The Big Blue Machine?
The Cubs are trying to pull off the nearly impossible, with the league-best offense and defense and the league-worst pitching staff. It’s a tall order. I had thought it couldn’t be done. A small item on a podcast that came up because I was too lazy to click it off put me on the track of a team that accomplished the task. There are caveats, of course, but let’s take a look at the 1975 Cincinnati Reds and see if the comparison holds.
Sparky Anderson guided that squad to a 108-54 record. They summarily disposed of the Pittsburgh Pirates, sweeping the three-game series, and then defeated the Boston Red Sox in one of the classic World Series of all time.
That was the Big Red Machine. Joe Morgan turned in an 11.0 bWAR season. Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, and George Foster were at the height of their powers. The pitching staff, headed by Don Gullett and Gary Nolan, amassed a paltry 11.8 bWAR as a group, even though six men won 10 or more games. Jack Billingham turned in a 15-10 season and earned 0.0 bWAR.
Mostly, they just clobbered the competition. They scored 840 runs, batted .282 — not including pitchers, who brought that average down to .271 — and clouted 124 home runs. Bench, Morgan, David Concepcion, and Cesar Geronimo won Gold Gloves that year, and Gullett received Cy Young votes, placing fifth for his 15-4 record, with three shutouts.
The 2026 Cubs will dwarf that offensive output. They have 208 homers in 151 games, good for 806 runs, with a .251/.340/.431 slash line. On the other hand, the staff has amassed a total of 5.8 bWAR. Inactive Ben Brown leads the squad with 2.2 bWAR. The 1985 Cubs were healthy by comparison to this group, but that’s just sad.
Their offensive margin is bigger than the Reds had, but that pitching is an issue. Still, some of the Cubs’ imported starters have upside, and that ridiculous defense and offense give them a chance if the ball stays in the park. The real issue is that they’ll have to play so many more games. A Wild Card round looms, likely against the Philadelphia Phillies (.242/.312/.400, 176 HR, 675 R), who have considerable offensive firepower and above-average pitching (29.3 bWAR). Then the division and championship series in the way before the World Series is played.
It takes 12 wins to be the champions; those Reds only had to win seven. The Cubs have a longer road to travel to become the champs, but the cause isn’t hopeless even if the odds are against it. But the example of the Reds is there (fWAR tells a similar story), and the best part is that those Reds repeated.
Should the Cubs win, and should there be a 2027 season (our next subject), we can dream of a repeat. Of course, you have to win the first one to get there. The possibility makes the hair stand up on the edge of my seat.
Thanks for reading.
