Craig Counsell's influence is littered all over the 2025 Cubs' early success

As the all too familiar victory jingle goes, “They’ve got the power, they’ve got the speed,” and the Cubs have proven they can win in a variety of ways so far. Whether it’s the eight long balls hit in Sacramento last week against the A’s or manufacturing runs the hard way with aggressive baserunning and station-to-station hitting like in last night’s victory, the Cubs can wave that W flag proud with the diversity their lineup provides.

The acquisition of Kyle Tucker is already paying its dividends, and increasing the value of his next contract. There is so much speed up and down the batting order that Craig Counsell should not be afraid to utilize this plan of attack as a blueprint more often, especially in the early spring months or when the Lake Michigan wind howls in from center field.

Last night’s game was played in conditions colder than this year’s Winter Classic at Wrigley. You kind of just knew that runs would be hard to come by with Nathan Eovaldi’s track record on top of it. In the second inning, Busch hits a ground-rule double and scores after a Swanson sacrifice bunt and an Amaya sac fly. In the third, Berti gets hit by a pitch, swipes two bases, and incredibly beats the throw home on a groundball with the infield in. Small ball in its purest form.

The Cubbies stole five total bases in the victory, piecing together the lethal speed with timely hitting. As Marquee research guru Christopher Kamka points out in this tweet, the Cubs have *already* taken five bases or more in a single game in just a season and some change with Counsell at the helm as they have with the four previous managers combined. The North Siders are currently tied for the league lead with the Pirates at 21 stolen bases and have only been thrown out once. In many preseason projections, the team was expected to have seven different players with double-digit SBs.

Coincidentally, they also lead the league by far in walks drawn with 69, twenty more than the next team in the Red Sox. Despite his early struggles adjusting to the major leagues, Matt Shaw has reached base via a free pass in six straight games. A pitcher’s worst nightmare is never being able to pitch out of the windup. It’s a truly lethal plan of attack to get a man on base by any means possible, put pressure on the other team’s battery with just the mere threat of stealing a base, and drive them in with the driver or the nine iron. A walk and a swipe counts just the same as a double does.

Counsell is no stranger to an aggressive onslaught on the basepaths. In his nine seasons in Milwaukee from 2015-2023, the Brewers stole the third most bases in those years combined. They also placed sixth in total BsR, a FanGraphs metric that measures creating runs from baserunning plays, including taking extra bases on hits and limiting outs. In four of those seasons, the rate the Brewers stole third was more than twice the league average.

When you combine these capabilities with the opportunities the Cubs get to slug in the heat of the summer, there are a myriad of possibilities to outscore opponents. But it sure is nice to know that the team is built to win in different ways depending on the day, starting pitcher, the weather, etc. If the Cubs need to keep opposing pitching staffs and defenses scrambling at bay, they’re more than equipped to do so.