April is the cruelest month…

but no so much for the Cubs catchers.

Much have been made about the difficulty of the Cubs schedule in March and April of 2025, and it is not an exaggeration.

In the ESPN Relative Power Index, the Cubs’ strength of schedule is nearly 100 points higher than the 2nd team. And the Cubs lead the power index, which takes into account opponents record and the opponents of the opponents:
https://www.espn.com/mlb/stats/rpi/_/sort/sos

Similar ratings at Teamranking.com: https://www.teamrankings.com/mlb/ranking/schedule-strength-by-other and Power Rankings Guru: https://powerrankingsguru.com/mlb/strength-of-schedule.php (need to scroll down to the 2nd chart).

With all this in mind, the 15-10 record so far is quite an accomplishment. In fact, some struggles of the bullpen could right themselves when the Cubs are not facing the best teams in baseball almost every single game.

But the winning record despite the tough schedule is not a fluke. The Cubs have several players who are doing extremely well so far. Obviously, Kyle Tucker has led the charge with his timely home runs and 1.6 WAR. But after a slow start, PCA has been extremely hot, and sits second on the team with a 1.5 WAR.

But the real revelation for the offense has been the two guys at the Catcher position. Carson Kelly has been otherworldly, with a 1.3 WAR and OPS over 1.500. But Miguel Amaya has been more than solid, with a 0.5 WR and .798 OPS. The two recent games where the offence rescued the team in the face of a bullpen meltdown included 2 homers from Kelly in one game and a 2-out bottom of the 9th, game-tying home run from Amaya in the other.

https://www.mlb.com/video/carson-kelly-s-two-home-run-performance

To put this in perspective, last year the Cubs catcher position in 566 plate appearances, put up 14 home runs and 73 RBIs, and a combined .601 OPS. And all this with a resurgence from Amaya and a couple of really big days from Christian Bethancourt.

This season, so far, in 103 plate appearances by the players in the catcher position, the Cubs have 7 home runs and 29 RBIs, with a 1.043 OPS. Extrapolated over the season, that is 34 homers and 142 RBIs, which are MVP numbers. And they have already surpassed the combined WAR of all the catches in 2024, which was 1.5 (not as huge a feat, considering Gomes and Nido combined for a -1.2 WAR). Obviously, this pace will slow, but it has kept the Cubs above water as they get through this tough schedule, and hopefully get the bullpen straightened out.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47311/the-waste-land