Levine: Chicago Cubs Offense Can Be Suffocating
By Bruce Levine--
CHICAGO (CBS) -- This version of Cubs is only different in a few subtle ways as the team comes back to the Wrigley Field for the first time in 2016.
The 25-man roster has four new additions this season. One starting pitcher, one bullpen swing man and two position players have been added to the club. Last year's group won 97 games and advanced to the NLCS.
The pitchers are starter John Lackey and reliever Adam Warren. The position men are second baseman Ben Zobrist and right fielder Jason Heyward.
As Cubs front office watched the playoffs unfold last year, the one trait that seemed to be missing was top-of-the-order contact hitters to set up the power men. It appeared that lead-off man Dexter Fowler would be gone in free agency, but he returned late in the winter, which now gives Joe Maddon three table-setters who can get on base and also mash a long ball at the top of the order.
Executives Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer watched their lineup get pitched to, as the Mets rolled over their ball club in a four-game sweep last October. The additions of Heyward in the two hole and Zobrist in the three spot behind Fowler allow for two switch-hitters to be sandwiched around a left-handed bat.
So far, the Cubs' offense has been too much for the opposition to handle. Through six games, Chicago's averaging seven runs per game. The Cubs are tied for second in baseball in runs scored and lead all of baseball in run differential (plus-27).
Watching some really good opposing starting pitchers crumble against the patient and efficient Cubs batters has been enjoyable for Epstein and his front office to watch.
"It's nice to have that on your side," Epstein said before the home opener. "It really works having a relentless lineup. We are full of professional hitters. It works on so many different levels. It works as far as pure baseball reason: If you get on base, you are going to score a run. It works psychologically because you become that team that no starting pitcher wants to draw."
Epstein gave an example of how his offense has impacted the Cubs, who were off to a 5-1 starts.
"You saw the look on a couple of those starting pitchers' faces as they had to face our lineup moving into the fourth and fifth inning," Epstein said, referring to the opening road trip. "Their pitch counts go up. The at-bats have a cumulative effect within the course of the game and the second time through the lineup. By the third time through, you get into their bullpen. This has a cumulative effect through the course of the series. It can have that effect over the course of the season as well."
The lineup can boast seven or eight hitters on a given night who have a .344 or better lifetime on-base percentage. Even a strikeout can wear a foe's pitcher down, as it's not uncommon for the Cubs to work for seven or more pitches in an at-bat.
"That is a great thing to have on your side," Epstein said. "I know I hate facing teams like that. Once you develop the reputation as a team that does that, year after year players come in and try to fit into that program you have created."
The Cub pitchers are also going to have less stress knowing the lineup can wipe away early leads by the opponent. Exhibit A in that regard was Lackey gives up six runs in the first three innings of his start last Thursday. He then followed up with three shutout innings as the Cubs offense came through for him in a 14-6 win.
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.
