After he hit a homer and two doubles to assist the Cubs clobber the Mariners in Seattle on Wednesday, any person requested shortstop Javy Baez how a lot he was wanting ahead to seeing the Cardinals for the primary time this season on Friday.
“That’s who we play now?” he mentioned. “I really don’t pay attention to that.”
Yeah, proper.
Except he didn’t appear to be kidding.
Javy Baez after a double towards the Cardinals final yr.
And a fast look on the Cubs’ first-month schedule suggests why – and perhaps even a part of why they received off to that ugly begin a month in the past.
“These three road trips have been bizarre, to Texas, Miami, Seattle, where we’ve never been,” teammate Anthony Rizzo mentioned.
The Cubs have performed solely six video games towards division opponents and spent 17 of their first 27 video games on the street, together with two east coast journeys and one out west.
“It’s kind of weird we haven’t played very many NL Central games at all so far,” second baseman Daniel Descalso mentioned.
At this level final yr, the Cubs had performed each crew within the division, a complete of 14 occasions, together with seven towards the Brewers.
By May 1 this time round, the Cubs had performed extra video games towards American League groups (seven) than NL Central groups.
“It’s definitely bizarre, but as the summer hits we’ll see those teams more, and the travel will start to get easier,” Rizzo mentioned.
“It’ll be nice personally to settle in at home and really get into the season.”
Whether any of that unusual, early schedule helps clarify their 1-6 begin, the Cubs are taking part in their finest baseball of the opening 5 weeks as they open their first collection of the season towards the first-place Cardinals – profitable their final 4 straight and 13 of 17 to climb to second place.
The bullpen has a 1.97 ERA the final 20 video games. The pitching workers general has a 2.35 ERA over the past 19. The lineup is averaging 5.7 runs per recreation this season.
Ace Jon Lester is again from a hamstring harm and simply pitched seven dominant innings to beat the Mariners Wednesday. And final yr’s All-Star Cubs hitters – Baez and catcher Willson Contreras – each high 1.000 in OPS as they begin a 10-game stretch of dwelling video games.
The Cardinals are also sizzling, taking a five-game profitable streak into Thursday’s recreation towards the Nationals, with wins in 10 of their final 11.
“You want to know where you stack up with the teams in your division,” mentioned Descalso, a first-year Cub who spent 5 seasons with the Cardinals. “They’re playing really well right now. It’ll definitely be a challenge fore us. But we’ve also been playing really well.”
Nine of the Cubs subsequent 13 video games are towards division opponents, together with subsequent weekend towards the third-place Brewers.
“I think this is what everyone kind of expected leading up to the season, that this division was going to be really good with ourselves, the Cardinals and the Brewers at the top,” Descalso mentioned
The Cardinals look particularly intriguing after including six-time All-Star Paul Goldschmidt to the lineup and two-time All-Star Andrew Miller to the bullpen (although Miller has struggled the primary month).
“They’re good. I’ve been looking at some of their numbers in the paper,” Cubs supervisor Joe Maddon mentioned. “But there’s a variety of familiarity. It’s a variety of the identical aside from Goldschmidt – which is a fairly large ‘except for.’
“But I like their younger pitchers loads. I feel that’s the largest distinction from once they have been struggling the final couple of years and now.”
If the primary month of the Cubs season felt weird, contemplate Friday an unofficial opener for schedule normalcy – with 70 of the ultimate 134 video games towards NL Central opponents. Or as Kris Bryant would possibly name it, the “boring” half.
That contains 16 extra towards the rival Cards after this first-three-game look.
“Every year it’s a battle to beat them. And now the Brewers and the Pirates and the Reds,” Rizzo mentioned. “It’s not like simply this yr as a result of…