The Cubs Absolutely Crushed August, Could Very Well Top 90 Wins

Good morning. The Chicago Cubs are on a four-game winning streak as the calendar flips to September, and things are looking relatively bright in the NL Central race. Depending on your oddsmaker of choice, the Cubs are right around a 90% chance of winning the Central at this point, and that’s thanks exclusively to a killer run after the All-Star break.

Consider that, in August, the Cubs went 17-12, and that includes a lot of ugliness at the start of the month that you might now only barely remember. (The three straight series losses that so easily could have been wins against the Diamondbacks, Nationals, and Giants? Remember?)

Offensively, it turns out this was a historic month for the Cubs:

The #Cubs led @MLB with 191 runs scored in August.

It was our most productive calendar month since 1930. pic.twitter.com/EZLgpJafBE

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) September 1, 2017

The Cubs are now up to 73 wins on the year, and have a .549 winning percentage. If they keep that rate up the rest of the way, they’ll win 89 games this year – quite a drop from last season’s 103, but much higher than most were predicting when the Cubs were two games under .500 at the break.

And if the Cubs keep up their second half winning percentage the rest of the way? The Cubs will win 92 games. Did you see that coming?