Chicago Cubs: Daniel Murphy leading offensive resurgence

In a stretch which saw the Chicago Cubs score five runs in five games, the team made a late-season acquisition in Daniel Murphy. Now, fresh off his first week as a Cub, Murphy is leading an offensive resurgence in Wrigleyville.

Last week, the Chicago Cubs set out on an arduous journey. The teams’ schedule did them no favors as they found themselves diving headfirst into a stretch of twenty-three straight games, without a day off. Needing to find some firepower, they decided to bring Murphy into the picture.

Before the trade which brought Murphy to the Northside, the team had hobbled to a 2-3 record in their previous five games, including five straight games in which they scored one run in each game. Now, however, the script has completely flipped.

Daniel Murphy has been bringing the offensive firepower and is showing what his contributions can mean for this lineup come October.

Chicago Cubs: Dominant beginnings

As mentioned above, Daniel Murphy currently has five games on his Chicago Cubs resume. Not an enormous sample size to play off of, however, within this sample size, Murphy has been nothing short of phenomenal.

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Since being traded to Chicago, Murphy is hitting .368/.368/.684 with two home runs and five RBI. Murphy also has scored a run in every single game as a Chicago Cub. What is incredibly intriguing and promising about Murphy is that he has struck out only twice since his arrival.

Looking more in-depth, Murphy is posting a video game-esque .445 wOBA and a 182 wRC+. These are numbers which you would expectedly see in MLB the Show, however, to see them in real life is mind-blowing. Nevertheless, they are real, and it is exciting.

Murphy has also posted multi-hit games in every single game as a Cub, except for one. However, he hammered a home run in that game so he can be let off the hook. For as much fun as it is to talk about Anthony Rizzo as the greatest leadoff hitter of all time (jokingly, of course), Daniel Murphy is not far behind him if he can keep this surge going.

The offense has been everything Cubs fans know it can be, over the previous five days. The team is on a five-game winning streak, and they are averaging 7.4 runs per game in this span. Over the past week, the club has also hit 12 home runs and ten doubles. It has been exciting to watch the addition of Murphy mesh well with the rest of the lineup to create runs once again.

Chicago Cubs: Steamrolling toward October

The Chicago Cubs find themselves at home for one more series before hitting the road for the remainder of this long stretch of games. A test is about to land as the New York Mets, and Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom fall with it.

It will provide the Cubs with a chance to continue to show what this offense can do when everything is clicking, against top-of-the-line pitching. The hope is that they will continue to produce asinine, offensive numbers, however, to continue to swing the bats well enough is all fans can ask for.

A significant advantage skewed the Cubs direction is that of which Daniel Murphy has seen the New York Mets, a bunch. Unfortunately, Murphy does not produce great numbers against both Syndergaard or deGrom. However, he does have a career .390/.448/.714 line against the Mets and will look to build on that.

After that, its anyone’s guess as to what Daniel Murphy will continue to do. All Cubs fans can do is sit back, relax, and hope to watch his encore.