The Chi-Town shift

As the 2001 Major League Baseball season prepares for the dog days of summer, the Chicago Cubs head into the first full week of June sitting atop the National League. Thanks to great pitching and 15 wins in games in which they've scored four or fewer runs, the Cubs should not be surprised if they find themselves in the playoffs for the first time since 1998.

The biggest reason things have turned around in Cubs country this season is starting pitching. Kevin Tapani (8-1, 3.47 ERA), Jon Lieber (5-3, 2.95) and a healthy Kerry Wood (4-4, 4.07, 102 K's in 66.1 innings pitched) could be the most underrated front three in all of baseball. The most impressive of the three has to be the 13-year veteran Tapani, who, aside from one awful outing at Coors Field on April 24 in which he allowed ten earned runs, has given up just 12 earned runs in his other nine starts.

The emergence of Lieber as a bona fide ace has also given the Cubs someone they can count on to give them seven solid innings every fifth day. Over his last three starts, Lieber has pitched 25 innings, allowing just 12 hits and two earned runs during that span. What makes Lieber more impressive is his ability to maximize every pitch he makes. In a recent complete game, one-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds, Lieber, who is averaging just 99.1 pitches per game, made just 79 pitches. Lieber's ability to be so effective with such a low pitch count ensures that the Cubs' ace will still have gas in the tank come September, when the Cubs will most likely still be battling the St. Louis Cardinals for a playoff spot in baseball's toughest division.

But perhaps no one has made a bigger impact on the Cubs' pitching staff this season than Wood, whose comeback from a dead arm looks to be complete. Wood is throwing the ball in the mid- to upper-nineties with regularity again, as evident by his recent complete game, one-hit, 14-strikeout gem against the Milwaukee Brewers one day after Lieber's dismantling of the Reds. With a healthy Wood and Julian Tavarez (3-4, 3.47 ERA) and Jason Bere (4-2, 5.13 ERA) rounding out the rest of the rotation, the Cubs, who are on pace to break the single-season strikeout record set by the Randy Johnson-led Arizona Diamondbacks in 1999, could have the best five starters of any team in the National League.

While the starters have been amazing for the Cubs thus far, the bullpen has been there to pick up the slack whenever the rotation has faltered. The most notable contributor has been Jeff Fassero (10 saves, .97 WHIP), who successfully moved into the closer's role when Tom Gordon became injured. Now that Gordon is back, the southpaw Fassero, who had just one career save before 2001, can move into the setup role and combine with flame throwing right-hander Kyle Farnsworth (46 K's in 27.1 innings pitched) to give the Cubs one of the best bullpens in baseball.

While the Cubs pitching has been fantastic from the start, the offense has yet to come around. Aside from Sammy Sosa (.297, 16 HR, 50 RBI) and newly acquired third baseman Bill Mueller (.317, 5 HR, 16 RBI in 36 games played), no one on the Cubs has produced with any level of consistency at the plate. The Cubs' .252 team batting average will have to rise if they hope to compete all season in a division that boasts three teams (St. Louis, Milwaukee and Houston) in the top seven in batting in the National League. The Cubs also will need the struggles of leadoff man Eric Young (.255, .301 on-base percentage, 9 stolen bases in 51 games) and newcomer Rondell White (.275, 8 HR, 24 RBI) to stop if the Cubs hope to be in the thick of things come September.

In a strange season that has the Philadelphia Phillies, Minnesota Twins and Chicago Cubs sitting atop their respective divisions, the time is now for teams such as these to pad their leads. If the Cubs continue to pitch as masterfully as they have thus far, and their hitting eventually comes around, don't be surprised to see the Cubs cruising to the playoffs come September.