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Kyle Hendricks didn’t make history Monday night at Busch Stadium. But he did make his National League Cy Young Award case loud and clear.

Hendricks came within three outs of becoming just the second Chicago Cubs pitcher to throw a no-hitter against the hated-rival St. Louis Cardinals. He carried a no-no through eight innings before Jeremy Hazelbaker ended it with a solo home run to lead off the ninth.

After a sideshow dust-up between umpire Joe West and Cubs skipper Joe Maddon that led to Maddon’s ejection, closer Aroldis Chapman jogged in to nail down the 4-1 victory.

The Cubs (92-51) kept rolling toward an inevitable NL Central crown. Hendricks, meanwhile, logged eight frames of one-hit, one-run ball with two walks and seven strikeouts, and nudged his ERA to an NL-leading 2.03.

He’s the Senior Circuit’s ERA leader on baseball’s best team. That doesn’t guarantee Cy Young honors, but it shouts audibly.

“My pregame bullpen today was pretty bad, so coming in after that, I tried to simplify even more,” Hendricks said in typically humble postgame remarks on CSN Chicago. 

That approach has been serving him all season. A 26-year-old 2011 eighth-round pick by the Texas Rangers, Hendricks is no one’s idea of a power arm. His fastball sits in the high-80s and tops out in the low-90s. He depends on finesse and location.

This season, they’ve been there for him.

That’s thanks in large part to Hendricks’ changeup, as ESPN.com’s Bradford Doolittle pointed out prior to Monday’s start:

…while Hendricks has a “slow” fastball, the pitch is really quite effective. And any fixation with that pitch ignores the fact that the most important thing about Hendricks’ fastball is that it sets up his changeup, which has become one of the best weapons of any pitcher around. Only three pitchers have thrown more changeups than Hendricks. And his success on that pitch has yielded a haughty strikeout rate (29.1 percent) and a .338 OPS allowed that ranks 14th out of 203 pitchers who have thrown at least 100 changeups.

It’s easy to get lost on this Cubs roster, which features MVP candidate Kris Bryant and a cast of burgeoning bashers as well as reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta, veteran lefty Jon Lester and a bullpen fronted by fireballing Chapman. 

You could argue Hendricks, a pitch-to-contact guy, has benefitted from the best team defense in baseball. And you wouldn’t be wrong.

But let’s stack his numbers up against the NL’s other Cy Young hopefuls and see what you think:

Scherzer is the strikeout leader, and Bumgarner is doing his thing for the even-year San Francisco Giants. Really, with the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ Clayton Kershaw derailed by a balky back, this is a fairly wide-open race.

A no-hitter against the Cards would have been an impressive line on Hendricks’ resume. Even without it, though, he’s at the forefront of the conversation.

He’s been especially dominant at Wrigley Field, but he’s fared well everywhere, particularly lately, as CSN Chicago’s Christopher Kamka elucidated:

We’re witnessing a big league breakout, plain and simple. Power pitchers like Scherzer and guys with glittering postseason pedigrees like Bumgarner draw attention.

But fans, the media and awards voters love a good Cinderella story. Hendricks, whose 3.95 ERA in 2015 suggested serviceable starter more than ace, fits the glass slipper.

“I don’t see anyone pitching as well as he’s been,” catcher Miguel Montero said, per Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune.

He’s not the flashiest mound-straddler around. He didn’t quite etch his name in the books Monday.

But if he can string together a few more quality starts, Hendricks will want to clear some room in his trophy case.

For a humble guy, his stats are speaking loud and clear.

All statistics current as of Monday and courtesy of MLB.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.

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When Chicago Cubs shortstop Addison Russell knocked one over the fence in the second inning of last Monday’s game against the San Diego Padres, it made him just the third shortstop in franchise history to collect 80 RBI in a single season, per ESPN Stats & Info.

The youngster joined Roy Smalley Jr. (in 1950) and Ernie Banks, who reached the total in each of his seven full seasons as Chicago’s shortstop, per Baseball-Reference.com. Russell certainly has a long way to go to be mentioned in the same breath as Banks, but the 22-year-old is off to a good start in his young career.

With his improvement at the plate this season, Russell has entrenched himself in the middle of one of baseball’s best lineups in 2016. Entering Monday’s (Aug. 29) action, the Cubs trail just the Boston Red Sox (704) and Colorado Rockies (686) in runs scored this season, totaling 655.

