It's hard to top Cubs-Cardinals in a nationally televised game on a beautiful Sunday evening at Wrigley Field.
It's also hard to top the way the Cubs are playing right now.
Chants of "SWEEP! SWEEP! SWEEP!" spread through the 37,000+ fans on Chicago's North Side as the Cubs put the finishing touches on a three-game sweep of the Cardinals to take over first place in the NL Central.
The Cubs improved to 19-12 overall and haven't experienced defeat in nine days (since April 26 in Arizona). They're also about to welcome the worst team in baseball — the Miami Marlins — to town for a four-game series beginning Monday night.
Rewind exactly 28 days ago — four weeks before they were blasting Young Jeezy and Lil Wayne in the home clubhouse at Wrigley — and the Cubs were on their way back to Chicago from Milwaukee having lost their third straight series to open the season and watching their record plummet to 2-7 in the process. Before they had even played a home game, the Cubs were 5.5 games out of first place in the NL Central.
But they haven't lost a series since then, going 17-5 overall and now hold the best run differential (+51) in baseball.
"Why did we have to start 1-6?" Kris Bryant asked after Sunday's game. "We've really turned it around since then — our pitchers have done great, our at-bats have been great, defense. Everything has really been clicking for us. This is the type of baseball that's super fun to be a part of."
MLB
The Cardinals came into the weekend as the hottest team in baseball, having won 10 of their last 12 games. The Cubs not only swept, but in decisive fashion — outscoring St. Louis 23-10 over the weekend (and 3 of those 10 runs came on homers off Tyler Chatwood in the ninth inning Sunday when the sweep was well in hand).
Look up and down the roster and the reasons for optimism are almost overwhelming:
Javy Baez has not only scoffed at the talk of regression, but actually seems to be getting BETTER.
Bryant has reached base in 15 straight games, hit a grand slam Sunday night and now has 3 homers in his last 8 games.
Anthony Rizzo has hit 5 homers and driven in 14 runs over the last 11 games.
Jason Heyward is still hitting over .300 with an OPS over .900.
The next homer Willson Contreras hits will tie his 2018 total...and more than 80 percent of the 2019 season still remains.
Jose Quintana is pitching better than he ever has in a Cubs uniform.
David Bote is not only excelling as a role player, but he's looking more and more like a guy worthy of an everyday role (and what a steal that would be after the extension he signed in the first week of the season).
Albert Almora Jr. entered Sunday's game with 2 extra-base hits on the season and matched that total in a span of just two innings, doubling in both the seventh and eighth inning against the Cardinals.
Even with Chatwood's tough ninth inning, the bullpen has been the best in baseball for the last month — and by a wide margin.
The pitching staff has tossed an MLB-best six shutouts.
The Cubs are about to improve upon their depth, as Mike Montgomery and Xavier Cedeno are close to returning and Victor Caratini just took batting practice for the first time in three weeks before Sunday's game.
Brandon Kintzler is having a resurgent campaign and it looks like the Cubs have found a reliable left-handed option with Kyle Ryan in the bullpen.
The list goes on and on.
To answer Bryant's question from earlier, the poor start was due more to the bullpen meltdowns than anything else. But even the relentlessly positive Joe Maddon didn't expect this team to respond so quickly and decisively after that rough opening road trip.
"Nobody in that room believed we were going to maintain that negative approach [from the bad start]," Maddon said. "We just don't do that."
It's only May 5, but the Cubs have climbed all the way back to gain control of the driver's seat in a division that figures to be hotly contested all season.
"I just hope that we continue to maintain that focus," Maddon said. "I'd like to believe that we have this inner swagger always. You have to as a professional athlete to go on stage like that and to be exposed constantly. You have to have that thing inside of you that permits you to — pretty much the 'try not to suck' method. Try not to embarrass yourself.
"You're always working, working, working to play at your best, obviously, but there's always that threat. I just like the way we are right now. I think the focus is outstanding. I think the work is really pointed; it's on task. The support among each other is outstanding, the dugout is really alive, so this is what I'm getting right now. From the outside looking in, that's different. But from the inside looking out, I really like how we're going about our business."
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