(670 The Score) After the Cubs swept the Cardinals with their seventh straight victory Sunday, making it wins in 17 of their last 22 contests, third baseman Kris Bryant asked the question everyone else had wondered.
"Why did we have to start 1-6?" Bryant said.
The Cubs are now 19-12 and atop the NL Central in first place. Here are the latest trends:
THREE UP
1.) Rolling right along
The Cubs returned home from their season-opening nine-game road trip at 2-7. Since then, everything has seemed to go right. They're 17-5 since that point, posting a plus-60 run differential and averaging 5.5 runs per game.
The Cubs have a weighted-on-base-percentage of .347 and weighted-runs-created-plus of 116 in 2019. Both marks rank second in baseball, behind only the Astros. The Cubs also have a 3.62 ERA from their starters, which ranks eighth in the game.
2.) Big difference
The struggles Willson Contreras faced in 2018 have been well-documented and were a part of the Cubs' disappointing finish to the season, but he has now reversed those trends.
Contreras has a 1.4 WAR through 29 games, per Fangraphs, which already has surpassed his 0.9 mark of 2018. He also has a slash line of 311./432/.678, a wOBA of .454 and wRC+ of 187, all far above his marks of a year ago. Contreras hit his ninth homer Sunday night, which brings him one shy of the 10 he managed last season.
3.) Taylor Davis Day
The Cubs have mostly relied on Contreras behind the plate with backup Victor Caratini sidelined by injury. But the new backup Davis went out and made quite the statement Saturday, hitting game-tying grand slam in the Cubs' 6-5 win over the Cardinals.
Davis is the first Cub to hit a grand slam for his first career homer since Kevin Tapani in 1998. He's also the first Cubs player to hit a grand slam for his first homer with the team since Rene Rivera in 2017.
THREE DOWN
1.) Yu is down
We have reached the part of the season in which a sample size is great enough to make some determinations. Unfortunately for Cubs right-hander Yu Darvish, there hasn't been much good to his cause.
Darvish is 2-3 with a 5.79 ERA over seven starts, with his Achilles heel being poor command. He has walked 7.44 batters per nine innings, which is by far the worst rate in MLB. Darvish has yet to pitch into the seventh inning over 15 starts in a Cubs uniform.
2.) Schwarber power outage
Outfielder Kyle Schwarber crushed a ball to the left-center field warning track Sunday night, but it was caught in front of the wall. It was representative of his early struggles at the plate this season.
Schwarber has only four homers and .172 isolated power, by far the lowest mark of his career. He also has a .300 wOBA and 85 wRC+, which are also career-low marks.
3.) Zagunis still scuffling
The Cubs added outfielder Mark Zagunis to their Opening Day roster instead of Ian Happ. More than a month into the season, Zagunis hasn't provided the Cubs with much.
Zagunis is below replacement level with a -0.2 WAR with a .241/.290/.345 slash line and negative defensive efficiency. Meanwhile, Happ has overcome a slow start with Triple-A Iowa and found his form as of late. It may not be long before Zagunis is sent back down.
Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago's sports scene and more for 670TheScore.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670.
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