For the primary offseason in three years, the Chicago Cubs can put together for normalcy.
No COVID-19-shortened season affecting evaluations and limiting pitchers’ workloads the next yr. No lockout imposed by Major League Baseball to forestall entrance workplaces and training staffs from speaking and dealing with gamers for 4½ months.
The Cubs can construct off the developmental strides they made, notably on the pitching facet, as they enter an essential offseason for the course of the franchise.
They ended the season on a excessive be aware Wednesday, blowing out the Cincinnati Reds 15-2 to cap a 74-88 season. They went 39-31 after the All-Star break.
“From my seat, you always want to point (out) that it’d be nice to be popping champagne at some point. That’s where we’re trying to get to,” supervisor David Ross mentioned after the season finale. “But these guys are true fighters.
“I told them that after the game, they fought all year, a lot of adversity, a lot of change, a lot of ups and downs, a lot of guys making their debuts going through what it’s like to get through 162 games, and these guys fought all the way. I’m super proud of how they finished.”
The path again to the postseason took a step ahead with the emergence of youthful pitchers and improved inside pitching depth — which ought to proceed to be a power subsequent season — in addition to Ian Happ’s all-around consistency leading to a profession yr and Seiya Suzuki’s encouraging rookie season.
But the expertise hole between the Cubs and the highest title contenders stays apparent. Spending cash within the coming months is a should to complement the present roster and the rise of their high prospects to the higher ranges of the minor leagues. With the caliber of gamers accessible in free company and the cash the Cubs ought to have the ability to spend, fielding a postseason contender is a practical aim for 2023.
“We’re at the back end of a season — not where we want to be,” Ross mentioned Wednesday. “I nonetheless need to be taking part in, in order that’s the best way I replicate. I take a look at it like we’re going to be higher actually quickly. Like, let’s hurry up and get there as a result of I’m able to play in October.
“I’m jealous of the teams that are going on to play, and I’ll have to watch that on TV. We’re almost there, but we’re not yet and we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
In dissecting what went proper and fallacious for the Cubs in 2022, right here’s a take a look at three numbers that outlined their season.
42: Record variety of pitchers used
For the primary time in franchise historical past (apart from the 60-game 2020 schedule), the Cubs completed the season with out a pitcher throwing a minimum of 140 innings.
They wanted 42 pitchers to get by means of the 162-game grind. That included 9 who made their major-league debuts, three place gamers (Andrelton Simmons, Frank Schwindel and Franmil Reyes) and a single-season franchise-record 17 beginning pitchers. The earlier document of 15 starters occurred eight instances, most not too long ago in 2006.
Congratulations to anybody who can title each pitcher the Cubs trotted out to the mound this yr.
The 42 pitchers ties the major-league document set by the 2019 Seattle Mariners and matched by the 2021 Baltimore Orioles and 2021 New York Mets. Injuries to starters examined the Cubs’ pitching depth as Wade Miley, Drew Smyly, Marcus Stroman and Kyle Hendricks had been sidelined for chunks of time.
The Cubs couldn’t overcome the rotation’s accidents in the course of the first half of the season, at one level having Miley, Smyly and Stroman on the injured checklist on the similar time in June. While the game has developed lately with how beginning pitchers are used — specifically limiting many from going through lineups a 3rd time by means of and valuing multi-inning relievers in bulk, leverage spots to bridge to the back-end relievers — efficient innings-eaters nonetheless have worth.
Pitching depth issues solely a lot if it isn’t bolstered by top-tier expertise. Acquiring a top-of-the-rotation starter must be among the many Cubs’ highest offseason priorities.
98: First-inning runs
For all of their offensive shortcomings, the Cubs had a knack for leaping on beginning pitchers early. They ranked sixth within the majors in first-inning runs scored.
Often these runs opened the scoring in a recreation. The Cubs scored first in 95 video games this season, third within the majors behind the Houston Astros (98) and Mets (96).
The Cubs didn’t capitalize on their early scoring as a lot as they might have. They went 51-44 when scoring first, and when video games had been shut late, they struggled at instances to complete them off, going 26-27 in one-run video games.
Some of these points in squandering leads come right down to expertise. Few of the regulars within the lineup entered the yr with greater than a season or two of on a regular basis beginning expertise.
3.33: 2nd-half employees ERA
This was the Cubs’ second-lowest ERA after the All-Star break since 1977, surpassed within the final 45 years solely by the 2016 World Series champions’ 2.90 ERA. The rotation was particularly nails over the ultimate three months, posting a 3.33 ERA for the fifth-best mark throughout that span behind 4 groups who’re within the postseason.
Adrian Sampson completed issues off for the rotation with two runs (one earned) in 2⅔ innings Wednesday earlier than exiting as a precaution due to proper groin tightness.
Cubs relievers set a single-season franchise document with 656⅓ innings pitched, exceeding final yr’s mark of 631. The bullpen produced loads of whiffs, combining for 716 strikeouts to guide the majors whereas additionally setting a single-season group document. The next-closest bullpen, the Minnesota Twins, completed with 41 fewer strikeouts.
The organizational pitching expertise is there and gives a strong jumping-off level for 2023.
()
Source: www.bostonherald.com