Cubs continue historic start, sweep Pirates for 20th win
Things are going pretty good on the North Side right now.
Propelled by another strong outing from Jon Lester and a three-run blast from Ben Zobrist, the Chicago Cubs capped off a three-game sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday afternoon with a 6-2 victory at PNC Park to become the first team to 20 wins this year. Sitting comfortably in first place in the National League Central, now boasting a six-game lead over the second-place Pirates, the Cubs' scorching 20-6 start is the club's best since 1907, when Chicago opened up the campaign 22-4.
That team, by the way, ended up pummeling the Detroit Tigers in the World Series for their first of two successive championships.
Through their first 26 games, the Cubs own a +93 run differential, too, giving them a one-run edge in differential over the 1939 New York Yankees - the team with the best single-season run differential (+411) of all time - at the same point in the season. The only team with a better run differential through 26 games, the 1902 Pittsburgh Pirates, ended up grabbing the National League pennant, but didn't get a chance for a World Series title due to a dispute between the two leagues over player contracts (the same issue that led to the cancellation of the previous year's Fall Classic).
While their offense has been superb, especially of late - the Cubs lead the NL in runs scored, and boast the league's top wRC+ (124) over the last two weeks - their pitching staff has been certifiably nuts since Opening Day, limiting opponents to three runs or fewer in all but five games this year.
| Split | ERA | K% | BB% | HR/9 | Hard-Hit % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cubs | 2.29 | 25.4% | 7.6% | 0.64 | 28% |
| NL AVG | 4.15 | 21.4% | 8.9% | 1.04 | 29.9% |
"We pitched really well, and we've done that the whole year," Cubs manager Joe Maddon told MLB.com's George Von Benko. "The offense was good again, but the part that permits the offense to get into the flow of the game is the pitching has been so good. We've been able to stay at least even most of the time or on top of the other side, and offensively, we keep having good at-bats during the course of the game and then have a chance to wear people down by the end."