Good morning A morning to you Chicago Cubs baseball fans, frustrated by another non-competitive loss, and increasingly annoyed that your absolute only solace in the moment is that the Brewers and Cardinals both managed to lose last night, too.
This division is ridiculous:
The second place teams in each of the American League divisions would lead the NL Central right now, and the second place teams in the NL East and NL West would basically be right there with the Cubs. That is to say, in any other division, the Cubs would be in serious trouble.
Just 5.5 games separating the ENTIRE DIVISION in July. Remember how we were talking about the Cubs’ considerations of selling back in 2017? They were 5.5 games out at the break. That’s how tight this thing is.
Also, if you want to roll your eyes, slide them over to that run differential column. What a load that is. The Brewers have been OUTSCORED THIS YEAR. The Cubs have the second largest run differential in the entire National League! The last-place Reds have one of the best run differentials in the NL, too! What even the eff.
A lot of this absurdity will sort itself out over the next month or so, but for today, it just feels like an embarrassing turd of a performance for the entire division. A division that fancied itself among the best in baseball, but not one team has actually played like it.
Which, sigh, is your absolute only solace in this moment.