Cubs’ offensive surge puts team in rarified air originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
After a successful six-game road trip that saw them earn a 5-1 record, the Chicago Cubs’ offense has shown that it can be a force to be reckoned with, and they cemented their place among the club’s best starts at the plate in recent memory.
Thanks to a 12-2 win over the Oakland Athletics, which earned them their fourth-consecutive series victory, the Cubs have now scored 99 runs through the first 17 games of the season, with an 11-6 record in those contests.
According to Stathead’s research tools, this marks the 12th time since at least 1900 that they have scored 99 runs in their first 17 games of the regular season, and the first time they’ve hit that mark since the 2019 season.
Of the previous 11 occasions, the Cubs made the playoffs in five of those seasons, and that list includes the 2016 World Series-winning squad.
Only three of their non-playoff seasons during that span have come in the divisional era, which began in 1969 with the expansion of the postseason.
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This year’s team is a far-cry better than the teams of the recent past, which managed to score 85 runs in the first 17 games of 2022 and just 70 runs in the first 17 games in the 2021 campaign.
In fact, Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune cited a statistic that it took the Cubs until July 22 of the 2022 season to score 10 or more runs in five different games. This season, it has merely taken then 17 games after their 12-run outburst against the Athletics.
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The Cubs’ offense is littered with stellar contributions, including Nico Hoerner’s .347 batting average, which was buoyed by his three hits in Wednesday’s win.
Dansby Swanson is batting .333 and scored three more runs on Wednesday, and Luis Torrens, Ian Happ and Nick Madrigal all drove in two RBI’s apiece in the victory.
Patrick Wisdom did not add to his eight home runs on the season, but he came painfully close with an RBI triple in the sixth inning.
The Cubs will now head back to Wrigley Field for the first game of a four-game set against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday night.
