This opening series stat highlights flaw for Chicago Cubs offense

Run prevention was the goal for the Chicago Cubs this season as the team added four players with Gold Glove pedigrees this past offseason and it became clear that the Cubs were moving further away from their approach that won them the World Series in 2016.

While there were some positive trends with the Cubs' new philosophy in their season-opening series against the Milwaukee Brewers over the weekend as starting pitchers Marcus Stroman and Justin Steele each pitched six shutout innings in their respective starts over the weekend and Dansby Swanson wasted little time in showing his intelligence on the field, the team's offense struggled in the same areas that were a problem last season.

The lower-left quadrant of that graphic is not an area where the Cubs will want to remain for the rest of this season. Cubs' president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer spoke this offseason about the need for the Cubs to elevate the ball more in 2023 but there was little focus placed on the offense.

Swanson should be an improvement for the team's offensive output this season but there is a still a dependency of veterans such as Cody Bellinger and Trey Mancini to show the power that they had during the early portions of their respective careers.

The Cubs may already have the solution to this problem in their minor-league system. Chicago Cubs prospect Matt Mervis has already got off to hot start with the Iowa Cubs as he doubled and homered in the team's first game of the season on Friday. Mervis seems destined to make his Major League debut at some point during the first half of the season and it can't come soon enough based on the early returns of the Cubs' offense.