Chicago Cubs: Best infield in the majors

Despite letting a game that had a lot of meaning behind it slip away Thursday night, the Chicago Cubs still have the most explosive infield in the majors while standing in the batter’s box.

Don’t get me wrong, Thursday hurt, and any Cubs fan that says it didn’t is someone who recently jumped on the Cubbies bandwagon.

I realize that the only numbers that truly matter are 51-27, but even after the lights were shut off at Citi Field Thursday night, Chicago still has the most exciting lineup to watch.

Every starter for the Chicago Cubs’ infield will play in the All-Star game, and may even start the first inning together. A major role in this is their production with the wood.

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Before they took the field on Thursday, Chicago’s infield led the majors in both home runs (60) and RBI (202).

They took third in both slugging percentages (.490) and extra base hits with 131. And of course, the numbers increased as the game played out.

Among the infielders who started on Thursday, Kris Bryant leads the Cubbies crew with 22 homers and 60 RBI. He has a slugging percentage of .564 which is third behind Willson Contreras‘s .600 and Anthony Rizzo‘s .575.

Rizzo has also driven the ball over the fence 19 times and knocked in 58 RBI. Addison Russell has swung the bat good enough to tally up 41 RBI along with eight home runs.

He has a more than respectable .386 slugging percentage. Along with his unreal .600 slugger rating. Contreras has gone out of the yard three times and has knocked in 10 base runners.

Last, but certainly not least, Javier Baez has a well above average .456 slugging percentage. He has jogged around the bases eight times after hitting home runs and has driven in 27 runners.

The Cubs infield will be interesting in the second half of the season. Injuries have played a part so far in 2016, keeping manager Joe Maddon‘s thinker going full speed.

Next: Who is the odd man out for the Cubs?

One this is for certain. The way the bullpen has been throwing, the infielders are going to have to keep swinging.

The Cubs lineup will be facing Jacob deGrom when they try to tie the series up Friday evening. Chicago has a chance to have a field day with the right-hander who has a personal 10-game losing streak.

He hasn’t pitched with a lead in his previous four trips to the mound and the offense of the Cubs infield will be needed if they want to keep that streak going.