What is happening? Welcome to the PlusPitch Podcast. You're more in Pitching Podcasts from

PitcherList.com. My name is Nick Pollack. Today we're going to talk about the Chicago Cubs.

And they've had some things changing their team in the past week. And I'm very lucky that I

timed this just right because we have Alex Bregman arriving in Chicago. And I have to say that is great news.

You have Dansby Swanson and Alex Breggman on the right side of that defense.

It already was an elite defense.

But now I can comfortably say that this is just one of the best defenses in the majors.

You also have PCA in the outfield.

And my gosh. All of the best defenses in the majors. You also PCA in the outfield. And my gosh, all of these pitchers are going to perform a little bit better than expected.

So if you want to use FIP and XFIP, which I never recommend, unless you're doing a very, very quick assessment,

they're going to beat that because the assumption that they're going to have

average BABIP is just wrong because the defense will help them.

Also, digging into this, Scott White really turned me on to it that Riggly Field prevents more

home runs than it allows.

There are more extremes because of the wind.

However, it was proven

82 home games last year, 51 of them, the wind was coming in and helping pitchers in removing

the fly balls turning into home runs. So just keep that in mind. Obviously, it does change as

the season goes on and you can actually predict that a little bit just because you can see what the weather is like

on a given day.

But it does mean that Cubs pitchers generally perform better than expected.

So that means that you get some little bit extra value in certain guys.

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