Review of the Cubs & Mets Matchup

The Chicago Cubs

The Chicago Cubs are not the best team in baseball, but could be the worst team. This year things are taking a little turn for the better. With the Cubs being 6.5 games out of 1st place, they have a great chance of winning the Wildcard this year.

Offensive Side

Chicago has one of the youngest teams in baseball right now. The average age of the whole starting team is about 26 and a half years old. Compared to other teams who have an average of at least 30 years old. Besides having the youngest team, it’s the young guys on the team that stand out. Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant have an outstanding 99 RBIs (runs batted in) each. But as for Home Runs, Rizzo (31) and Bryant (26) are both leading the team. Looking through all the statistics we found the only statistic Bryant and Rizzo don’t lead in is runs score. The leader is Dexter Fowler with 102 runs, but behind him is Rizzo and Bryant.

 Defensive Side

 The Cubs have two aces, Jon Lester and Jake Arrieta. Jon Lester is a 31 year old (Left Handed Pitcher) with 10 years of experience. Lester has a pretty impressive resume, with a 3.55 ERA (Earned Run Average) and an average WHIP (Walks Hits per Innings Pitched) of 1.26. The 1.26 means Jon Lester gives up just over 1 walk or hit per every inning he’s pitched. Jon Lester has also logged 1664 SO (Strike Outs) in his career, but he averages about 166 SO per year. Which isn’t bad.

Jake Arrieta on the other hand is good, but not as good as Jon Lester. Arrieta in my book just doesn’t have the experience that Lester has. Jake Arrieta is a RHP with 7 years of experience in the MLB.  Arrieta has a 3.70 ERA, with only being in the MLB for a short period of time that’s fairly good! One of the only thing that Arrieta beats Lester in at the moment is his WHIP, which is 1.18. The thing that interests me the most about Jake Arrieta is his Strike Out numbers. He threw 374 strike outs in his first 5 seasons with the Baltimore Orioles. But with the Cubs in two seasons he’s thrown 403 Strike Outs. He’s doing real well or a young pitcher!

In the end, The Chicago Cubs have a very young team. But they’re doing very well, and I personally hope they go deep in the Post season. Maybe even make it to the World Series.

The Season Wrap-Up

As we see the baseball season come to an end, few players start to peak. And some teams are starting to pull away from the Pack.

We have to Blue Jays of Toronto who have three players who have hit more than 100 Runs Batted In. also with more than 30 Home Runs (Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista, and Edwin Encarnacion). With Josh Donaldson with 39 HRs and 120 RBIs, nobody can stop him. He’s on an unbelievable pace to have at least 150 RBIs by the end of the 2015 season. With the New York Yankees only 3.5 games back, the Blues Jays first place spot could be in jeopardy. The Blues Jays ace David Price having an ERA (earn run average) of just under two and half. He’s doing really well with a 16-5 record with both the Detroit Tigers and the Blue Jays. The stat that really jumps out at me the most besides his 212 strike outs is his WHIP. A pitchers WHIP is calculated by the number of hits and walks per amount of innings pitched. David Price allows just over 1 walk or hit per inning pitched. Which is why he’s the top Pitcher for the National League.

                Now heading into National League with the New York Mets. The New York Mets have been taking charge of the National League East for some time now. Ever since acquiring Yoenis Cespedes, the Mets took an unbelievable turn for the better. With Curtis Granderson leading the team in Home Runs, RBIs, OPS, and hits. While David Wright being injured the past few months, Cespedes and Granderson have been single-handedly been carrying the team on the offensive side.

The defensive side is a whole other story with pitchers Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergard, Matt Harvey, and The Veteran Barloto Colon. With Barloto Colon being 42 years old, he’s still showing his dominance as a starting pitcher. Being at 14 wins Colon leads the team in wins, and that’s about all he leads in. The four starting pitchers have a total of 669 innings pitched. Which leads the league in innings pitched by any team. What’s surprising to me is that the average Earn Run Average (ERA) for these four starting pitchers is only 3.26. For these four guys it should be at most 2.50. But 3.26 isn’t bad, I’ll take it over a 3.27 ERA any day.

Let’s just say that I think that these two teams will do well. No. I think they’ll do great, hopefully they will.

For Sophie.