Ostrowski: Cubs' problem is erratic offense
Thirty-six of the last 37 days have been spent lingering in the range of two games above .500 to two games below for the Cubs.
Excuses or just sound reasoning, we've heard it all exactly halfway through the season.
World Series hangover, sleep deprivation, injuries, starting pitcher regression, strength of schedule, implications of a juiced baseball, road record, extra-inning games, rain delays, or even different stitching on the 2017 balls.
But the Cubs' biggest issue through 81 games is none of the above — it's their erratic offense.
Taking a quick glance, it might not look all that bad. Many of the offensive categories rank the defending champions in the middle of Major League Baseball: runs per game, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, weighted on-base average.
The Cubs' offense was shut out for the seventh time on Friday at The Great American Ballpark, one of the most hitter-friendly stadiums around. They failed to score only six times all of last year. They're on pace to come close to the 2013 Cubs, who were shut out sixteen times on their way to a 66-96 record.
In their 40 wins, the Cubs have scored 7.38 runs per contest. But in their 41 losses, a woeful 2.44 runs a game. The unreliable offense has scored 3 runs or less in 29 of those 41 defeats.
The number one issue with the lineup has been it's poor situational hitting. A .233 batting average with runners in scoring position, 27th in MLB. Hitting .238 with runners on, second worst in baseball.
So how do they fix it?
That's simple. It's on the players to just perform better.
Trade for an everyday leadoff hitter? What position do they play? We've been complaining about Joe Maddon not getting more playing time for Albert Almora Jr. as it is.
The lineup is very different from the pitching rotation. It's reasonable to expect some of the starting staff to change. Kyle Hendricks will return after the all-star break and the front office will add an arm or two in the trade market.
Two players that need to turn things around at the plate are Ben Zobrist and Kyle Schwarber. Zobrist came back from his DL stint on Saturday. The Cubs are hoping the time away healed the veterans' nagging injuries. Zobrist's .222 average is down 50 points and .711 OPS is 121 points behind his 2016 numbers.
Schwarber has been a member of the Iowa Cubs for nearly a week. Even though he missed 160 of 162 games last year, he was needed as a bigger part of this offense than anyone was ready to admit. The struggling slugger was part of the reason they didn't mind saying goodbye to Dexter Fowler.
The offense's inconsistency has consistently been the biggest problem with the Cubs.
• 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.