Cubs Live
With last night’s 5-1 victory over the Cardinals, the Cubs clinched the NL Central for the second consecutive year and are going to the playoffs for the third straight year, which hasn’t been done by the Cubs since 1906-1908. While the Cubs got off to a slow start and didn’t emerge as the best team in the Central until after the All-Star break, the opponent for the winner of the division appeared to be the same the entire season. With the Dodgers holding the best record in the National League for the majority of the season, it was almost a guarantee that whoever won the Central would be going against the winner of the NL East. Let’s take a look at the Washington Nationals, the first-round opponent for the Chicago Cubs.
The Washington Nationals are currently 95-63 and dominated the NL east, earning their fourth playoff berth since 2012. The Nationals are built around excellent pitching and are complimented by dangerous bats. The face of this team is Bryce Harper, the 24-year-old right fielder who won the NL MVP in 2015. Harper is a stud and his biggest concern is staying healthy, as he is just now coming back from a knee injury that sidelined him for the last six weeks. It’s unclear how he will come back for the NLDS and if he’ll be the same person that had a .418 OBP and 1.025 OPS to go along with the 29 homeruns he hit through August 13, but he will definitely be the cause of great anxiety every time he steps up to the plate. Speaking of anxiety, I’m not looking forward to seeing second baseman Daniel Murphy in October. In the 2015 NLCS, Murphy hit four homeruns in the four-game sweep for the Mets and was truly an unstoppable force at the plate. While I doubt his productivity will be to that level, he had a great season in Washington, where he posted a .380 OBP and .923 OPS to go along with his 23 homeruns. He is a threat to reach base or score runs every time he’s at bat, and since he typically bats close to Bryce Harper in the lineup, it will be crucial to get these two out as much as possible to eliminate any offensive threats. The threats don’t end there, as third baseman Anthony Rendon is another MVP candidate. Rendon is a machine at getting on base, as he’s posted a .400 OBP and .299 AVG in 2017. He’s also a threat to go deep, as he’s hit 24 home runs this season. He’s worth 6.7 WAR, which is tied with Kris Bryant and Joey Votto for the NL lead. None of the players I mentioned above are even the home run or RBI leaders for this team, as both of those titles belong to first baseman Ryan Zimmerman with 34 and 103. Zimmerman has spent all 13 years of his career playing for the Nationals and is currently enjoying one of his best seasons. He’s the healthiest he’s been since 2013, his AVG is .296 to go along with his .350 OBP, and he’s posting his best WAR (2.8) since his 2012 campaign. There are some other solid hitters on this team, such as Adam Lind, Wilmer Difo and Trea Turner that all possess threats to create something offensively and will surely earn the respect of the Cubs. As threatening as the bats are for the Nationals, their arms make me more nervous than anything else. Their three-man starting rotation of Max Scherzer, Gio Gonzalez and Stephen Strasburg is terrifying for any offense, as they have posted ERAs of 2.55, 2.75 and 2.63. These three pitchers have combined for 45 wins over 561.2 innings pitched. While posting a much higher ERA at 4.59, Tanner Roark is a reliable fourth starter that has been able to pitch more innings (180.1) than anyone on the Cubs. These four all give up less home runs than Lackey and Lester, as their team leader for home runs given up is Roark with 23, which is tied with Arrieta. Scherzer (263), Gonzalez (186) and Strasburg (196) are all great at making batters look foolish, as they have more strike-outs than the leader for the Cubs, Lester (173). What was once considered the Achilles heel of the Nationals, their relief pitching, has improved drastically over the season. Sean Doolittle is a great closer as he has converted 21 saves, has a 1.86 ERA, a 9.31 K/9 and is worth 1.2 WAR. Ryan Madson is also great out of the pen as he is pitching the best he ever has for the Nationals, as he’s posted a 1.45 ERA with the team and hasn’t given up a home run in 18.2 innings pitched. Brandon Kintzler and Matt Albers are also solid men in relief that can cause some trouble for the Cubs. On paper, the Nationals are every bit as dangerous, if not more, than the Cubs. They are solid in all areas and are built to make a deep run in October, but they are yet to do that. I mentioned that this is the fourth time making the playoffs since 2012. In the three previous trips, they are yet to make it out of the NLDS. While the 2017 Nationals may be the best one out of the bunch, those three squads did win 98, 96 and 95 regular season games. The Cubs have proven they can win in October and bring back the majority of the core from the 2016 World Series team and honestly may be deeper on the bench with players like Tommy La Stella, Albert Almora Jr, Ian Happ and Jon Jay all experiencing big years. While those four won’t all be on the bench every game, I can assure you they won’t all be starting at the same time, and having guys like that ready to contribute off the bench is huge in the postseason. It’s going to be a very fun and competitive series against the Nationals, but if we can break into their bullpen early, I like our chances. Our pitchers are proven prime-time performers in October and we all know how clutch our hitters can be. The road in 2016 wasn’t easy by any means and 2017 will likely be harder, but I’m ready to Fly the W 11 more times.
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Kyle MalzhanFounder who is an aspiring journalist who covers the Chicago Cubs daily. Archives
April 2020
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