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| A familiar sight for Cubs fans. |
The Chicago Cubs hit nine home runs in April.
Nine.
That’s abysmal. Not unexpected—the team’s leading power hitters coming into the season were the decrepit Alfonso Soriano (who contributed no homers and a grand total of two extra-base hits in April) and a 29-year-old rookie, after all—but abysmal nevertheless.
But does a lack of power necessarily preclude a team from winning? After all, the Washington Nationals had the worst slugging percentage in baseball (.328) and hit only 13 home runs in April, yet they finished the month in first place in the National League East with a 14-8 record and a +15 run differential.
From this, one can infer that the Nationals have had brilliant pitching, and that is, in fact, the case. But can a team with an offense as anemic as the Nationals’ or the Cubs’ actually win a championship? Obviously, pitching is important, but has amazing pitching ever overcome an intrinsic lack of pop? Well, yes—but it’s fairly unusual.
