russell
The 24-year-old shortstop is coming off of the worst season of his worst career. From off the field issues, to people calling for Baez to move over to shortstop full-time, to offseason trade rumors, this feels like a make-or-break season for Russell. He’ll likely be a Cub for the foreseeable future, but 2018 should be the year that tells us if he is a focal point of the core or just a set piece.
Having said that, hopefully opening weekend was a sign of things to come for Russell. He was all over the field defensively and reached base safely in 10 of his 19 at-bats, with four walks and two doubles. He only whiffed twice all weekend. More of those results please, Addison.
Kyle Schwarber
I thought about keeping him off this list for his wretched fourth inning in the field on opening day. That thought lasted for half a second.
We already knew that Schwarber is one of the worst defenders in all of baseball. Losing weight wasn’t going to do much to change that, if you thought otherwise that’s your own fault. His job is to pummel baseballs and he did that his weekend.
He had 16 plate appearances, and he reached six times. That’s good for an excellent .375 OBP. He had one walk, one single, two doubles and two mammoth-sized home runs. That’s his job. If he keeps doing that, he’ll stick in the lineup.
Schwarber and Russell’s importance to the 2018 Cubs can’t be understated, at least in this man’s opinion. The following thread by fantastic Cubs twitterer Aaron Kennelly sums it up wonderfully.
I think there are two key X-factors for this team: Addison Russell and Kyle Schwarber. We still don't really know who those guys are. We know about Bryzzo. We know Heyward is bad until he isn't. We know the rotation is really strong (despite a horrendous start to the year).
— Aaron Kennelly (@aaron_kennelly) April 1, 2018
Russell & Schwarber are important not only because they can help us win games this year, but they can help us decide exactly what our core is & how to build around it. They can still be part of the core if they don't improve. But it's a lot easier to build around them if they do.
— Aaron Kennelly (@aaron_kennelly) April 1, 2018
If those two keep that kind of performance up, they can make a case for being mainstays in the lineup. It allows us to mix-and-match with the Super Platoon guys like Zobrist, Happ, and Baez. Let them all sort out the rest.
— Aaron Kennelly (@aaron_kennelly) April 1, 2018
THE BAD:
Starting Pitching
Kye Hendricks had a good debut but Lester, Darvish and Quintana did not put the team in good positions to win. They combined to give up 15 earned runs in just 13 2/3 innings. Yuck.
Each one of their starts followed a similar pattern. Outside of a two-run bomb Darvish allowed to the second batter he faced, all three pitchers were sharp through the first few innings. Q actually was tossing a no-hitter through four. Around the 70 pitch mark, each pitcher’s command started wavering and velocity started dipping. These guys will figure it out and build endurance as the season goes on, but a focal point of Spring Training for the staff was making sure it won’t take until the All-Star break for them to feel 100%. As long as these guys are up to full speed by the end of April, the Cubs will be fine. But it wasn’t a good start.
The Leadoff Guys
Ian Happ and Albert Almora made two starts each leading off, and after Happ’s homer on the first pitch of the season, the duo combined for next to nothing the rest of the weekend. After Happ’s homer he and Amora comined to go 2-24 with two singles, two walks and 10 strikeouts, eight of those from Happ.
I’m as excited as anybody about Happ getting first crack at leading off, and Almora getting looks at the top of the order vs LHP is more than fair. I’m still on the Happ train, but if his ridiculous K% rate doesn’t drop to, bare minimum, under 30 percent by the end of the month than a change should be made.
Monday’s game in Cincinnati didn’t look much different, I don’t think there is a more frustrating loss in baseball than a 1-0 loss. The Cubs kick off a four-game set in Milwaukee tonight and while the reactions, win or lose, will be overblown, we’ll get our first taste of division rivalry baseball. That’s something to be excited about.
