Do the Cubs have the best lineup in baseball?
For all of the hoopla often surrounding the Dodgers, Yankees, and even the resurgent Braves, it would be easy to overlook the Northsiders. But they certainly belong in this conversation. Chicago entered play on Thursday scoring 5.41 runs per game -- T-2nd highest in the Majors -- with a 127 team OPS+ that leads all 30 clubs.
This isn't about star power, either.
"We can produce up and down the lineup," Cubs manager Craig Counsell told reporters in Chicago on Tuesday, following the team's seventh consecutive win.
Indeed they can.
Eleven different Cubs hitters have taken at least 60 plate appearances this season. All eleven players also have an OPS+ better than 100, which is league average. (OPS+ attempts to normalize OPS across the league, adjusting for external factors to provide a standardized number.)
Highest OPS+ among Cubs players
Min. 60 PA (entering Thursday)
- 173 // Seiya Suzuki
- 161 // Moisés Ballesteros
- 157 // Ian Happ
- 141 // Carson Kelly
- 134 // Nico Hoerner
- 127 // Matt Shaw
- 106 // Dansby Swanson
- 106 // Michael Busch
- 103 // Pete Crow-Armstrong
- 103 // Miguel Amaya
- 103 // Alex Bregman
Pete Crow-Armstrong joined the group with a two-hit night on Wednesday, boosting his OPS+ above league average with a game-tying two-run home run in the ninth inning. But even when he's not hitting -- and, lest we forget, PCA slugged 31 home runs last season -- Crow-Armstrong provides plenty of value. Thanks to elite defense, he is tied for the team's second most valuable player by bWAR.
You won't find this sort of balanced, top-to-bottom production anywhere else. The Dodgers are the closest comparison: Nine different L.A. hitters entered play on Thursday with an OPS+ better than average. The Braves, Tigers, Mariners and Pirates each have seven.
How rare a feat is this across an entire season? To extrapolate what the Cubs are doing, let's change our cut-off point from 60 plate appearances to 300. The 2023 Rangers were the last team to have 10 players take at least 300 PA with a 100 OPS+ or better. That worked out pretty well for them -- they won the World Series. Before that, you'd have to go back to the 2009 Angels, a 97-win outfit headlined by Vladimir Guerrero Sr., Torii Hunter and Bobby Abreu.
And if you searched beyond the '09 Angels, you'd find the 1983 Yankees, fueled by Hall of Famer Dave Winfield and a spry 22-year-old utility man named Don Mattingly.
This isn't entirely new territory for the Cubs, either. In 2025, eight different Chicago hitters posted an OPS+ of 100 or better. That was tied with the Red Sox, Dodgers, Tigers and Brewers for most in the Majors.
"It can be the whole lineup, it can be a few guys," first baseman Michael Busch said. "Top, bottom, middle, pitching staff. That's how you win a lot of games in this league."
The Cubs also hit the ground running last year. They were the second-highest scoring team in the Majors before the All-Star break (5.33 runs/game), driven by elite production from their two stars, Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker. After the break, the offense cratered. Chicago averaged just 4.26 runs/game -- 19th most -- in part because of prolonged slumps from PCA and Tucker.
It's still early, yes, but this year's group seems far more balanced. As a result, the floor might be higher. For one, the Cubs are already withstanding a .246/.311/.391 slash line from Crow-Armstrong, whose breakout season keyed much of last year's team success. Alex Bregman, the team's high-profile signing, hasn't hit his stride, and yet a struggling Bregman is still a productive bat. Matt Shaw is building off the strides he made late last year. Miguel Amaya, one of the league's top backup catchers, is healthy. Moisés Ballesteros is mashing and making good on his prospect pedigree.
All of this is to say: There might be enough here to pick up the slack when slumps inevitably crop up. We haven't even mentioned Michael Conforto, who is slashing .303/.415/.515 in 41 plate appearances despite being somewhat of a reclamation project, at this stage in his career.
Then there's this: Busch tallied Chicago's fifth walk-off of the season when his bouncing ball eluded Elly De La Cruz in the 10th inning on Tuesday. The five walk-offs have come from five different players. (The Cubs have since tallied a sixth walk-off, which Busch drew via a bases-loaded walk, on Wednesday).
"That's a cool stat," Counsell said. "Absolutely. That's a really cool stat."
It is, yes. And it also gives us another way to contextualize just how complete this lineup is at the moment.