The Chicago Cubs are off to a fantastic start to the season, led by their high-powered offense.
Coming into the year, the Cubs were expected to be a playoff team in the challenging National League. However, with two months of the season completed, they are proving to be much more than just a playoff hopeful.
Despite injuries, this is a franchise that appears to have one of the best offenses in the league. This unit has been able to carry them through some early challenges, and they can beat an opponent in multiple ways.
Even though they have one of the best records in the league, Chicago isn’t perfect. Here are a few things they can improve upon in June to help take the team to the next level.
While the offense for the Cubs has been excellent for most of the year, the one position that has been a weakness is at the hot corner. Coming into the campaign, the team had rookie Matt Shaw penciled in to be the starter. However, he struggled early on and was sent back to the minors.
The position lacked offensive production without him as well, but he did get called up in the month of May and started to perform up the capabilities the franchise expected. While it wasn’t a big sample size, Shaw is trending in the right direction and will be a player to watch in June.
Get Pressly Going
Even though the bullpen has been improving for Chicago, their expected closer coming into the year has struggled. Ryan Pressly was the most significant acquisition for the unit over the winter but struggled in May. With an ERA of 9.00, he lost his job as the closer and has been relegated to less important spots.
For the Cubs to reach their full potential, having Pressly being effective in high leverage situations will be important. If Chicago can get Pressly going, their bullpen might not need to add anyone at the trade deadline like originally thought this summer.
Despite the Cubs being one of the best teams in the league, there are a lot of question marks in their starting rotation. This is a team that is going to have to make a move or two to acquire a front-end stater for October.
The return of Shota Imanaga will help once the talented southpaw returns, but the unit will be without Justin Steele for the rest of the season. In May, the rotation wasn’t great with multiple starters having an ERA over 5.00.
