Anthony Rizzo is the poster child for Cubs offense that finally has found its rhythm in second half

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When Willson Contreras went down with a hamstring injury in San Francisco last month, everybody wondered who would step up in his absence.

Answer: Anthony Rizzo.

Contreras was giving Giancarlo Stanton a run for his money for the title of hottest hitter on the planet and in his stead, Rizzo has stepped up to become one of the game's best run producers.

Rizzo is the driving force behind the best second-half offense in baseball, a team that has scored double digit runs eight times since the All-Star Break and is averaging 6.5 runs per game since Aug. 1.

Since that same date, Rizzo has driven in 33 runs in 32 games, including 30 in August alone, setting a new career high for RBI in a month.

With a three-run triple Saturday, Rizzo became the fourth Cub in franchise history to post three seasons of 30 doubles, 30 homers and 100 RBI. He is also only the second Cubs player ever to reach those marks in three consecutive seasons, joining Hack Wilson.

"Oh my gosh, it's been so much fun to watch," Kris Bryant said. "You nailed it with the word consistency. That's something that I strive for. As much as it's nice to be flashy and have five good games in a row and then five bad ones in a row, I think it says more when you're just a consistent player out there every day.

"He's just that guy that gives you consistent at-bats. He's focused, he's ready to go, his attitude's there, his effort's there and that's all stuff that you can control. I've learned a lot from him this year and I feel pretty good about myself just seeing him and what he's been doing."

Rizzo admitted consistency was a big goal for himself, feeling like he has to prove himself each and every year.

And it's not just the guy hitting in front of Rizzo that's taken notice of that consistency. After his start Saturday, Jon Lester was asked how impressive Rizzo's offensive production has been in the three years Lester has been with the Cubs.

"Really nothing. I expect more out of him, actually," Lester joked. "I think sometimes people overlook consistency. They overlook people that go out and do their job every single day. They don't do anything flashy. 

"His face is around, but he's not like a look-at-me guy. He's just kinda the average dude that goes out there and plays every single day. And I think that gets overlooked at times. Everybody wants flash and pimpin' homers and doing all that look-at-me stuff. 

"[Rizzo] plays every day and plays hard and his numbers speak for itself. The biggest thing for me is consistency. You know when you put him in the lineup what you're gonna get. He's gonna go through his ups and downs just like the rest of us. At the end of the year, you're gonna look up and see 30 and 100. That's hard to beat.

"He deserves everything that comes his way as far as acknowledgement and attention. It's impressive to see what he's done."

Rizzo struck out twice Sunday, his first whiffs in a six-game span dating back to Aug. 28. Prior to that, he was one of only five qualified hitters in baseball to have more walks than strikeouts, joining Joey Votto, Mookie Betts, Buster Posey and Justin Turner.

Rizzo now has 76 walks and 76 strikeouts on the season and has reduced his strikeout percentage to a career-best 12.5 percent. In a world where strikeouts are way up across baseball, Rizzo has gone even more extreme in two-strike counts, choking up and focusing all his effort on putting the ball in play.

"It's just something that I've completely bought into," Rizzo said. "Nobody's coached me to do it; nobody's told me to do it. It's just something that is trial and error. I mess around with it all the time.

"I don't like striking out. I want to put the ball in play where good things can happen. That's the way I think about it."

The rest of the Cubs have followed Rizzo's lead, to one extent or another.

Kyle Schwarber is now choking up with two strikes, Javy Baez is working on shortening his swing and trying to put the ball in play. Same with Ian Happ and the rest of the young Cubs hitters.

Joe Maddon knows there's a correlation between those adjustments and the Cubs' offensive explosion since mid-July.

All year, Maddon has been preaching about moving the baseball, manufacturing runs, making productive outs — all ways to help push across runs in the postseason against the game's best pitching and in potentially frigid weather.

Maddon is seeing that message finally come to fruition and knows Rizzo is a key factor in that.

"I'm seeing a lot of guys do the choke-up thing now," Maddon said. "Some hitters, it just truly is awkward and they just don't feel the same with the bat if they try to do that. Maybe 75 or 80 percent of hitters can do something like that.

"All it is is contact-oriented, it's getting your top hand closer to contact. It's better control of the bat. Also, when you do that, I think you automatically shorten your m ove to the baseball because you made this concession — in a sense — to the pitcher, which is fine.

"And having Rizz be the poster child with us is awesome. I'm always worried that the minor-leaguers are getting the right message also. So if you see Rizz doing that, come on. 'Why can't I do that?' It's the big punchout guys that are always trying to pull the baseball, not playing the game.

"Rizz plays the game. That's what it comes down to. Every time the count changes, the game changes. The outs that change, the innings that change — eveyrthing changes based on the scoreboard. And he plays that game well."

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