A Few Miscellaneous Cubs Notes

While we wait for tonight's game, as the Cubs go for seven wins in a row, let's look at a few things that are going on now. This article was inspired by this tweet:

1 year ago today, Javier Baez made his MLB debut. His homer in the 12th won the game for the Cubs. He fanned in over 40% of his PA that yr

— Chris Jaffe (@jaffechris) August 5, 2015

Forgetting for a moment that K rate, or that Baez is still in Triple-A after a rough time earlier this year, the callup of Baez one year ago today began the harvesting of the fruits of the Cubs farm system that continued with Jorge Soler later that month, and Kris Bryant and Addison Russell this spring.

The Cubs had been on a long slide (9-16) after the trade that netted Russell, but began playing better after Baez' recall. They went 26-26 from Baez' debut game through the end of 2014; combining that with their 58-47 record entering tonight's game, they are 84-73 over the last calendar year. That's an 87-win pace over 162 games, something that ought to get them very close to the second wild-card spot, if not taking it outright.

The Cubs have also been doing well since they were swept by the Cardinals in St. Louis at the end of June. Since that series, the Cardinals (who were 51-24 after it ended) are just 16-15. The Cubs are 19-12 over that span, the second-best record in the National League. Only the Pirates (19-11) are better, and the Cubs can take care of that by winning tonight's game.

Finally, and with the caveat that these records are completely irrelevant to the team's play and that I keep them just for fun, here are the Cubs' 2015 records on various TV channels and wearing various uniforms.

TV channels

WGN: 13-13
CSN: 30-23 (includes CSN+)
ABC-7: 10-7
WPWR: 2-1
Fox: 2-1
ESPN: 1-2 (not including games also on other channels)

Uniforms

Home pinstripe: 24-23
Blue alt: 18-17
CUBS alt: 4-3
Road gray: 8-3
Holiday: 1-1
Throwback: 3-0