Chicago Cubs are on a historic pace to start 2016

The defense is stellar

Coming into the season, there were questions about the Chicago Cubs defense. The original plan in the outfield was to have Jason Heyward play center, with Jorge Soler in right field and Kyle Schwarber in left field.

Then a few things happened. The Cubs amazingly re-signed Dexter Fowler, thus putting him back roaming center field. That moved Heyward back into right field, where he has shown he is the best in baseball.

Schwarber was still in left, something that was a bit of a concern. He is a natural catcher, and was just learning to play left field.

Then Schwarber got injured and lost for the season.

Now, Soler is in left field, and the question is still there, but late in games there are replacements who have played well defensively.

Also, with Soler struggling offensively, manager Joe Maddon has had him on the bench and started others in left. He has used Kris Bryant, Matt Szczur and Ryan Kalish to start games and come in late there, and even used Javier Baez there late in games.

The result of Schwarber’s injury has been beneficial for the Cubs. With Schwarber’s power, he would be in the lineup for a big chunk of the season. The Cubs would need to take his bad defense with his great offense.

Now, though, the guys that are in left field have been solid, helping the defense more than if Schwarber was there.

The infield has been excellent. Baez and Zobrist have not made any errors yet, and Addison Russell has just four, playing shortstop full-time.

Have you noticed that Miguel Montero has not been in the lineup for a couple of weeks? The Cubs called up Tim Federowicz, and he and David Ross have done a great job behind the plate, and have handled the pitching staff well.

The Chicago Cubs as a defense have committed just 16 errors this season (four by the pitchers). That ranks them tenth in all of baseball.

Having a defense that can help prevent runs helps the pitcher relax and just pitch. He knows that even if his pitch is off, his defense will have his back. Having a shaky defense, the pitcher may try to strike everyone out, and that could lead to a lot of trouble.

So far, there has been no trouble with the Chicago Cubs defense.

Next: The offense has been bopping the ball