After falling off the face of the earth for five games, scoring just one run a night with every single run coming via a solo homer, the Cubs bats have risen from the dead. Since trading for a despised dirtbag in Daniel Murphy, the Cubs have won five straight while scoring 7.4 runs a game.
The offensive boost, which has featured 12 home runs, has been a welcomed sight. But, with all due respect to the Tigers and Reds, the Cubs haven’t been facing very challenging pitching.
That will be a different story tonight and tomorrow, as two of the most talented hurlers in the game in Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom will take the ball for the visiting Mets.
Syndergaard has struggled slightly (by his standards) this season as he’s spent much of the last two years on the disabled list, but he still has some of the best velocity and nastiest stuff in the game. The 30-year-old deGrom is having arguably the best season of any pitcher in baseball, he’s essentially been unhittable.
Getting shut down the next two nights shouldn’t invalidate what the new look Cubs offense has accomplished, they’re likely to pick up where they left off in the coming days. But a strong performance tonight and tomorrow would be damn impressive and would force the rest of the league to take notice, if it hasn’t already.
