What to Make of Cubs Series Loss to Tigers
Two of the best teams in baseball faced off this weekend in Detroit as the Tigers welcomed the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs came into Detroit riding high on their seven straight series victories. However, they are leaving the Motor City with only one win as the Tigers took the three-game set two games to one, thanks to stellar pitching, timely hitting, and a bad weekend for the Cubs on the bases. Here are my main takeaways from the Cubs’ first series loss in three weeks.
Quality Pitching Got the Better of This Offense
The Cubs’ offense ranks in the top five in virtually every meaningful team offensive statistic, but there have been many skeptics who have questioned their ability to perform against high-level pitching staffs. It is safe to say this weekend was a feather in the cap for those critics. On Friday, the Cubs faced last year’s Cy Young Award winner, Tarik Skubal, and he was dominant. He went seven and two-thirds innings while striking out six and only allowing one run. That one run came from a Kyle Tucker RBI double, and that was the only run the Cubs were able to produce all game. On Saturday, the run production was there as Chicago scored six runs on their way to an easy 6-1 victory. However, they did not string any hits together; in fact, they did not get a runner in scoring position all game. All of the Cubs’ runs came via the home run ball, and all but one of them were solo shots. So, once again, not a lot of consistent offense. Then, finally on Sunday, Chicago was shut out, and starting pitcher Jack Flaherty cruised to six scoreless innings, where he struck out nine batters, making it tied for the most punch outs by a starter against the Cubs this season. All in all, this weekend was a good litmus test to see how this highly-ranked offense would stack up against one of the better pitching teams in baseball, and it is safe to say they failed the test. That is not to say this offense is in trouble or that they are not as good as the numbers might suggest. It is merely a mere eye-opening takeaway from the weekend.
Poor Baserunning Proved to Be Costly
Bouncing off the previous point, where we discussed the lack of consistency from the bats, the baserunning when the Cubs were able to find themselves in scoring situations was borderline disastrous all weekend. Against Skubal, the Cubs had a chance to break through after Pete Crow-Armstrong singled to lead off the inning, and then Dansby Swanson followed it up with a double down the left field line. Unfortunately for the Cubs, the momentum was killed after third base coach Quintin Berry was indecisive on whether to send Crow-Armstrong home or not, causing him to be thrown out at third base. Later on in that same game, Matt Shaw was thrown out trying to steal second base as the tying run, effectively ending that scoring chance. Then on Sunday, Ian Happ was thrown out at the plate trying to score from second with just one out and two men on base. After Happ was thrown out, the Cubs failed to score in the inning. The silver lining here is that, with the exception of Berry’s indecisiveness, the other mistakes were made aggressively, which you like to see out of a team that has a lot of speed, which the Cubs have. However, these kinds of mistakes need to be cleaned up if this team wants to see success in October, where runs will surely be difficult to come by.
