Not that I expected anyone to read it, but I did some fun research for yesterday’s game preview. Basically, the Cubs are currently first by a mile in position player fWAR, but dead last in pitching fWAR. This has never happened over a full season; the closest I found was bottom five-ish (and not even that close to the bottom) for a top-ranked hitting/defense team, or, on the flip side, the 2000 Angels, who were dead last in pitching but second in position player fWAR.
So, the Cubs have a chance to
do something kind of amazing depending on how the last couple of weeks play out. But, there’s a catch: right now, the Cubs are just barely behind the Nationals in pitching fWAR. Another day of the Nationals getting blasted while the Cubs do okay could flip things. The Cubs probably won’t catch the 28th-ranked team, but first and 29th has happened before, while first and 30th hasn’t.
So, do you think they’ll “pass” the Nationals over the last few games of the season? Or, are we going to see something truly incredible from a pretty good team?
