I don’t have to tell you that the Cubs have been just awful over their last 28 games, going 7-21 after a 27-12 start.
That leaves them just one game over .500 entering tonight’s contest against the Rockies at Coors Field.
Let’s look at some of the numbers from that great 39-game start, and then the same numbers from the 28-game collapse (and really, it can’t be called anything other than a “collapse” right now.
Over the first 39 games the Cubs batted .258/.354/.429. They scored 215 runs (5.51 per game)
and had 62 doubles and 51 home runs (1.31 homers per game). They drew 185 walks (4.74 per game) and struck out 308 times (7.92 per game).
In the last 28 games, the Cubs batted .213/.304 /.334. They scored 98 runs (3.5 per game) and had 39 doubles and 25 home runs (0.89 homers per game). They drew 111 walks (3.96 per game) and struck out 254 times (9.07 per game).
So as you can see, the Cubs got significantly worse in every offensive category over the last 28 games. They’re still walking at a decent rate, but even that is down from earlier in the year.
But it’s not just the bats that have gone silent. The pitching staff has just gotten pounded.
Over the first 39 games, Cubs pitchers had a 3.75 ERA and 1.189 WHIP, with a 4.15 FIP. They allowed 47 home runs (1.21 per game), issued 123 walks (3.15 per game) and struck out 323 (8.28 per game).
In the last 28 games, Cubs pitchers posted a 5.17 ERA and 1.325 WHIP, with a 5.23 FIP. They allowed 51 home runs (1.82 per game), issued 80 walks (2.86 per game) and struck out 208 (7.43 per game).
The home run number is ghastly. It’s gone up by more than .60 per game, and the 98 homers the Cubs have allowed this season are the most of any team (four more than the Nationals).
So it’s basically everything. Over the 28 game slump the Cubs have been outscored 148-91. That’s an average of 5.29 runs allowed and 3.25 runs scoreed per game — so they’ve been outscored by an average of two runs per game for an entire month, basically. They’ve been shut out four times and scored one or two runs nine other times, winning just one of those nine (2-o over the Braves May 14, largely thanks to great pitching by Ben Brown).
What is the answer to this?
Well, if I knew that, I’d certainly tell Jed Hoyer and Craig Counsell.
It’s mystifying how an entire team can slump this badly, both offensively and the pitching staff. Some of the pitching issues are injury-related, but not all of them. What’s happened to Shōta Imanaga, for example, is almost inexplicable. How does a guy pitch lights-out for nine starts (2.32 ERA, just five home runs in 54 innings), then just get absolutely hammered by opposing hitters (four starts, 10.80 ERA, 12 home runs in 21.1 innings)?
I have to believe these guys are all better than they’ve shown over the last 28 games. Usually, when a team’s hitters or pitchers go into slumps, they have other guys on the team to carry them. The only Cubs hitters who have hit reasonably well over the last month are Pete Crow-Armstrong and Michael Busch. The only pitchers who have been solid for that time are Ben Brown and Jacob Webb.
It will turn around. It has to. Right? Right?
