Chicago Cubs: Three takeaways from the weekend in Texas

The Chicago Cubs were poised to come into Texas and do big things, but a bullpen that struggled heavily canceled out a huge welcome back from the offense.

With all of the hype coming into the opening weekend, the Chicago Cubs entered Globe Life Park ready to do damage. The offense took advantage of favorable pitching and broke out in a big way by scoring 28 runs. In all three games, it seemed as if the Cubs had control and should cruise to victory. They were able to do that in only game one, as we saw the bullpen falter in games two and three to blow not only the lead but ultimately the series. With the first series officially in the books, we wanted to look at three key takeaways from the weekend.

The offense is back, and hopefully for good

It’s so easy to get overexcited about the opening series, as we’ve waited so long to watch our team get back to the action, but watching this offense do the damage they did after a long drought to end the 2018 season was awesome to see. Watching this offense score one run in three of their final five games last season was so tough, and it only makes the start to this year even better.

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The Cubs batted .342 as a team over the weekend, and that led all of baseball and had a team OPS of 1.003, which was good for second behind the Dodgers. Watching Kyle Schwarber, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, and Javier Baez all go deep was the icing on the cake for the offense. Let’s not jump to conclusions, but with 28 runs scored in three days, these Cubs seem ready to make some noise with their bats in 2019.

The bullpen is questionable

Jon Lester got this staff off to a great start to the season, going six strong innings and getting a win, but it was all downhill from there. Yu Darvish made his return to the mound against his former team Saturday night, and it was so rough that the Cubs were forced to eat another starter and bring Jose Quintana in. However, the focus isn’t on the rotation, as they put the Cubs in position to win all three games.

The bullpen was really where the Cubs let the series slip. Through three games, the Cubs bullpen went 11.2 innings and gave up 13 runs. This was good for an ERA of 10.03, ranking 28th in all of baseball for opening weekend. We saw Carl Edwards give up a three-bomb to Joey Gallo upon entering game two, which cost the Cubs a 6-5 lead and ultimately the game. We saw a combo on Mike Montgomery, Tyler Chatwood, and Pedro Strop relinquish an 8-5 lead in game three, costing the Cubs that game, and the series.

Sure, we didn’t get to see our new acquisitions in Brad Brach, Tony Barnette, and Xavier Cedeno come in for relief, but watching the Cubs veterans struggle as they did was not easy to stomach. This team has so much potential. Finding consistency in the pen is going to be vital for this team’s success.

Darvish hasn’t found himself

Darvish had the perfect match-up in his return the mound. Opening weekend against his former team, in a stadium he’s comfortable in, and against a lineup in rebuild mode. However, he looked the opposite of comfortable, much to the disappointment of Cubs fans that had taken over Globe Life Park. Maybe it was the heavy wind and cold in Texas, but it was tough to watch.

In 2 2/3 innings, Darvish walked seven batters and gave up three runs while throwing 75 pitches. He’s had trouble getting on a good side with the fans, and he didn’t exactly dig himself out of the hole he’s in on Saturday. I believe he’s going to have a great bounce back season, but he let a great opportunity get away from him over the weekend. He’s going to be the X-factor in this rotation. We have great consistency with our other four starters, but Darvish is the one big question mark in there that could make or break this team. We know what he could be, but he still has work to do in order to return to the great pitcher that the world has seen.

It was definitely a roller coaster of a weekend in Texas, and while the Cubs showed us a lot to be excited about, we did see some cause for concern. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves in such a long season, and even though dropping the series to a team that’s not considered a contender may sting, but the Cubs have the pieces in place to be one of the NL’s best this season.