With offseason free-agent acquisition Jason Heyward turning in a bust of a 2016 campaign, the Cubs needed someone to step up, and Russell has done so.

The former top prospect earned his first All-Star bid this season following a first half that saw him hit .237/.329/.402 with 11 home runs and 51 RBI. While his entry into the All-Star Game may have been a product of fan vote, he’s certainly proved he deserved it in the second half, hitting eight home runs in just 144 at-bats.

August has been Russell’s best month of the season as well. Not only does he already have his best monthly total in home runs (seven), but he also owns his best single-month OPS (.851) of the year.

The Cubs continue the quest for their first World Series victory since 1908, but they should have several chances to earn it in the coming years with a solid core group of young players. While first baseman Anthony Rizzo and third baseman Kris Bryant receive the majority of headlines, Russell has started to make a name for himself as well.

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The Chicago Cubs are the best team in baseball by almost every measure.

They have the best record (82-47) and the best run differential (plus-217). They rank among MLB‘s top five in OPS (.777) and runs scored (655). They lead both leagues in ERA (3.12).

They can hit. They can pitch. Their rivals have plenty of reasons to fear them.

Now, there’s another: Addison Russell, masher of baseballs.

A first-round pick by the Oakland A’s in 2012, Russell has flashed elite potential since his debut with Chicago last season. But over the past month-plus, the 22-year-old shortstop has elevated his game like a helium balloon in a stiff North Side breeze.

In his last 45 games—dating back to July 4—Russell has 11 home runs and 43 RBI and has raised his OPS nearly 30 points, from .728 to .757.

He’s been even hotter in August, with 10 of his 22 hits going for extra bases, including three doubles and seven home runs.

Zealous Cubs fans voted Russell into the All-Star Game starting lineup over more deserving candidates like the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ Corey Seager and San Francisco Giants‘ Brandon Crawford. Now, Russell is retroactively earning his spot.

“He’s working good at-bats,” manager Joe Maddon said, per Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune. “He’s just not chasing and opening up his strike zone. He’s really maturing offensively.”

Oh, and he’s the third-best defensive shortstop in the game according to the metrics, behind only Crawford and the Cleveland Indians‘ Francisco Lindor.

This feels like the right moment to insert a highlight reel:

Other Cubs siphon the hype, and for good reason. Reigning National League Rookie of the Year Kris Bryant plays capably all over the diamond and is crushing it like the NL MVP front-runner. First baseman Anthony Rizzo is on pace for a 30-homer, 100-RBI season and is also in the MVP discussion.

Infielder Javier Baez is a star on the rise. In the rotation, Jake Arrieta is in the Cy Young Award mix once again, as is surprise MLB ERA leader Kyle Hendricks.

Russell, however, is right there with them. Plus, he’s the youngest Cubbies regular (Bryant is 24 and Baez is 23). We might not have glimpsed his ceiling.

He’s already joined some elite historical company, as ESPN Stats & Info noted:

If we’re nitpicking, we could note Russell’s imbalanced home/road splits. He’s hit .275 with an .851 OPS at Wrigley Field this season, compared to marks of .214 and .668 away from his friendly confines.

But he’s muscled through the Cubs’ most recent western swing, bashing five home runs and tallying 10 RBI in eight total games against the Colorado Rockies, San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers.

When a hitter starts raking, we often search for the explanation—for the switch he flipped. In Russell’s case, it appears to be pitch recognition.

“They try to run stuff in on me, and then they try to go soft, soft, soft, down,” Russell said in March, per FanGraphs‘ Eno Sarris. “I think they see some holes there.”

Russell is actually swinging at more pitches outside the strike zone this season (31.3 percent) than he did in 2015 (29.8 percent). But he’s making contact on 54.2 percent of those pitches compared to 48.4 percent last season.

That suggests he’s going after pitches he knows he can drive, rather than merely chasing bad balls. He’s maturing and adjusting, as all successful hitters do.

“His confidence is so high, he believes he belongs at this level,” Cubs third base and infield coach Gary Jones said, per Carrie Muskat of MLB.com. “That makes a world of difference. When a guy understands, ‘You know what, I do belong here, I know I can do this now,’ it’s huge.”

These being the Cubs, it’s tempting to lean toward pessimism. That century-plus championship drought is always there—the elephant in the room, the monkey on their back, pick your ham-fisted animal metaphor.

