Monday Cubs Graph Weekly Recap: September 1, 2024

Let's catch you up on this past week's latest Cubs trends.

Happy Monday! I hope you’re taking some well-deserved time off this Labor Day. But if you’re working, don’t worry—you’re not alone, I’m right there with you! We’ll power through it together.

Now, let’s dive into the Cubs’ recent run. They’ve scored 99 runs in their last 10 games and have won 6 in a row—this isn’t just their best stretch this year, it’s their highest-scoring 10-game run since the 1930s.

Here’s how they’ve racked up those 99 runs. I’ll use ↓, ↑, or ↔ to show the direction each hitter’s performance is trending. The black vertical line marks 10 days ago to highlight the trend.

Expected run production (xwOBA)

• ↑: Everyone!

• Highlight: The entire team has been trending upwards and is over .375. Granted, you might see a slight pink dip in PCA’s trend there, but his xwOBA was near .450 and he is still hanging north of .400.

Exit Velocity (hit speed)

• ↑: Ian Happ, Michael Busch, Isaac Paredes, Pete Crow-Armstrong

• ↔: Dansby Swanson, Miguel Amaya,

• ↓: Miguel Amaya, Cody Bellinger, Seiya Suzuki

• Highlight: We are seeing signs of Isaac Paredes emerging from his early Cubs career funk. His bat exit velocity has never been higher all season.

Swing Length

• ↑: Michael Busch

• ↔: Miguel Amaya, Nico Hoerner, Pete CrowArmstrong, Ian Happ, Michael Busch, Seiya Suzuki

• ↓: Isaac Paredes

• Highlight: Michael Busch’s swing length has been trending back upwards. This could represent greater swing conviction.

Bat Speed (swing speed)

• ↑: Miguel Amaya, Michael Busch

• ↔: Ian Happ, Dansby Swanson, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Michael Busch, Cody Bellinger, Nico Hoerner

• ↓: Isaac Paredes, Seiya Suzuki

• Highlight: Michael Busch’s bat speed is also rising, which makes sense because his swing length is rising. To emphasize, this could be a sign of greater swing conviction, and perhaps this means Busch is becoming more confident in swing decisions and therefore results might follow.

Whiffs (swinging strike rate)

• ↑: Dansby Swanson, Isaac Paredes, Seiya Suzuki

• ↔:Seiya Suzuki, Michael Busch, Cody Bellinger, Nico Hoerner, Ian Happ, Dansby Swanson

• ↓: Miguel Amaya, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Nico Hoerner

• Highlight: After a little bit of an uptick in whiffs, Nico Hoerner is starting to go back down.

Last Week’s Cubs Graphs Post Highlight

Last week, I posted about Dansby Swanson’s recent success against four-seamers, which, which you can read below:

CHGO Cubs Weekly Recap

Corey and I talked about how Craig Counsell could use the roster and pitching staff going into a September playoff chase.

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