Chicago Cubs: Should fans begin to panic after worrying start?

The Chicago Cubs have not started the 2018 season like they were supposed to. Should fans be worried?

Just five games in, and all chaos is breaking loose in the minds of some Chicago Cubs fans. Sitting at 2-3, the Cubs have opened the season splitting a four-game series with the rebuilding Miami Marlins and dropping a third loss to the previously winless Cincinnati Reds.

The most alarming part of the Cubs’ slow start is the sporadic offense — well, sporadic could be putting it nicely.

The North Siders have left a heck of a lot of runs on the table thus far. In the Cubs’ two wins, they have gone 6-for-27 with runners in scoring position. In their losses, that number is particularly startling: 1-for-24.

By now, you have heard the news of the Cubs breaking the record for most strikeouts by an NL team in their first five games, with 58 of them. After starting the season with a bang — literally — new leadoff hitter Ian Happ has gone cold, as he leads the team with 10 strikeouts by himself.

Here are just a few shocking numbers over the course of the first five games:

• Ian Happ: 2-for-16 (.125), 10 strikeouts
• Javier Baez: 2-for-18 (.111), 5 strikeouts
• Anthony Rizzo: 3-for-23 (.130), 6 strikeouts
• Willson Contreras: 4-for-21 (.190), 8 strikeouts

Looking at those four guys alone, they make up for exactly half of the team’s total strikeouts through five contests. We know all of them possess the power to knock it out of the ballpark on any given day, but the production simply hasn’t been there.

Meanwhile, the new-look Kyle Schwarber is actually performing pretty well. For a guy who many thought might end up being a culprit for a slow start, based on last year, he’s actually done well overall.

Schwarber is batting .294 with two home runs, two doubles and three RBI’s.

Kris Bryant is also doing his part, batting .333 with three doubles, a home run and four RBI’s.

Bryant and Schwarber have each struck out five times, however, and can somewhat be attributed to the slow start.

All in all, fans shouldn’t necessarily panic just yet. This is the kind of lineup, if any, that will produce more strikeouts than most. When you have guys in the order that can all, for the most part, hit home runs consistently, you might see a stretch such as this.

It is important to note the body of work as a whole for these guys. The Cubs have several players who hit 20+ home runs a year ago, including Schwarber who was sent down to the minors at one point, and Happ, who was in his first major league season.

The Cubs have tons of youth, many players without a lot of big-league experience. They also have a good amount of players with significant experience, despite their youth. Joe Maddon doesn’t seem to be worried at the moment, and neither should the fans.

This is a long season, and five games out of 162 doesn’t even begin to tell the whole story. My bet is that, come June and July, we will all be laughing at the way this season began.

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The Cubs will look to turn things around when they take on the Reds again tonight in the second and final game of their brief first series together.