Chicago, however, keeps gaining steam, despite dropping two of three to the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers over the weekend.

Perhaps the club’s youth is helping the cause. As CSN Chicago’s Patrick Mooney opined, “A kid born in 1994 [Russell] doesn’t worry about the weight of the franchise’s history.”

The Cubs were already the best team in baseball. A slick-fielding, RBI-gobbling, fence-clearing Addison Russell makes them that much scarier.

If the NL’s other postseason hopefuls aren’t quaking in their cleats, they should be.

All statistics current as of Aug. 28 and courtesy of MLB.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.

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Two division leaders will clash at Chavez Ravine on Friday night when the Chicago Cubs visit the Los Angeles Dodgers in the opener of a key three-game series.

The Cubs had a day off Thursday and will play the seventh game of their nine-game West Coast road trip as a small -110 betting favorite at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark.

Chicago is 4-2 in the first six games of the trip and will send Mike Montgomery (1-1, 2.77 ERA in the National League) to the mound looking for his second win in his second consecutive start for the team after arriving in a trade from the Seattle Mariners.

Montgomery pitched well in his first start last time out in the second game of the trip against the Colorado Rockies on Saturday, allowing one run on one hit before hitting his pitch count.

Cubs manager Joe Maddon limited Montgomery to 60 pitches after he transitioned from the bullpen.

Los Angeles will counter with Bud Norris (6-10, 4.69 ERA), who just pitched twice against the Cincinnati Reds in four days following a rough outing in his first appearance.

Norris surrendered six runs and seven hits in 3.2 innings of a 9-2 loss at Cincinnati with four walks and three strikeouts a week ago before returning to the hill and pitching two-thirds of an inning in an 18-9 rout of the Reds on Monday.

Norris has pitched better at home, though, going 4-4 with a 2.77 ERA at Dodger Stadium, as opposed to 2-6 with a 6.89 ERA on the road, and beat Chicago in a 5-1 home win on June 10 as a member of the Atlanta Braves.

The Cubs have won four of the past five meetings with the Dodgers dating back to last season, according to the Odds Shark MLB Database. However, the under has been the play in this series recently, cashing in 10 of the last 11 games between the teams.

The lone over during that stretch came in the last meeting, with Chicago winning 7-2 at Wrigley Field on June 2. Three of the previous four games saw three runs or fewer scored.

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Kyle Hendricks is like the frosting on a birthday cake. Peanut butter on toast. Hot fudge on a sundae.

The Chicago Cub is the best starting pitcher on MLB‘s top team, which stood 78-45 through Sunday’s action.

Though the right-hander boasts an MLB-best 2.16 ERA, the Cubs would likely still be firmly in playoff position without him. Chicago is loaded with position players who were heralded as the organization’s future when they were climbing the minor league ranks a few years ago. First baseman Anthony Rizzo, third baseman/outfielder Kris Bryant and shortstop Addison Russell are just a few of those players who received more fanfare than Hendricks to start the season.

The California native is also overshadowed by brand-name pitchers Jon Lester and John Lackey, who have World Series rings, and Jake Arrieta, who is the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner.

No one ever tells you how much they love the hot fudge; they tell you how great the sundae tastes. Hendricks is a cog in the machine. He’s not the horse pulling the cart like, say, the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ Clayton Kershaw was before he got hurt.

Look, maybe numbers sometimes do lie, but they don’t in this case: Hendricks’ 1.00 WHIP ranks second in MLB, and his .208 batting average against is sixth.

But oftentimes, awards and accolades in sports are entirely more complex than the numbers indicate.

Like a preseason-unranked college football team trying to climb its way into the College Football Playoff, preconceived notions have made it difficult to turn up the volume on Hendricks’ 2016 campaign.

The 26-year-old doesn’t have the eye-popping resume one would expect of an ace. The Texas Rangers selected Hendricks in the eighth round of the 2011 draft. He was traded to the Cubs with another minor leaguer for Ryan Dempster in 2012 and didn’t make his MLB debut until he was 24.

This season, his fastball has averaged 89.7 mph, according to FanGraphs. By pitching standards, he’ll never be voted prom king. But he has proved he can be the life of the party.

He has handled the best lineups MLB has to offer. Hendricks pitched six shutout innings, allowing only two hits and two walks, against the Washington Nationals on May 5. Against the Rangers on July 15, he also pitched six shutout innings and surrendered just three hits and two walks.

