Chicago Cubs: Secret to success is…leather?

In a sport obsessed with fastball speed, spin rate, exit velocity, and tape measure home runs, defense will make or break the Chicago Cubs’ 2018 season.

Thus far, 2018 has been an interesting season, to say the least. After a rocky, up-and-down start, the Cubs have started to pile up wins. The lukewarm April has left some fans worried. Fingers are being pointed at high-priced free agent signings and measured “what’s going wrong” responses are flooding the blogosphere. What factored into the shaky start, and what has changed during the past ten games (during which the Cubs are 8-2) to help turn things around?

In reality, things have never been that bad. As is the case with most every team in baseball, there is room for considerable improvement. But when digging into the facts and leaving emotions behind, it is somewhat surprising to see how effective the team has been in regards to traditional measures of success.