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Chicago Cubs: Most of baseball experiencing an offensive downturn
Offensive shortcomings not only affected the Chicago Cubs in 2018 – but were indicative of a league-wide downturn in production. Why the big slump?
As I’m watching the Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers go after each other in the NLCS, I noticed how low-scoring the games have been. Every contest, there seems to be countless scoreless innings or just one run from both teams. I started to get déjà vu’ from our recent Cubs season. Perhaps Chicago wasn’t the only club experiencing this lull in offensive productivity? Why is it that teams are just not producing on offense?
Baseball Reference lists the holistic numbers for Major League Baseball’s batting averages and sure enough, every offensive stat is down this year. The only statistic that went up, in terms of hitting? Triples.
In 2017, the league hit average was 8.69 per game and dropped to 8.44. That’s not dramatic until you spread that number across the season and every player in the MLB. That .25 percent decrease in hits is significant. Runs decreased from 4.65 to 4.45. That slight deficit comes from all these low-scoring games that we’ve been painfully watching this season. It’s only because of five teams’ high run counts that the average isn’t showing the true tanking of offense everywhere in the MLB.
In 2017, eight MLB teams had 800+ runs for the regular season, compared to only five teams in 2018 regular season with the Dodgers just squeaking by with 804. By the way, the Cubs dropped from fourth in runs during the 2017 regular season to ninth this year, scoring only 761 runs. That’s 43 runs fewer than the Dodgers got this season. Just think what the Cubs could have done with 43 more runs this year, especially in those close games when the score vegetated at (1-1) for inning after inning.
Next. Learning a new run-scoring culture. dark
Chicago Cubs: Learning a new run-scoring culture
Again, this wasn’t just a Cubs problem. Across the board, hitting and run-scoring were down this year across MLB. Some critics might say that teams did this to themselves by concentrating on situational hitting to move batters but failed to score runs.
I agree, you’ve got to finish if that’s what you’re teaching your players and everyone’s got to buy-in. I like what the Cubs new hitting Coach Anthony Iapoce said to MLB.com about the subject and was recently reported by Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune;
…Iapoce doesn’t overlook situational hitting. “It’s all about executing a run-scoring culture,” Iapoce told MLB.com after being hired by the Rangers.
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You’re absolutely right, Anthony. Teams need to look at all facets of scoring to lift their offense. They need to think about the home runs, the situational hitting, the doubles, the triples, the walks and what that hit means and how to execute it properly. It must be, as Iapoce describes, a “run-scoring culture” where every combination is playing off the other to one end: runs.
It’s not an easy thing to do – as was witnessed this painful season by many fans during numerous low-scoring affairs.
It can even be attested to by former Cubs hitting coaches Chili Davis and my old high school classmate John Mallee – there’s no job security in trying to produce a “run-scoring culture” and more times than not, teams go down instead of up.
A lot of it has to do with injuries and sustaining a lineup, which is near impossible to do for 162 games.
Next. Home runs go down. dark
Chicago Cubs: Home runs go down
But can’t you turn these games around with just more home runs?
Absolutely. Again, everyone was down this year as MLB team home runs averaged 204 in 2017 and only 186 in 2018. The Yankees led the regular season with 267 dingers. The Cubs came in 22nd in MLB in regards to the long-ball, finishing an even 100 behind the Yankees with 167. In 2017, 17 teams hit more than 200 home runs and in 2018 the number dropped to 11. Honestly, hitting and run scoring just sucked across the MLB this year. Sorry, sue me!
One thing I’m not ready to blame is pitching. I believe pitching has probably gotten better on average this year and maybe there are more strikeouts this year – I’m not checking.
Why?
Next. Cubs move on from Chili, hoping for Red Sox effect. dark
Pitching is a matter of skill that is the yin to a batter’s yang. Pitching will get better and so will some batters and their approach and execution. Coaches will get better at producing a “run-scoring culture” and it’s all a matter of skill. The job is about matching the skills. So don’t blame pitching on your run scoring woes.
If there is a bright side to this offensive mess, it’s simply that the trend is for the MLB to bounce back after a down year. And for the Cubs, they just hired Mr. Run-Scoring-Culture.