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.