Chicago Cubs: Offense needs to fix inconsistencies to avoid a lost 2020

The Cubs can’t afford the hot-and-cold we’ve seen offensively in recent years.

The 2020 MLB season will be one unlike anything Cubs fans have ever seen before. For all the advocates of shortening the 162-game marathon that a typical season is, now is the golden opportunity to see what a short season truly delivers.

With a few players around the league announcing their choice to sit out the season, many fans hold their breath in fear that others make the same decision. When the season gets going in about a month, the Cubs are a team that doesn’t have time to waste. A historically hot and cold offense must avoid their infamous cold streaks, or else the 60-game season will go by even quicker.

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In a 60-game season, losing streaks will be much more magnified. A typical four to five-game losing stretch a team may go on in a normal season will not be so minor in 2020. A two-game losing streak seems to be the equivalent here and the North Siders need to make sure they are aware of that.

This team is known for inconsistencies on offense. In 2019, they had 37 games in which they scored one run or less. Their record in those games? 4-33. In 2019, that accounted for over 22 percent of games and was enough to keep the team out of the postseason for the first time since 2014. The inability to consistently generate offense will not give the Cubs a fighting chance as those performances would make up more than half of the games in 2020.

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There is little time to waste this season and David Ross is faced with a difficult task for his first season in the managerial spotlight. The Cubs need to come out fast and they can’t afford another collapse.

One of the ways to avoid another offensive roller coaster is to improve the team’s overall batting average. At .252 in 2019, Chicago sat at 13th in all of baseball, right in the middle of the pack. Not bad, but when you pair that average with those 37 games scoring one or less, along with 46 games in which they scored 7+ runs, we can see that average may get a bump from those high scoring affairs that seemed already put away at times.

Having Kris Bryant as the new leadoff man and Anthony Rizzo at the two spot should really help give the Cubs the spark they need on offense this year. They need to come out firing, so putting the heart and soul of this team in the front should result in more energy, another thing lacking from this team in 2019.

The schedule seems favorable in 2020, with 40 games against the division and another 20 against the AL Central. The Twins, White Sox and even Indians seem to pose a challenge, but Ross’ club has the potential to come out with a winning record against their AL counterparts, leaving them the opportunity to beat out their division rivals for a shot at the postseason.

The foundation is there for a strong 2020 in Chicago, as long as Ross finds a way to keep the offense consistent. Joe Maddon liked to move everyone around the field and lineup, but with Ross’ mindset to keep things more routine, we should see more of that consistency as a result.