Some baseball fans might be surprised to see the Cubs finished 6th in Major League Baseball in runs last season.

And they finished 3rd in the National League, behind only the powerhouse lineups of the Braves and Dodgers.

The Cubs have carried that offensive prowess over to 2024 — at least through the first week-and-a-half of the season.

In a day and age where we see multiple superstars in the same lineup — i.e. Dodgers, Yankees, Phillies, Braves — the Cubs have been getting it done while somewhat flying under the radar.

Cody Bellinger and Dansby Swanson are well known players who have earned MVP votes in the past (and Bellinger won the award in 2019).

But Seiya Suzuki and Christopher Morel are still trying to find consistency over a full season and make a name for themselves as offensive forces. And while Ian Happ and Nico Hoerner have been solid offensive contributors for years, they have 1 All-Star appearance between them (Happ in 2022).

The lineup’s success over the last season-plus has really been about the whole being more than the sum of the parts. This is a group that has worked well together and complements each other — even if it may not stack up to other offenses on paper.

“I think it comes down to having good players and then also playing together more,” Hoerner said. “I think we have a nice combination of having a bit of a core and identity from last year that had some success. And then adding quality players to it.

“It’s just a nice mix and a nice combination of guys who are very consistent and guys with higher upside. The whole thing I think puts us in a pretty strong place to get consistent results.”

Entering play Monday, here is where the Cubs rank among MLB teams in some of the top offensive categories:

Runs — 5th (58)
AVG — 8th (.263)
OBP — 1st (.363)
SLG — 6th (.430)
OPS — 5th (.793)
wRC+ — 5th (119)
K% — 5th (18.6%)
BB% — 1st (12.7%)

The Cubs just finished a homestand in which they went 5-1 against the Rockies and Dodgers. While that is impressive in its own right, what’s even more encouraging for this team is how they pulled it off — by averaging 7.3 runs per game.

The wind was blowing in most of the homestand — and strong gusts were common — while the temperatures hovered below 50 all week long, including Tuesday and Wednesday night where the wind chill dipped into the 20s and a few snowflakes fluttered around the ballpark.

If the Cubs can put up impressive offensive numbers in those conditions, what can this lineup accomplish in the summer with warm, humid conditions and the wind blowing out?

“The conditions certainly make it all the more impressive, really,” manager Craig Counsell said. “It’s a really good start offensively for us. … It’s certainly something that’s fun to watch.”

The Cubs won’t rest on their laurels, however. They understand the season is only 9 games old and there is still more than 94% of the schedule to be played.

“You’re just trying to hold it all season,” Michael Busch said. “We never want to take our foot off the gas and you just try to keep going.”

Busch is part of the Cubs’ success in the early going.

The team acquired Busch from the Dodgers in January in exchange for pitching prospect Jackson Ferris.

Busch has always been talented and ranked as a Top 100 prospect in the game by several outlets entering this season. But he never got an opportunity in Los Angeles, blocked by Freddie Freeman at first base, Mookie Betts at second base, Max Muncy at third base and now Shohei Ohtani at DH.

Busch got the offense going in Sunday’s win over the Dodgers, drilling a 3-run double to left-center with 2 outs.

He has appeared in all 9 games this season as the team’s new primary first baseman and is hitting .296/.375/.481 (.856 OPS) in the early going.

Another big contributor has been Suzuki, whose 12 RBI leads the team and is tied for 2nd in MLB. He has picked up right where he left off last season when he finished the year on a 2-month tear.

Add in the fact that Swanson (.310 AVG, .984 OPS) and Morel (.306 AVG, .870 OPS) are off to hot starts and Bellinger has been productive and the Cubs lineup has been firing on all cylinders in the early going.

Obviously slumps will happen at some point this year — individually and as a collective unit. The Cubs probably won’t finish the season with 7 players boasting batting averages north of .285.

But there are encouraging signs that could portend to season-long offensive success.

So far, it has been a total group effort — the Cubs have had 11 different players drive in runs this season.

“I think probably the most positive [thing] for me is just having different players be the guy every night,” Counsell said. “That’s hopefully what leads to a consistent offense is that we’re not relying on one or two players and we’re getting contributions from different places in the lineup.

“That’s important. … Up and down the lineup, getting some big contributions — that should lead to consistency.”

The Cubs will certainly have their work cut out for them on this road trip against 3 teams (Padres, Mariners, Diamondbacks) with strong pitching staffs.

But for now, they could not have dreamed of a better start for this offense.