{"id":51911,"date":"2025-04-29T18:29:47","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T18:29:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=51911"},"modified":"2025-04-29T18:29:47","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T18:29:47","slug":"craig-counsell-reveals-wrigley-field-x-factor-cubs-are-using-to-advantage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=51911","title":{"rendered":"Craig Counsell reveals Wrigley Field X-factor Cubs are using to ‘advantage’"},"content":{"rendered":"
For more than a century, baseball teams and players have been trying to find any minute advantage they can. So it should be no surprise that the Chicago Cubs and manager Craig Counsell are trying to use their own ballpark, Wrigley Field, to give them the tiniest edge.<\/p>\n

After the Cubs struggled to score at home last season, Counsell realized he had to weaponize the unforgiving Wrigley winds that can rob players of home runs.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the offseason for me was about, where can we create advantages for our group of players?\u201d Counsell told The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of like a therapist. You have to acknowledge Wrigley. There are 13 position players and 13 pitchers. Every day, one side\u2019s pissed, one side\u2019s happy. But we\u2019ve got to win a baseball game.\u201d<\/p>\n

It meant learning not to rely on the home run to win games. So far, it’s worked. The Cubs are 17-12 and in first place in the NL Central.\u00a0 Their home run rate is considerably lower at home than on the road (2.8% vs. 4.8%), but Chicago has still scored more total runs at home entering play on April 29.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the wind is blowing in? The home run doesn\u2019t exist. It\u2019s baseball without a home run,\u201d Counsell continued. \u201cIt\u2019s really embracing that. And maybe if the other team doesn\u2019t completely embrace that, we can get an advantage. It\u2019s the same conditions. Can we just be a little ahead of it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Kyle Tucker has jumpstarted the Cubs’ offense<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"Craig
David Banks-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Related Chicago Cubs NewsArticle continues below<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Cubs aren’t homer-dependent, but the lineup has plenty of pop. Chicago is tied with the Athletics for fifth in the baseball with 38 team home runs, and Kyle Tucker is leading the way with seven of them.<\/p>\n

He also leads the Cubs in total hits (33) and leads all Cubs players with at least 70 plate appearances in OPS (.975), while ranking second in doubles and stolen bases with eight each.<\/p>\n

So it should be no surprise that the Cubs seem to be all-in on retaining their prized offseason acquisition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hearing that the Cubs have wrapped their brain around, doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019ll accept it, wrapped their brain around whatever it costs we\u2019re paying it and they want to keep Tucker, that\u2019s what I\u2019m hearing,\u201d ESPN radio host David Kaplan revealed last week the Cubs Rekap podcast.<\/p>\n

That could mean as much as $500 million to keep Tucker in Chicago, but the guy has made three straight All-Star teams and is off to a roaring start in his age 28 season. That’s what that kind of talent costs.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Cubs are off to a fast start to 2025 as manager Craig Counsell has focused on weaponizing the harsh Wrigley Field winds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":51912,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[282,823,317,44],"class_list":["post-51911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-craig-counsell","tag-kyle-tucker","tag-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nCraig Counsell reveals Wrigley Field X-factor Cubs are using to 'advantage' - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=51911\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Craig Counsell reveals Wrigley Field X-factor Cubs are using to 'advantage' - 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