We all know that the Cubs were pretty solid in the regular season last year.
Oh, who are we to be modest – the Cubs ended up best in the National
League by several games. But even that doesn’t tell the story about
just how good the 2008 Chicago Cubs were.
Here’s a really simplistic metric to chew on: The 2008 Cubs gave up a
scant 4.17 runs per game. The only NL team better was the
pitching-heavy and pitcher-park-favored Los Angeles Dodgers (at 4.00).
On the flip side, the 2008 Cubs scored 5.31 runs per game. Not only
did that put the Cubs at the top spot in the National League, the next
closest team didn’t even crack 5 runs – the Mets and Phillies tied for
second with 4.93 runs per game.
That enormous spread between runs scored per game and runs allowed per
game – +1.14 – put the Cubs WAY at the top in the NL. The next closest
was the eventual World Series winning Philadelphia Phillies at a mere
spread of +0.73. That means the Cubs, on average, won games by almost
a half a run MORE than the next best team in the National League.
And yes, in case you were wondering, the Cubs’ +1.14 mark was the best
in baseball. The Red Sox took the AL with +0.94.
Wow. The Cubs were seriously very good last year.