John Grochowski | For the Sun-Times

Baseball by the Numbers: Bellinger’s 2.53 WPA leads Ian Happ’s 1.85, Nico Hoerner’s 1.61 and Mike Tauchman’s 1.26. A WPA of 1 represents adding 100% to the chance of winning one game.
Baseball by the numbers: The Cubs outfielder has outperformed expected averages in BA (.311 vs. .268) and SLG (.534 vs. 437) in by far his best season since he was the National League MVP with the Dodgers in 2019.
MLB
Baseball by the numbers: Sorry, purists, but complete games are disappearing fast.
Led by second baseman Nico Hoerner’s 36, the Cubs are capitalizing on a baseball-wide boost in stolen bases.
Baseball by the Numbers: His first game Saturday was impressive, to be sure, but it still was only one game.
Adbert Alzolay, Mark Leiter Jr. and Julian Merryweather have led the relievers’ turnaround since the Cubs’ 28-37 start.
Differences in ballparks and opposition explain why adjustments have to be made.
Since July 14, the Cubs’ 7.1 runs per game lead the majors by almost a run over the Dodgers’ 6.2 and their 16-7 record is tied with that of the Orioles for the best in the majors.
Jose Quintana helped the Cubs make another deep playoff run, but the combination of Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease have far outpaced him already.