Of the 19 times the Cubs played the Reds last year, 15 games went the Cubs’ way. In 2015, it was 13 of 19. This year, the Cubs have already started with two wins against the Reds.
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That 30-10 record over the past two+ seasons is a nice .750 winning percentage. If the Cubs played only the Reds, they might challenge the 116-win record held by the 1906 Cubs and 2001 Mariners.
It’s understandable, then, that they might be a little chapped about the Cubs’ constant success, and thus wanted to have a little fun with the Cubs fans at their ballpark (the video is worth checking out if you didn’t yesterday).
The Cubs took their turn having fun, both on the field and in a succinct and savage Twitter recap:
Big Blue Machine. pic.twitter.com/7N46Iv3ZM8
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 22, 2017
Well done. Of course, the Cubs still have a ways to go if they’re going to match The Big Red Machine of the 1970s, a team that won the NL West six times, the NL pennant four times, and the World Series twice, and also averaged 95 wins per year over a 10-season stretch.
As for these Cubs, yesterday’s win pushed them to 10-7 on the year, a season-high watermark over .500, and gave them a 1.5-game cushion in the NL Central. The Pirates and Cardinals are currently 2.5 and 3.0 games back, respectively. The Cubs’ .588 winning percentage is fourth best in the NL, behind the Nationals (12-5, .706), the Rockies (12-6, .667), and the Diamondbacks (12-7, .632).
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All of that, and the Cubs’ real surge still feels like it’s somewhere out there on the horizon. The pitching issues will be a discussion for another day, but I think it’s interesting that even after six homers in the past two games, the Cubs’ team total (19) is still middle-of-the-pack in baseball. (The Brewers are leading baseball right now with 33(!) homers.)