While the All-Star break doesn’t actually mark the end of the first half of the season – with 85 games in the book for the Cubs, there are just 77 left – it has become the nominal “first half” for these kind of mid-season run downs. And I’m nothing if not a lemming, so here is your Cubs’ first half, by the numbers:
33 – The number of Cubs wins.
52 – The number of Cubs losses.
1 – The number of days the Cubs were reasonably in contention.
.291 – Starlin Castro’s team-leading batting average.
.736 – Starlin Castro’s OPS.
.722 – Travis Wood’s OPS.
.177 – Geovany Soto’s team … losing batting average.
1.055 – Anthony Rizzo’s OPS! (RizzOMG!)
49 – Anthony Rizzo’s plate appearances. (oh.)
1 – The number of walks Anthony Rizzo has taken in those 49 plate appearances.
.843 – Jeff Baker’s OPS against lefties.
14 – The number of Bryan LaHair homers.
30 – The number of Bryan LaHair RBI.
0 – The number of Alfonso Soriano homers in April.
15 – The number of Alfonso Soriano homers thereafter.
.288 – Steve Clevenger’s OBP.
25 – The number of Tony Campana stolen bases.
1 – The number of times Tony Campana has started in the last 17 days.
.308 – Tony Campana’s OBP.
6 – The team-leading number of wins, shared by Jeff Samardzija and Paul Maholm.
4.57 – Paul Maholm’s ERA.
4.71 – Jeff Samardzija’s ERA.
10 – The number of walks issued by Shawn Camp in 45 innings.
28 – The number of walks issued by Carlos Marmol in 25.2 innings.
1.99 – Ryan Dempster’s team-leading, and pretty-much-league-leading ERA.
1.80 – Manny Corpas’s ERA (15 innings).
8.31 – Kerry Wood’s ERA.
1 – The number of times Kerry Wood retired.
100% – The amount I still love Kerry Wood.
54 – The number of days since you last thought about Lendy Castillo (he last pitched on May 11, and was put on the DL on May 16).
4.36 – The Cubs’ team ERA.
.686 – The Cubs’ team OPS.
25, 26 – The Cubs’ rank in MLB in ERA and OPS, respectively.
0 – The number of Cubs in the top 70 of runs scored.
37 – The place of David DeJesus in OBP ranking in baseball, which .359 OBP leads the Cubs.
98 – The place of Alfonso Soriano in OBP ranking in baseball, which .323 OBP is second on the Cubs among qualifiers.
15 – Games back the Cubs are in the NL Central.
0.5 – Games ahead of the Astros the Cubs are, landing them in fifth place (not last) at the turn.
0.0% – The chance the Cubs have of making the playoffs at this point, according to Baseball Prospectus.
.623 – The winning percentage the Cubs would need over the remaining 77 games just to get to 81 wins.
0 – The number of teams that presently enjoy a winning percentage better than .612.
If you’ve got more, offer ’em up in the comments.