I will say, to everyone who is sitting back saying "Hey, small sample size, you can't draw any conclusions from the first month of the season"... yes and no.
The problem is that this core Cubs team has been streaky, even since 2015. Joe has used late additions to the club (either call-ups or late trades/acquisitions), in what seems to have been an effort to jumpstart some offensive consistency, going into September and October each of the past three years.
Joe has stated, from the very beginning of his tenure here, that this is a young team, and the inconsistency in play is all due to the youth and inexperience of what is still one of the youngest starting eight in the majors. This year, as you'll recall, he's come off of that and stated that, while they are still young, the players in the core of the team are no longer inexperienced.
The Cubs/Maddon narrative of "Hey, you have to expect streakiness, they're a young and inexperienced team" is morphing into "They have to address the offensive inconsistency, this is no longer an inexperienced team."
The fact is, the first month of this season is a small sample size, but it is continuing the exact same pattern we saw in the second half last year. The team is overall doing well, but they are:
- beating good teams and losing to poorer teams
- scoring tons of runs against good pitchers and getting one or two hits total against rookies who are getting lit up by the rest of the league
- scoring tons of runs when conditions do not favor the offense, and vice-versa
It's the same pattern, being achieved by pretty much the same players. And when I see the same guys doing the same things, I have to think that, unless something changes, this is what the team is. Something else obviously needs to change to change this pattern, since Joe's much-desired experience is not getting us any closer to both good and consistent offensive production.
