Chicago Cubs: Critical home stand awaits
The defending champion Chicago Cubs return home in search of answers, and wins.
The Chicago Cubs return home for a 10-game home stand beginning on Tuesday. It is their longest home stand thus far this season. While no panic buttons are being pressed, the Cubs are in need of their fortunes turning quickly, thus making this a very important stretch of games.
The Cubs sit at 18-19 on the season as they welcome the Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Brewers and San Francisco Giants. The matchups should favor the Cubs well, and may very well be the jolt the team needs. Against the divisional foes, the Cubs are 6-3 this season, and are the superior team. It may also be a good time to face the Giants as well, as they are currently near the bottom of the National League. San Francisco also has Madison Bumgarner, Mark Melancon and Hunter Pence on the disabled list. It will be the Cubs’ first meeting with the Giants since defeating them in the NL Divisonal Series last October.
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This will be Chicago’s third home stand of the season, and hopefully the home field advantage will start to factor in for the Cubs. Joe Maddon‘s club has actually had losing records in their first two home stands this year. But with the weather starting to improve, might it also lead to more wins at the Friendly Confines?
For the first time in a long time, the Cubs are experiencing a bit of the injury bug as well. Kris Bryant missed the entire series in St. Louis over the weekend. Addison Russell, Ben Zobrist and Jon Jay were also dealing with injuries. All figure to be back and available as the Cubs don the home whites once again. Jason Heyward is still on the disabled list with an injured hand.
One reason not to panic is that the Cubs figure to break out at some point. The Cubs currently rank 24th in team batting average. However, Russell, Anthony Rizzo and Kyle Schwarber should not carry low batting averages all season long. If the Cubs’ hitters can start to provide more consistent leads rather than playing from behind constantly, it will lead to a better overall rhythm for the team.
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What is also surprising is that after being one of the better defensive teams a year ago, the Cubs rank near the bottom in errors this year. Chicago needs to begin doing the simple things better once again. Hopefully a long stretch of home cooking can be what the doctor ordered for the champs.