SB Nation Reacts: Confidence in the Cubs drops to dead last in MLB

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across MLB. Each week, we send out questions to the most plugged-in Chicago Cubs fans, and fans across the country. Sign up here to join Reacts.

According to the latest SB Nation Reacts survey, 13 percent of Cubs fans are confident the team is headed in the right direction. That’s way, way down from 46 percent last week and 39 percent to start the year. The 13 percent figure is tied for last among all teams with the Rockies — and the Rockies are UP from 10 percent last week.

A part of any fan’s confidence in the team is based on how well the team can get outs. Cubs fans do have a high level of confidence in the team’s defense.

Defenses around the league are dealing with a couple of changes this season, one that theoretically should help while the other could make things more difficult.

After a few years of rising home run totals, the league reportedly made a change to deaden the baseballs used in games. However, if this has happened, fans haven’t yet noticed.

One carryover rule change from the 60-game 2020 season is the placed-runner rule, starting each extra inning with a runner on second base. The rule was implemented for several reasons, but primarily to keep games shorter and reduce the time players and coaches had to spend around each other during the pandemic. Earlier today I wrote this article about that rule — it has to go.

Fans around the SB Nation network overwhelmingly agreed with that:

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