This after a 2015 season that raised questions about his ability to be a reliable starter in a pennant race.

Last year, Hendricks had a 3.95 ERA in 32 starts. In Game 2 of the National League Division Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, he allowed three home runs in 4.2 innings. He was slightly better in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series, giving up one home run and two earned runs in four innings against the New York Mets. Those performances were a big reason the Cubs signed Lackey to a two-year, $32 million contract in December.

Unexpectedly, however, Hendricks has answered the bell.

But only recently have the Cubs given him a chance to add Cy Young moments to his 2016 resume and, even minimally, prove he has the ability to lead Chicago’s pitching staff.

While Hendricks’ numbers put him in consideration for the team’s best arm, Cubs manager Joe Maddon hasn’t used him accordingly.

Through his final start in July, Hendricks had been given just a few opportunities to pitch at least seven innings, and Maddon often pulled him when his pitch count was well below 100. One of those outings came against the Philadelphia Phillies on May 28, and Hendricks pitched a complete game.

The ability to go deep into games has long been the mark of a top-of-the-rotation pitcher. Hendricks may have it, but he hasn’t had consistent opportunities to prove he does.

Don’t place blame on Maddon. It’s not his job to do what’s best for Hendricks’ notoriety. Maddon’s task is to manage the team.

Though Hendricks has been the best of Chicago’s starters, the rotation as a whole has been outstanding. Through Monday, Cubs starters were the best in MLB in ERA (2.89) and batting average against (.211).

Naturally, that has kept Chicago’s bullpen fresh. Cubs relievers have pitched a mere 351.2 innings—the second-fewest in baseball—and have the third-lowest batting average against (.219). So solid relief pitching has been available to Maddon. Given that people viewed Hendricks as the club’s fourth starter prior to the season, it made sense for the Chicago manager to use the bullpen on days Hendricks started.

A confluence of events has deafened the tone of Hendricks’ season.

But in August, Maddon has used him more like an ace. It’s a test of whether Hendricks can pitch deep into games.

On Aug. 1, Hendricks pitched a complete-game shutout against the Miami Marlins. In his next start, he surrendered just three hits and one earned run in 7.1 innings against the Oakland Athletics. In his last two, Hendricks has pitched 13 combined innings, striking out 15 and allowing only nine hits, three earned runs and one walk.

Maddon has given Hendricks more latitude, and he’s hit triple-digit pitch counts in three of his last four outings after doing so just seven times in his first 20 starts.

Hendricks is taking that next step toward top-of-the-rotation status as the organization starts to evaluate how it wants to set up its rotation for the playoffs.

The loaded Cubs led the National League Central by 12 games through Sunday and are highly likely to have that luxury.

And as Hendricks continues to prove his value, maybe you’ll be reminded to lick the frosting first the next time you eat cake.

Seth Gruen is a national baseball columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @SethGruen.

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Because the baseball gods decree that every season must feature an overly complicated debate about the “V” in “MVP,” 2016 has given us the curious case of Kris Bryant.

There’s no need to be curious about Bryant’s stardom. It’s legit. The Chicago Cubs picked him No. 2 overall in 2013, and all he’s done since then is emerge as a No. 1 prospect and last year’s National League Rookie of the Year. For his next act, he has eyes on the NL Most Valuable Player Award.

That’s not inside information, mind you. It’s more like a hunch, based on the reality that Bryant is having an amazing season that only seems to be getting better. Case in point, his day at the office in the Cubs’ 9-6 thrashing of the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday:

With five more hits, Bryant is now batting .296 with a .956 OPS. The latter ranks third in the National League. With 30 homers, he’s tied with Nolan Arenado for first. With 78 RBI, he climbed into the NL’s top 10.

Meanwhile, don’t forget about his defense.

Cubs skipper Joe Maddon has tasked Bryant, a natural third baseman, with playing left field and right field in addition to the hot corner. Per advanced metrics like defensive runs saved and ultimate zone rating, Bryant has played well at all three positions.

No wonder wins above replacement really likes Bryant. He entered Thursday worth 5.5 WAR at Baseball-Reference.com, the highest of any NL player. Per FanGraphs, he exited Thursday worth 6.4 WAR, also the highest of any NL player.

Just as important, Bryant has not been struck by the Curse of Mike Trout. At 77-43, the Cubs have won five more games than any other team. And so, behold his case for the MVP: He’s the best player in the league who also plays on the best team in the league.

