NEWSLETTER
Sure, sure, you have to get to the context quickly enough, but for a moment, it’s just fun to appreciate that we’ve seen Cubs history this month.
With last night’s dramatic win, the Cubs set a new franchise record for wins before the end of April:
Wild, right? We’ve literally never seen the Cubs win this many games before the calendar flipped to May. And they even have a chance to add a 19th win to the record tonight.
If you’re immediately curious about the 2016 team, which you remember getting off to a scorching start, that club was 17-5 as of April 29 (they did not play on April 30). That season didn’t begin until April 4, so you’re not talking about an apples-to-apples comparison. After all, 17-5 is an absurd .773 winning percentage. By contrast, 18-11 is a very good, but not all that close, .621 winning percentage.
So, yes, that’s the context for this record-setting Cubs start. The season began on March 28, there haven’t been many off-days, and the one rainout was made up within the same series. There have been as many games crammed into “before the end of April as is realistically possible.
But, that said, whether you care about the record or not, you can still care about the record. Oh, hey, those are the same word. What I mean to say is, even if the “new franchise record” thing is too laden with context to be interesting to you, I’d think the 2024 Cubs’ current 18-11 record is still pretty awesome. The schedule remains challenging for the next month, and the Cubs are still dealing with an overload of impactful injuries. The wins could be harder to come by. All the more reason to celebrate the wins the Cubs have been able to bank so far, before the end of April.
