Is there reason for the Cubs to panic?

No…of course not…it has only been 6 games. However, if the Cubs had not salvaged a series win and 3-3 homestand, I think there would have been lots of people who would have answered “yes”.

There are a few reasons for concern:

• The Brewers are already 5-1, and appear to have avoided a karmic meltdown from “Flying the L” in last season’s playoffs, as evidenced by the Rays commiting two critical errors leading to a 6-run 8th inning yesterday. The Cubs are already 2 games back, which is not that a big of a deal. But early indications are that the Brewers will definitely be a problem.
• The offense has showed some early inconsistency, including being shut out by the Angels.
• We have seen two bad starts from a results perspective, one by Boyd on opening day and one by Imanaga. Although the Imanaga start did not seems to be as bad as the results suggested, with him being victimized by two bloop hits and a home run on a pitch way out of the strike zone.
• The bullpen, while not having a meltdown, has had some bumps – including homers allowed in big spots by Brown and Milner.
• The Nationals and Angels seem like pretty bad teams, so splitting those games seems like a lost opportunity.

On the other hand there are several reasons for optimism:

• Horton and Cabrera looked very good in their first starts
• Taillon had a solid opening start, looking much better than he did over the Spring. While he did start on a very pitcher-friendly day, there did not appear to be too many of the fly outs that would have been homers in Arizona.
• Ian Happ already has 3 home runs.
• Some other good hitting, including a great start from Nico Hoerner

The Cubs still have a stretch of games where they should be able to pile up some wins: at Cleveland, at Tampa, home to the Pirates. But then they get the Philllies for 3 (A), Mets for 3 (H), Phillies for 4 (H), Dodgers for 3 (A) and Padres for 3 (A) – whch should be a challenging stretch.

Hopefully, Suzuki will be back for the Pirates series, giving the lineup a little more punch.