Quote:
Originally Posted by jd1020
Ya you're right. They were just the best team in baseball from the first game to the last game. They had historically good defense. The best pitching staff in baseball. And an entire infield of All-Stars.
Kluber and Miller were the only things the Indians had going for them in the playoffs and if it weren't for the Cubs going full reerun against Tomlin, the series would have been over in 6 and Kluber would have never had the chance to pitch a 3rd game.
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It wasn't actually the best staff in baseball. It was a staff of guys stacking aberrational years on top of one another. They had the lowest BABIP in baseball by 30 points. That's not all attributable to defense, nor is the fact that they had the highest strand rate in the game.
They're on pace to save 50 fewer defensive runs than last year despite returning everyone but a backup catcher and a subpar defensive CF, and their 2017 numbers would be in line with their 2015 numbers.
The Cubs have and have had very good defense and pitching, but it is not elite as you suggest, even if the numbers masqueraded as such last year. It's no different than the Cardinals' fluke years with RISP in 2013 or ERA in 2015.