Pretty good as far as MVP cases go, you dig? Of course you do. I can see your shovel and everything.

But ironclad? Not quite. In part because of this guy:

That’s Anthony Rizzo, who is also a really good baseball player on the Chicago Cubs. He’s hitting .291 with a .960 OPS, 25 homers and 86 RBI. He’s been Bryant’s equal on offense, if not a little better.

This is potentially a stick in the spokes of Bryant’s MVP case. Simply being the best player on the best team is sometimes good enough to sway the voters. But they’ve also been known to like players who carry entire teams on their shoulders. Bryant and Rizzo have done that together.

To boot, Rizzo has batted behind Bryant all season. The jury’s still out on whether lineup protection is actually a thing, but there’s more than enough anecdotal evidence in favor of the idea. It’s even coming from the two guys themselves. According to Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune, Rizzo often tells Bryant “I’m your Prince” in reference to when Miguel Cabrera won American League MVPs in 2012 and 2013 with Prince Fielder batting behind him. Bryant doesn’t push back.

“I can’t say enough about having him behind me, and a mentor and someone who I learn a lot from just how he goes about his at-bats,” Bryant said. “Even though he’s a lefty and I’m a righty, it seems like they pitch us very similarly.”

Our own Danny Knobler recently wondered whether Bryant and Rizzo’s MVP cases might cancel each other out. This would appear to be an especially prevalent concern for Bryant. He’s having the better all-around season, but odds offered by ESPN.com’s Dan Szymborski (h/t David Schoenfield) actually place him lower than Rizzo in the National League pecking order.

And then there’s this guy:

If Rizzo’s presence doesn’t deny Bryant the award, Corey Seager’s could. The Los Angeles Dodgers‘ rookie shortstop is blowing everyone away with a .311 average, an .893 OPS and 21 home runs. These numbers give him a huge lead in the NL Rookie of the Year race, and his MVP case is only gaining steam.

After all, Seager’s only been hotter as the Dodgers have been without Clayton Kershaw and his almighty left arm. Not even counting two more hits on Thursday, Seager has hit .329 with a .907 OPS since Kershaw last started in late June. This is a big reason why the Dodgers have played such good baseball without their ace.

Seager won’t necessarily end up with better numbers than Bryant if he keeps this up. But if he does, he’ll be the big “narrative” candidate for the award. That is, the candidate who stepped up the most when it mattered most.

If clutchness does end up being a factor, that won’t be the only trump card Seager has on Bryant. As good as Bryant has been, he hasn’t been Seager’s equal with runners in scoring position or in higher-leverage situations:

Note: These stats are current through August 17.

Since Seager’s surge hasn’t actually won the Dodgers anything yet, he probably wouldn’t beat either Bryant or Rizzo for the MVP if the season ended today. And between the two, Bryant’s all-around excellence would probably allow for a narrow victory.

But if Bryant wants even a narrow victory in November, the least he’ll have to do is finish this season as strong as he’s started it. To be absolutely safe, he’ll likely have to outperform Rizzo down the stretch and hope that Seager and/or the Dodgers stumble at the same time.

Call it yet another tall order for a guy who never seems to face anything other than increasingly tall orders. But given his track record, it’s hard not to picture him nodding and saying, “Challenge accepted.”

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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CHICAGO — In sports, we’re used to losses prompting overly emotional and one-word reactions. Not so for the Chicago Cubs under manager Joe Maddon.

Sure, a baseball season is 162 games, but the sport still has its share of teams that allow a loss to linger. Maddon said he has been part of teams like that, so his objective when he joined Chicago in October 2014 was to keep emotions on an even keel.

The Cubs limped to the All-Star break this season, losing nine of 11, but they recently won 11 straight games and 13 of 15 overall.

“One of my main objectives with any team that I’m with is that you win hard for 30 minutes or lose hard for 30 minutes and you move on,” Maddon said Monday. “I don’t see anything productive about carrying a loss to the next day.

“You have to be intentionally upset, surly because you lost yesterday. You can’t smile. All that stuff is absolutely insane to me.”

Maddon explained all this while wearing a shirt that read “Try Not to Suck,” a phrase he has championed in an effort to keep things light. But while he is undoubtedly Mr. Cool in baseball’s managerial ranks, his influence is only worth so much on the field.

Every team needs talent.

