BOX SCORE

CHICAGO — The Cubs followed a historic day with a bit more of a leisurely stroll at the park.

The Cubs raced out to an early lead and cruised the rest of the way, beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-2 at Wrigley Field on Saturday. The Cubs win the season tiebreaker over Arizona, something that could be important at the end of the season.

the Diamondbacks (12-9) finished a game better than the Cubs (14-9) in the 2023 National League wild card standings and held the tiebreaker over them.

[MORE: Justin Steele injury update: Latest on Cubs lefty after elbow surgery]

Here are three takeaways from the win:

Fast start

It felt like the Cubs picked up where they left off on Friday.

The Cubs scored six runs in the first two innings of Saturday’s contest and staked themselves to a fast lead. Unlike Friday, though, the wind wasn’t howling out, so a five-run lead Saturday felt a bit different than it did 24 hours prior.

Kyle Tucker started it with an RBI triple in the first and scored on a Michael Busch single. Miguel Amaya scored on a Tucker groundout the next inning and then Seiya Suzuki and Busch hit back-to-back home runs to put the exclamation point on the fast start.

The Cubs offense has been red-hot this season. They entered Saturday with the most runs scored in baseball and were averaging 6.2 runs per game. Five outs into Saturday’s game and they had equaled that number. Almost everyone in the lineup is clicking. It certainly feels like the lineup has no free outs now and that allows the line to keep moving.

The offensive success helps mask other areas of the team. Beefing up leads and working long innings helps cover the bullpen (which has been up and down this season) and allow the relievers to settle into their roles. A starter can be more aggressive and attack hitters.

Will the Cubs be the best offense in baseball over a 162-game slate? Maybe. Maybe not. But the longer this keeps up, the more excited Cubs fans should become about the potential of this lineup long-term.

Bullpen digs deep

The Cubs bullpen has been taxed over the last six days.

They’ve covered 20 innings over the previous five games entering Saturday’s contest against the Diamondbacks. In Friday’s historic win over Arizona, manager Craig Counsell used seven relievers and six of their bullpen arms have pitched three times over the last six days. Right-hander Ethan Roberts pitched four times in that span.

It’s why Counsell tried to squeeze every out possible out of his starter, Ben Brown. The right-hander gave him 12 outs on 100 pitches – less than ideal.

Counsell turned to Caleb Thielbar — who faced two batters on Friday — to cover two innings after Brown. Brad Keller pitched a scoreless seventh and Daniel Palencia picked up the final six outs.

The concern isn’t Saturday, though. It’s the trickle-down effect that will be felt on Sunday and the rest of the season. Relievers don’t usually throw three consecutive days and aren’t doing that in April. So, the Cubs might be playing a few arms down in the finale against the Diamondbacks.

And Counsell doesn’t want to overuse his relievers early in the season. Ryan Pressly and Porter Hodge — his top two leverage arms — had been used 10 times entering Saturday and were on pace for 73 appearances this season. That’d be almost double the number of major-league appearances Hodge had in his rookie campaign in 2024 and would represent the second-most appearances in Pressly’s 13-year career. Two other relievers — Thielbar and Julian Merryweather — had nine appearances entering Saturday and were on pace for 66 games pitched, the second-most in both of their careers.

Counsell doesn’t want to run his relievers into the ground early, not when they’re hoping to play deep into October. Starters like Brown need to give the Cubs more length, especially when the bullpen is gassed.

Dansby’s day

The offense has been red-hot, we’ve established that.

But not everyone has been tearing the cover off the baseball.

Dansby Swanson entered Saturday’s contest hitting .170/.221/.341 (.562 OPS).

“Dansby is off to a slow start; that’s not a bad thing if that’s the only name I’m really saying,” Counsell said before the game. “That means we’re in pretty good shape offensively.”

He has been a bit unlucky – his expected batting average was 80 points higher than his actual average (.250) and his expected slugging percentage was over 140 points higher (.485).  

Saturday’s performance is the type he and the Cubs can help get him back on track. He was 2-for-4 with a double in the win. As mentioned above, the Cubs offense has been humming and the struggles of one player can be masked when those around him are hitting.

But it doesn’t mean the Cubs don’t want him back on track. There will be points this season where others will be cold and Swanson could be the player that is helping carry the offense at that time.