Chicago Cubs: Per usual, no one is talking about Anthony Rizzo

Chicago Cubs: Rizzo rebounded in a big way in 2018

There’s no two ways around it. Anthony Rizzo was brutal at the dish early this year. He knows it. We know it. Everyone knows it.

In the first month, he slashed just .149/.259/.189 with a whopping 14 total bases in 18 games. Eleven hits, one home run – no doubles and no triples. One extra-base hit for one of the team’s most reliable offensive performers in recent memory.

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But then he did what he always does – he turned it on. In May, Rizzo hit .303 and drove in 28 runs and from there on out, he was an above-average offensive player (based on OPS+). In the season’s final two months, the slugger did everything he could to get the team back to the postseason – especially in August, when he scorched opposing pitching to a 1.041 OPS.

On the whole, Rizzo once again eclipsed 100 RBI for the fourth consecutive season – thanks to a huge performance in Game 162 that forced the winner-take-all Game 163 against Milwaukee. With that game, the first baseman became the first Cubs left-handed bat in franchise history to accomplish the feat.

So, yeah, he was slow to get the train moving. But once he did, he put together another remarkably consistent performance – right down till the final day of the season.