The Cubs’ starting staff (3.15 ERA, .213 batting average against) and defense have both been among baseball’s best. According to FanGraphs, the Cubs lead baseball with a 49.5 ultimate zone rating (UZR) and 42.5 defensive runs above average (Def).

Chicago’s UZR is 15.3 points better than the second-ranked Toronto Blue Jays‘. Only three teams have a Def above 30, and the Cubs are the only club with one above 40.

“Our pitching staff is fun to play behind,” third baseman/outfielder Kris Bryant said. “They keep you in it. We’re always on our toes. They work quick. They throw strikes. So far our defense has been really good. So from an offensive standpoint, if we go out there and get two or three runs one day with the pitchers we have, I think we have a really good chance to win.”

As evidence, during their 11-game winning streak, the Cubs scored five runs or fewer eight times.

Beyond the stats, Maddon’s ability to keep things in perspective has been a big plus.

“The good teams come in, you don’t even know if they won or lost,” Maddon said. “So that’s the point I’ve been trying to get across here. That’s the point I got across at the previous stop [Tamp Bay].

“It makes no sense to me. I can’t go there. We play too many games, and I think the group that shows up normally on a daily basis has the best chance of avoiding those bad moments.”

Seth Gruen is a national baseball columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @SethGruen.

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The St. Louis Cardinals (60-54) and Chicago Cubs (71-41) are both coming off wins heading into the opener of a key four-game series between the National League Central rivals on Thursday at Wrigley Field.

The Cubs are listed as -170 home favorites (bet $170 to win $100) at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark after getting swept by the Cardinals in a three-game series at Wrigley in late June.

Chicago, the clear NL pennant favorite, is a much different team now compared to then, though, riding a nine-game winning streak into this matchup. The Cubs started a skid of 15 losses in 21 games in that previous series against St. Louis, and they are 18-6 since the All-Star break following a 3-1 victory against the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals are 12 games behind Chicago in the NL Central and dropped three of four prior to defeating the Cincinnati Reds 3-2 on Wednesday. Their last four wins have all been decided by one run, including three over the Reds.

Three of their past four meetings with the Cubs have also been decided by a margin of just one run, including two of their three victories between June 20 and 22, all as underdogs.

Carlos Martinez (10-7, 3.29 ERA) will toe the rubber for St. Louis, and he has been hit hard in each of his last two starts. He went 0-1 in those two outings after surrendering 11 runs (10 earned) and 14 hits in 12 combined innings of work against the Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins, both of which resulted in losses.

Jon Lester (12-4, 2.93) will oppose Martinez, and the Cubs have won each of the previous four games he started. Lester went 3-0 during that stretch, with two of the wins taking place at home.

Lester has been a much better pitcher at Wrigley this season, going 6-2 with a 1.99 ERA. Opposing batters have hit only .194 against him there, which is a stark contrast to last year, when he was 7-9 with a 3.60 ERA at home. Lester’s last three outings have finished over the total along with five of his past six.

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Newly acquired closer Aroldis Chapman lived up to the hype in his first appearance with the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night. He struck out two Chicago White Sox players in a scoreless inning as part of an 8-1 victory over the team’s crosstown rival.

Afterward, Jesse Rogers of ESPN.com reported the flame-throwing left-hander initially told the Cubs’ public relations staff he wasn’t going to speak with the media. He eventually decided to provide brief comments with catcher Miguel Montero, who served as his Spanish translator.

“The adrenaline was pretty good even though it wasn’t a save situation,” Chapman said. “It was fun to hear the crowd cheer for me.”

It’s been a rocky start to the relationship between Chapman and the Chicago media. He struggled to answer questions about the organization’s expectations for him during a press conference Tuesday, which Patrick Mooney of CSN Chicago described as “awkward.”

Mooney also declared it a “completely tone-deaf performance” even when considering the additional hurdle of trying to work through a translator. The closer, who received a 30-game suspension earlier in the year for domestic violence, downplayed any lingering backlash, according to Mooney:

My confidence right now is coming from within. Everything is going to be fine. I’m just going to be the best person I can be. I understand what I went through. And I’m a better person now.

The Cubs acquired the reliever from the New York Yankees on Monday in exchange for veteran pitcher Adam Warren and three prospects. They hope he’ll solidify a bullpen that ranks 13th in ERA, per ESPN.com, and create a dynamic one-two punch with Hector Rondon in the late innings.

