5 wild numbers behind Cubs’ April offense

This story was excerpted from Jordan Bastian’s Cubs Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CHICAGO -- One of the surprises of the first month of this Major League season has been the high-octane performance by the Cubs’ lineup. The group has applied pressure with stolen bases, while also showing the ability to clear the fence.

The early-season showing by the offense has been a driving force behind the Cubs climbing to the top of the National League Central. Adding star outfielder Kyle Tucker has made an immediate impact, but there has been damage done up and down the order to put Chicago at or near the top of multiple statistical categories.

“You’re not going to score seven, eight runs a night. That’s impossible,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer cautioned recently. “But I think the more we can continue to grind out pitchers, make good decisions, get ourselves good counts, we have a chance. But I would kind of file that under the category of, ‘It’s still early,’ and we need to remember that.”

Fair enough, but let’s look at five wild numbers from the Cubs’ first month of production:

170+ runs in the first month
The Cubs currently have 172 runs scored on the season, putting the team on a path to one of the best runs-per-game showings in modern team history. There has only been one other Cubs team since at least 1901 to produce 170+ runs before the end of April. The 2008 North Siders scored 171 runs in March/April that spring.

Historic power-speed showing
The Cubs have already topped 35 homers and 40 stolen bases before the end of April. The only other team in franchise history to reach those benchmarks in any month was the 1985 Cubs, who had 40 homers and 43 steals in September/October. It’s only been done 14 times overall since at least 1901, with the 2024 Brewers the only other team to achieve the feat in March/April.

Five players with at least five homers
Tucker, Carson Kelly, Seiya Suzuki, Michael Busch and Pete Crow-Armstrong have each launched at least five home runs so far this season. According to team historian Ed Hartig, this is the first time in club history the North Siders have had five players do that before the end of April. Hartig notes that only the ‘19 Cubs (Javier Báez, Willson Contreras, Jason Heyward and Anthony Rizzo) and the ‘94 Cubs (Leo Gomez, Ryne Sandberg, Scott Servais and Sammy Sosa) had four players with at least five homers before the calendar flipped to May.

Tucker’s 20-25-25-30 month
So far this month, Tucker has already amassed at least 20 walks, 25 runs, 25 RBIs and 30 hits for the North Siders. You have to go back to 2001 (September/October) to find the last Cubs player to do that in a single month. That last instance? None other than Slammin’ Sammy Sosa. Before that, Hack Wilson hit those marks three times (May, July and August) in his incredible 1930 campaign.

As the Crow-Armstrong flies
Crow-Armstrong has already reached at least 12 steals, 15 extra-base hits, 20 runs and 30 hits this season. Since 1901, PCA and José Reyes (2007 Mets) are the only players to hit all those numbers before the end of April. Two of the most recent occurrences in any month include Shohei Ohtani (September/October ‘24) and Ronald Acuńa Jr. (June ‘23). You might recall that Ohtani and Acu?a each won the NL MVP in those seasons.