The Cubs At The Two-Thirds Mark Of 2016

We now stand two-thirds of the way through the 2016 Cubs season.

All right, if you want to be completely accurate about that statement, we're still one game away from the two-thirds mark, as the Cubs have played 107 games.

But since we have more than another day to wait until the next game, I thought this would be a good time to look at where we are, and what kinds of paces the team and various players are on for the full season.

The Cubs are 66-41. That's a .617 winning percentage. For a full season, a .617 winning percentage is 100 wins. That's not quite the record pace the Cubs were on for the season's first two months, but no Cubs team has won 100 games in 81 years, since 1935. Since then the team has peaked at 98 wins (1945), 97 (2008 and 2015), 96 (1984), 93 (1989), 92 (1969) and 90 (1998). Those seven are the team's only 90-win seasons in that 81-year span.

That should change this year, as the Cubs need to win just 24 of the remaining 55 games to win 90. That will become historic when the Cubs do it, as the last time the franchise won 90 or more games in consecutive seasons was 1929-30. The Cubs need to go 34-21 to win 100 games.

Kris Bryant leads the National League with 82 runs. That's a pace for 124 runs. The last Cub to score that many (or more) runs was Sammy Sosa, who had 146 runs in 2001. There have been just 10 seasons in Cubs history of 124 or more runs, just three of them since the 1930s (Sosa in 1998 and 2001, and Billy Williams in 1970).

Bryant's 26 homers lead the team and his pace is for 39. Anthony Rizzo has 24, so he's on pace for 36. The last time any Cubs team had two 30-homer men was 2005, when Derrek Lee had 46 and Aramis Ramirez 31. If both Rizzo and Bryant get hot in the season's final two months and get to 40, that will be a first. No Cubs team has ever had two 40-homer men, and there have been just 19 40-homer seasons in Cubs history. Sosa had seven of those, and Ernie Banks five.

Rizzo's 79 RBI rank him fourth in the National League, and that puts him on a pace for 120. Sosa drove in 160 in 2001, the last Cubs player to have 120 or more. Bryant has 68 and is on pace for 103. The last time a Cubs team had two 100-RBI men was 2004, when Moises Alou had 106 and Ramirez 103. Addison Russell's 65 RBI put him just short of a 100-RBI pace. The last time a Cubs team had three 100-RBI men was 1970: Williams had 129, Jim Hickman 115 and Ron Santo 114.

Rizzo has 30 doubles, so he's on pace for 45. There have been just 10 seasons in Cubs history of 45 or more doubles. The last was D-Lee's 50-double season in 2005. Mark Grace had 51 in 1995; before that you have to go back to the 1930s to find any Cubs hitter with 45 or more doubles. The team record is 57, set by Billy Herman in 1935 (and he did that again in 1936).

As a team, the Cubs have scored 542 runs, or 5.07 per game. That's a pace for 821, which would be the most since 2008 (855) and just the second time any Cubs team had 800+ runs scored since the 1930s. They currently rank third in the National League in runs, one behind the Cardinals and 13 behind the Rockies.

The Cubs pitching staff leads the N.L. in fewest runs allowed with 371, or 3.47 per game. That would be 562 runs allowed over the full season, the fewest allowed in a non-labor-dispute season since 1945 (532). If the Cubs do replicate both the runs scored and runs allowed paces for the rest of the year, that would result in a run differential of +275, the first time any Cubs team would have a run differential over +200 since 1935 (+250). The only run differential in Cubs history bigger than +275 is the team-record +323, set in 1907.

No individual Cubs pitcher is currently on pace for the 20-win milestone. Cubs starters should have 11 starts remaining each, and Jake Arrieta could still win 20, but he'd have to have a final two months like he did in 2015. Yes, I am well aware that individual pitcher wins mean little in modern baseball, but 20 wins is still a notable milestone. It's possible all five Cubs starters could get to 15 wins. To find any Cubs team with that many 15-game winners you have to go back to the deadball era -- 1904. Since the end of that era (generally accepted to be 1920), only one Cubs team has four 15-game winners -- 1931. Since 1945, when that pennant-winning team had three 15-game winners, that feat has been accomplished by the Cubs three times: 1969, 1970 and 1989.

Since the Cubs changed closers from Hector Rondon to Aroldis Chapman, that means Rondon might wind up leading the team in saves with his current total of 18. (It's possible, though not likely, that Chapman could post 17 more saves and pass Rondon.) If that happens it would be the Cubs' lowest team-leading save total since 1997, when Terry Adams led the club with 18 saves.

With the Cubs playing better of late, many of these historic milestones could occur. We are, of course, hoping for more than that, which is getting to and winning the World Series.