Cubs fans are sleeping on the early-season success of a key member of the team

One downside of playing in a lineup with a guy like Kyle Tucker? It's a lot harder to stand out. That's a lesson Tucker learned firsthand playing alongside Alex Bregman, Yordan Alvarez and Jose Altuve for years early on in his career. Despite putting up All-Star numbers, nobody seemed to worry nearly as much as they should about what he was capable of.

Now Tucker has taken top billing as the face of the Chicago Cubs franchise (if just for one summer) - and it's his teammate, Michael Busch, who's sneakily putting up big-time numbers early on in his sophomore season.

Last year, Busch was a fringe All-Star candidate among National League first basemen and finished the year with a 118 OPS+ and 2.7 bWAR, not to mention learning the position on the fly and growing into a Gold Glove-caliber defender. After establishing himself as the team's first legitimate long-term answer at first since Anthony Rizzo, he's showing that was no fluke with a torrid pace this April.

In 20 games, Busch is slashing .306/.375/.583, somehow still flying under the radar despite monster numbers. Tucker is getting legitimate NL MVP chatter and folk hero Carson Kelly continues to do otherworldly things at every turn, slashing .419/.578/1.097. Yet all I hear about is how well Matt Mervis is playing down in Miami.

Mervis, traded to the Marlins for utilityman Vidal Brujan this winter, has been impressive, no doubt - but he's a poor defender and a one-trick pony at the plate. If he's not producing power, teams have found it easy to pick him apart at the plate. He's off to a hot start with the Fish (0.2 bWAR, 170 OPS+) but there's no question that Busch is a more complete all-around player.

I'm not sure why Cubs fans continue to think the grass is greener elsewhere when they have a legitimate long-term solution as first base right in front of them in Busch. All the metrics back up what he's doing at the dish - and if he turns in another solidly above-average season in 2025, he needs to be looked at through a very different lens by the fanbase heading into 2026.