The Cubs leadoff hitter: It’s Happ-ening!

One of the great debates of the offseason and spring training for the Cubs seems to have been settled with a bang, or at least a lot of leadoff home runs in the Cactus League. Later today in Miami the first batter of the 2018 baseball season is going to be Ian Happ. It’s a bit of an unconventional choice, so I wanted to take some time to revisit the art of batting leadoff and look at how Happ fits into that role. But before we do that, it’s worth remembering how we got here:

Last June the Cubs were in the midst of a pretty terrible World Series hangover. It was so bad that exactly one Cub, Wade Davis, made the 2017 All Star Team. It’s probably relevant that Davis wasn’t part of the 2016…