It started innocently enough, in a season when teams were having trouble scoring and pitching was dominant.
The Cubs entered the second game of a series in Atlanta at .500, 30-30, six games out of first place. Like most teams, they had struggled to score runs that year. At that point of the season they were averaging just 3.67 runs per game, a figure that would translate to 594 runs in a 162-game season. (By comparison, the 2017 Cubs scored their 594th run in their 123rd game, and the 2018 Cubs, averaging 4.87 runs per game, would pass 594 in their 122nd game if they keep up that pace.