The Chicago Cubs finished off their West Coast road trip at 5-1 after sweeping the Oakland A’s on Wednesday with a 12-2 win. The Cubs outscored the A’s 26-3 and have now won 10 of their last 13 games to improve to 11-6 this season. OK, now onto the three amazing stats for the Cubs because they are on fire right now.

Number One Starting Rotation

Cubs starting pitchers allowed a total of two earned runs in 19 innings against the Oakland A’s. Thanks to that effort the Cubs starting rotation now has a combined 2.66 ERA, ranking number one in the National League and third overall in MLB behind the Minnesota Twins (2.65 ERA) and Tampa Bay Rays (2.31 ERA).

Marcus Stroman is leading the way with a 0.75 ERA in his first four starts. The only runs he’s allowed so far this season came against the Seattle Mariners last Wednesday, when he went six innings and gave up a pair.

Meanwhile, Justin Steele is picking up right where he left off in 2022. The left-hander recorded his fourth straight quality start on Wednesday, allowing one earned run in six innings.

The Cubs are averaging 5.4 innings per start, which ranks fourth in the National League and seventh in MLB. I’m sure other teams have had a few bad starts, but that average inning mark for the Cubs is slightly lower because of Hayden Wesneski’s start against the Seattle Mariners that only lasted 1.1 innings.

It shouldn’t come off as a major surprise that the rotation isn’t in the top-10 in strikeouts, but they’re executing their collective game plan almost to a tee as their starters have the third highest ground ball percentage in baseball at 46.4%. Pitching and defense, that’s going to be the strength of this team, but we’re also seeing an excellent offense through the first 17 games of the 2023 season.

Highest Scoring Offense

Yeah, facing the worst pitching team in baseball is going to help out your offense and that was definitely the case this week, as the Cubs scored double-digit runs twice in Oakland. However, the Cubs now have five games scoring 10+ runs through 17 games. That has pushed the Cubs to the number one scoring offense in the National League, averaging 5.82 runs per game. They’re third in MLB behind the Texas Rangers (6.22 runs per game) and again the Rays, who have been the best team since the start of the season, putting up 7 runs per game.

The Cubs also rank fourth in MLB with a matching 115 OPS+ and wRC+ and they’re only behind Tampa Bay with a .350 wOBA.

Individually, the Cubs have eight players with at least 17 plate appearances with a wRC+ at 118 or above. Patrick Wisdom is leading the team with a 183 wRC+, which also ranks second highest among all National League hitters.

Bullpen Striking Out Everybody

There are still a few shaky appearances from a couple relievers, but following a bumpy first week, the Cubs bullpen leads all of MLB with a 30.2 strikeout percentage. The group also has a top-10 WHIP and ranks second in the National League in opponent batting average.

Right-handed reliever Mark Leiter Jr. has been incredible so far for David Ross, throwing 7.1 scoreless innings through his first eight appearances in 2023 and he leads the bullpen with a 46.7 strikeout rate.

I know that it’s been frustrating to see Michael Fulmer blow a few saves early in the season, but he’s been nasty too, striking out a third of the batters he’s faced. Meanwhile, Michael Rucker has 10 strikeouts in 7.2 innings.