Ostrowski: Cubs' youth aids second-half dominance
Winning two of every three in the second half over a 3-year period?
Another 18 victories for the Cubs would mean 50 second-half wins for their third straight season. 18-9, two of every three.
But why have the north siders been so dominant after the all-star break?
To start, they loaded up in 2015 with guys that have been here since. It was the first year with Kris Bryant, Jon Lester, Addison Russell, Kyle Schwarber, and Joe Maddon.
Youth is on their side. At least with the position players. Earlier in the week, the 2017 Cubs became the first team in MLB history to have five players hit 20-plus home runs in their age 25 or younger season.
They also have veteran starting pitchers that know how to make it through a season. Lester, Jake Arrieta, and John Lackey should come close to starting 30 games again. They averaged 31.7 starts in their previous two years. Lackey wasn't a Cub in 2015.
The Cubs depth has afforded Maddon the ability to give his everyday players the proper amount of rest, but so has his team's play. Last year was months and months of just waiting for October to get here since the division was in hand so early.
That rest has probably helped them be a relatively healthy bunch over the last three years. Injury prevention is as important as anything in the grind of a 162-game season.
The schedule has also eased up. The rest of the NL Central hasn't been anywhere as challenging as it was in 2015, making life a little bit easier down the stretch.
But is it necessary to have a strong second half to win the World Series?
Not exactly, but it's usually the case. Because champions are really, really good teams even though many like to simply define the MLB playoffs as a "crapshoot."
Look at just the expanded wild card era that started in 2012. That's when baseball went to ten playoff teams instead of eight and rewarded division winners.
In those five World Series, nine of the ten teams that reached the Fall Classic were at least ten games above .500 in the second half.
The exception is the 2014 Giants, who were 35-31 after the all-star break. That's the only season a wild card team has made the World Series in this era. Their opponent, the Royals, also got in as a wild card.
The Cubs are 32-15 with a run differential of plus-98 in the second half. They're proving that talent does win out and this isn't the time to count out a rare baseball repeat.
• Joe Ostrowski is a co-host of the "Hit & Run" baseball show from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on WSCR 670-AM The Score with Barry Rozner. Follow him on Twitter@JoeO670.