It will be interesting to see how his relationship with the media develops, though. Like New York, Chicago is an intense sports market, and the spotlight is going to shine brightly on Chapman if the Cubs make a serious charge toward a championship in the coming months.

Things certainly haven’t gone smoothly over the past couple of days. But his electric on-field performance Wednesday night showed why the Cubs were willing to take a chance on him.

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Months after acquiring him in a trade with the Cincinnati Reds, the New York Yankees shipped closer Aroldis Chapman to the Chicago Cubs on Monday.

The Cubs announced they had parted with Gleyber Torres, Billy McKinney, Adam Warren and Rashad Crawford in exchange for Chapman. Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball first reported the deal. 

Torres and McKinney are the most notable inclusions in the deal. Torres ranked first in both Baseball Prospectus‘ and Baseball America‘s top-10 rankings of the Cubs’ minor league organization. McKinney, meanwhile, was fourth on BP and seventh on BA.

Sports on Earth commended the work of Yankees general manager Brian Cashman:

Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported that the Cubs do not have an agreement on a contract extension with Chapman, noting the Yankees “tried themselves, and [were] rebuffed.” Chapman will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season if he doesn’t sign an extension with Chicago.

According to YES Network’s Jack Curry, the Yankees are open to signing Chapman in the offseason, and the closer said, “Oh, yeah,” when asked whether he’d consider a reunion in New York City.

When the Yankees landed Chapman, they looked to have a historically great bullpen on their hands. Dellin Betances was one of MLB‘s best setup men in 2014 and 2015, and Andrew Miller saved 36 games last season after becoming a dominant late-inning reliever. Adding Chapman to the mix was almost unfair.

MLB suspended the four-time All-Star, though, for the first 30 games of the 2016 season after he violated the league’s and players’ union’s joint policy on domestic violence.

He returned on May 9 against the Kansas City Royals, going one inning and allowing one earned run on two hits:

After shaking off the rust, Chapman picked up where he left off in 2015. He has appeared in 31 games, converting 20 saves and posting a 2.01 ERA. In addition, his FIP (1.93) and xFIP (2.38) are also lower than their 2015 equivalents (1.94 FIP, 2.49 xFIP), per FanGraphs.

One of the bigger concerns with hard-throwing relievers like Chapman is they tend to have smaller windows of dominance than those who rely less on overpowering stuff.

Craig Kimbrel, 28, is starting to level off. Francisco Rodriguez, 34, began declining as an elite closer in his age-27 season but managed to rejuvenate his MLB career following an adjustment to his approach. Brian Wilson’s fall with the San Francisco Giants came just as swiftly as his rise.

In 2012, Bill Petti of FanGraphs found that relief pitchers generally age less gracefully than starting pitchers. Relievers start losing velocity at a younger age, and the effect is more pronounced, as their walks and home runs allowed begin increasing significantly.

While Chapman, 28, is nearing the point at which the aging curve starts becoming an issue, he’s showing few signs of slowing down. Opposing hitters are having slightly more success against his slider, but his fastball remains as dominant as ever.

Here’s a look at Chapman’s batting average, slugging percentage and isolated power against this year by pitch type, per Brooks Baseball:

For the Cubs, acquiring Chapman is a no-brainer. Chicago finds itself in a similar position to where the Yankees were to start the year. Its bullpen is strong even without Chapman, as Hector Rondon has firmly established himself as a legitimate MLB closer over the last three years.

The addition of Chapman takes what was already an asset for the team and makes it even better. The one-two punch of Rondon and Chapman at the end of games will be nearly unstoppable.

ESPN.com’s Dan Szymborski questioned, however, the value of adding Chapman:

Heyman countered that winning a World Series would make trading for Chapman worth it:

Once considered the World Series favorite, the Cubs leveled off a bit, going 18-20 in June and the first half of July before the All-Star break. Chicago needed a spark to rekindle the momentum it had in April and May, which trading for Chapman should provide.

On the other side, the Yankees can afford to part with Chapman. An elite-level closer, especially one who is set to be a free agent at the end of the year, is more of a luxury than a necessity for a team on the outskirts of the MLB playoff picture. According to Baseball Prospectus, New York only has a 7.5 percent chance of reaching the postseason.

The Yankees’ fate will likely be the same without Chapman as it would’ve been with him. By making this deal, New York at least received a handful of assets for the future rather than potentially watching the left-hander leave in free agency at the end of the year.

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