It's been a complete team effort for the Chicago Cubs, who looked to be one of the top teams in Major League Baseball to start the year.
The Cubs are currently 18-12, and although they're only 6-4 over their last 10 games, they have been playing decent baseball throughout that stretch as well.
Outside of their series loss against the Philadelphia Phillies, the Cubs have been one of the better teams in baseball. With a more manageable schedule over the next few months, they should feel confident about how things will go.
While the Cubs have adopted a team approach to their success so far this year, Kyle Tucker, the newly acquired outfielder, has been a significant contributor to their strong play over the first month of the season.
The left-handed hitting outfielder is currently hitting .288 with a 171 OPS+, blasting seven home runs and hitting eight doubles.
Of course, the conversations around Tucker at the moment are about whether he’ll return to the Cubs after the season.
The team has to extend him, and with a potential $500 million price tag attached to his name, it’s something that will be talked about.
Recently speaking to The Athletics' Patrick Mooney, Cubs hitting coach Dustin Kelly practically begged the organization to bring him back.
“What you see is this very locked-in, low-key guy playing the game at a certain pace. That is him, to a certain extent. He’s got a slow heartbeat. He’s played in some massive games. He’s got an incredible amount of confidence. (It’s that attitude of) there’s nothing that a pitcher has that can beat him. There’s nobody that’s going to be able to get him out in certain situations,” he said.
Everything that Kelly said is entirely accurate about Tucker, who many consider to be the top free agent on the market by a wide margin next winter.
It'll be interesting to see what happens, but his talent is clear, and his fit with the Cubs is perfect
