The Chicago Cubs are turning heads across the league after an Impressive start to the season going 17-12 in the month of April. Through their first 29 games, the Cubs had the toughest schedule in all of baseball. Their opponents have a .573 winning percentage so far this year- the most in MLB. They have gone through the gauntlet that is the NL West and are now squaring off for the first time against a divisional rival AND a team under .500. You know you had a good month when Dodgers fans are thankful they don’t have to face you anymore.

Not only have the Cubs stood up to the challenge, they had a little fun streak-busting while they did it too. The Cubs ended the Padres 7-0 start to the season, ended the Dodgers 7-0 start at home, ended the Padres 11-0 start at home, AND Snapped Shohei Ohtani’s 29 game on base streak. Pretty impressive to say the least.

The Cubs offense is leading the way of this fantastic start (the bullpen is still abysmal but we’re staying positive today). They have a +48 run differential (3rd best in baseball), have score 181 runs so far (the only time they scored more was 2016 when they scored 184), and they are averaging a whopping 6.03 runs per game. The Cubs are also on a rare pace to start the season joining the 1997 Colorado Rockies as the only teams to hit 40+ home runs & steal 40+ bases through their first 30 games. They got the power AND the speed to be the best in the National League.

P.S. the stats above were typed previous to the Pirates series. Currently their run differential is even better at a +52 mark.

The offensive explosion to start the season is a big thanks to Carson “Barry Bonds” Kelly, Kyle “Needs a Blank Check” Tucker, and Pete “MVPPCA” Crow-Armstrong. It is not all them, but their production has been absurd. The Cubs have 6 players on their roster with at least a 1.0 WAR already and 5 of them are batters. The production 1-9 has been the story of this season, so let’s dive into some more stats:

• Seiya Suzuki has been a top 5 hitter in the league since Aug. 21 of last season (59 games). His OPS in that span is .983 and the only players better (min. 200 PA) are Aaron Judge (1.172), Shohei Ohtani (1.082), and Kyle Tucker (.991).
• The Cubs have 3 players who are top 10 in the NL in fWAR so far this season- Pete Crow-Armstrong (2.0), Kyle Tucker (1.5), and Carson Kelly (1.5).
• After this past series in Pittsburgh, Ian Happ extends his streak to 44 consecutive games with reaching base at PNC park.
• Along with Seiya Suzuki and Ian Happ, Michael Busch has been criminally underrated. In 91 away games between ’24-’25, Busch is hitting .285 with a .365 on base and .502 slug. In that time he has 17 homers and 52 RBIs. MAKE HIM BETTER SDS he should be at least a silver in MLB the Show by now!!
• Prior to the final two games of the Pirates series, Pete Crow-Armstrong has been on an absolute tear since July of last season. Since then he has batted .286/.337/.498 with 13 home runs, 18 doubles, 3 triples, 20 stolen bases, and a .836 OPS. Pair that with his elite defense and PCA is a legitimate MVP candidate.

Looking back over the first month a bit:

• Carson Kelly was the first Cub to hit for the cycle since Mark Grace did it on May 9, 1993. It was the 12th cycle in franchise history.
• Kyle Tucker became the first Cub to hit 4 home runs in the first 8 games of the season since Donnie Murphy did it back in 2013. Give the man an extension ASAP.
• Ian Happ played in his 1000th game as a Cub. Among Cubs players all-time, he is one of four to have 3+ Gold Gloves and 150+ home runs (Ron Santo 5/337, Ryne Sandberg 9/282, Anthony Rizzo 4/242, & Ian Happ 3/151).
• Nico Hoerner has the 5th highest batting average with runners in scoring position for the Cubs since 1974 (min. 400 ABs). That list includes Mark Grace (.315), Aramis Ramirez (.311), Larry Biittner (.310), Derrek Lee (.308), and Nico Hoerner (.307). Safe to say Nico is pretty clutch.
• Since 2006 there have been 5 Cubs players to hit a game-tying home run with 2 outs in the 9th inning at Wrigley Field. Miguel Amaya joined that list April 22 when he helped the Cubs cap off a comeback victory against the Dodgers.
• Mathew Boyd has had the hardest strength of schedule faced (.619) in all of baseball with a minimum of 5 starts. He currently has the best ERA on the Cubs with a 2.70.

While I may be missing some nugs, I can some most of it up by saying the Cubs are absolutely raking. Just imagine if the bullpen was actually good, there would be a few more than 19 wins at the moment!

Now, the Chicago Cubs will travel to Wrigley North to take on the Brew Crew before returning home to Wrigley for a series against the Giants at home. While this offensive production may not last forever, I am enjoying every second of it while it lasts.

One more thing worth mentioning, Moises Ballesteros has a 17 game hit streak in Triple A Iowa right now. The 21 year old is hitting .396 with a 1.055 OPS in 25 games this season. He is absolutely demolishing baseballs. Could we be seeing a new addition to the 40 man soon? If not him maybe Matt Shaw can return to the bigs. He is currently hitting .324 with a .943 OPS in 10 games since being sent down.