Chicago Cubs: Takeaways from the series win over the Los Angeles Dodgers

Winners of three-straight series to open the season, the Chicago Cubs have plenty of opportunity to improve moving forward.

The Chicago Cubs head into a weekend showdown against the Pittsburgh Pirates winners of three consecutive series to open the season. Their latest victory, a shutout win over the Los Angeles Dodgers, summed up a lot of things about this club early in the year.

First, the offense is deadly – when they’re driving the ball for extra bases. They continue to rank near the top of the league in terms of on-base percentage, but need to capitalize regularly to reach their potential.

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Even in Thursday’s win, the two home runs were of the solo variety. A base running snafu by Kyle Schwarber in the first erased a potential run when Anthony Rizzo homered later in the inning.

Addison Russell drove a ball onto Waveland, but, similarly, it was a solo shot.

The pitching staff has been very solid, helping lead the team to a 6-3 start. In fact, Chicago pitchers allowed just four runs in the three-game set.

The Cubs’ next opponent, Pittsburgh, is off to a horrendous start out of the gates. The Pirates blew a late lead Thursday in Boston and enter the weekend tilt at Wrigley with a disappointing 3-6 record.

It’s on Chicago to capitalize against teams that are struggling. Last year, they dominated opponents under the .500 mark to the tune of a 72-33 mark. Doing that again in 2017 will only help as this team seeks another deep postseason run.

Might not be pretty, but getting the job done

Looking at the box score from Thursday’s series finale, one would never know Brett Anderson lucked his way into five scoreless frames.

Two outstanding defensive plays in center by Albert Almora and another in right by Jason Heyward saved multiple runs and, somehow, the lefty worked around four walks to keep the Dodgers off the scoreboard. But outings like these will certainly come back to haunt you if you let them.

Still, two starts into his Cubs career and Anderson owns a 0.84 ERA across 10 2/3 frames. Not too shabby for a guy who basically missed the entire 2016 season. But it’s not just Anderson who has been sharp over the first two weeks of the campaign.

As a starting staff, Chicago leads all of Major League Baseball with a 2.64 ERA. Opponents are batting just .213 against Cubs starters, who have limited other teams to a .272 OBP so far.

Jake Arrieta is looking like a Cy Young candidate again this season and if Hendricks and Lester keep doing their thing, Joe Maddon‘s team may very well take a run at the title of best rotation in the entire league by season’s end.

Offense showing signs of life in finale

If you turn on a highlight show, there are three things you’ll see from Thursday’s win:

1. Almora robbing Corey Seager not one – but twice – in center field
2. Addison Russell cranking a monster shot onto Waveland
3. Anthony Rizzo lining a ball into the seats for his first homer

Chicago Cubs

By all indications, that’s a solid day at the ballpark. But if you dive into the numbers a little more, the recent lack of extra-base hits looms large.

The Cubs managed only three extra-base hits on Thursday; two of which came via the aforementioned home runs. Willson Contreras added a double to get in on the fun, but the team’s other five hits were all singles.

With runners in scoring position, Chicago went 2-for-9 (.222). Kyle Schwarber and Kris Bryant combined for a 1-for-6 day with four punch-outs. Not exactly encouraging for two guys batting .212 and .229, respectively.

What it all comes down to is this: Chicago has won three-straight series without the offense firing anywhere close to full power. Once the big bats get going, the Cubs go from a good team to a legitimate 100-plus win club (especially if the staff keeps rolling).

J-Hey carrying a big stick for Chicago

After a full winter dedicated to his approach at the plate, Jason Heyward is finally seeing some results.

For the second-straight spring, Heyward struggled badly in Cactus League action, making us all a little anxious about that record contract. But, to open the regular season, the outfielder has been nothing short of powerful.

The former first-round pick carries a .290 average into the opener against the Bucs Friday at Wrigley. On Sunday in Milwaukee, Heyward squared up pitches in every single at-bat in a win over the Brewers. Although he’s yet to hit a long-ball, it’s only a matter of time with how he’s driving pitches.

His mental approach even seems improved. He now expects to be a force at the dish, evidenced by some choice words he let fly during ESPN’s coverage of the home opener earlier this week. When a player expects results, he’s feeling good.

And when Jason Heyward is feeling good, the Chicago Cubs offense rises to a completely new level.