The Chicago Cubs went 97-64 in 2008, a .602 winning percentage — the second best record in baseball. They scored 855 runs and allowed 671, a run differential of +184. The offence ranked the second best in MLB for runs scored, while their 3.99 staff ERA was 8th of 30. Their 109 team wRC+ was 9% above league average — 4th of 30 in MLB. Aramis Ramirez led the position players at 5.1 WAR, and Ryan Dempster the rotation at a 2.96 ERA.
The 2008 season
Month by month, the streaks, and the record in the games that are argued about.
They finished first in the NL Central, 7.5 games clear. They spent 154 of 184 days in first place, led by as many as 10.5 games on September 22 and were as far as 2.5 games back on April 12. Their best month was August at 20-8, their worst Sept/Oct at 12-12. The longest runs were a 9-game winning streak from May 26 to June 3 and a 6-game losing streak from August 30 to September 5. They were 55-26 at home and 42-38 on the road, 24-22 in one-run games and 51-42 against clubs that finished .500 or better. The most lopsided win was 19-5 against the Brewers on April 30; the heaviest defeat, 9-0 at the Reds on May 7.
Record by month. March games count toward April, October’s toward September.
Month
W
L
Pct
RS
RA
Diff
March/April
17
10
.630
171
120
+51
May
18
11
.621
148
109
+39
June
15
12
.556
133
122
+11
July
15
11
.577
128
99
+29
August
20
8
.714
163
104
+59
Sept/Oct
12
12
.500
112
117
-5
Splits. Extra innings are blank for a season whose games predate the innings count.
Games
W-L
Pct
Home
55-26
.679
Road
42-38
.525
One-run games
24-22
.522
Extra innings
10-6
.625
Within the division
48-33
.593
Against .500+ clubs
51-42
.548
Decided by 5+ runs
33-14
.702
Last 10
5-5
.500
2008 postseason
In October the Chicago Cubs lost the NLDS to the Dodgers 3-0.
NLDS vs Dodgers0-3 L
Game 1, October 1 L 2-7 vs Dodgers
Game 2, October 2 L 3-10 vs Dodgers
Game 3, October 4 L 1-3 at Dodgers
National League Central standings, 2008
Final standings. The division page has the rest of its season.
National League Central, 2008. Games back of the best record in the division.
The players whose season belongs to this club, by position and then by dbWAR. A player traded mid-season is listed with the club he played most of his games for, so a deadline arrival may appear on his other club’s page instead.
Each rectangle is a player, sized by his share of the team's hits; darker means a larger share. Top 30 contributors. Select a different statistic above, or click a player for his page.
Day and night divide the home schedule, and so do weekend and weekday. The road line is a different question.
Split
Games
Avg
Med
Low
High
All home
81
40,743
40,867
37,812
41,730
Night
28
40,543
40,546
39,130
41,624
Day
53
40,849
41,021
37,812
41,730
Weekend
39
40,959
41,200
37,812
41,730
Weekday
42
40,543
40,650
37,973
41,670
On the road
80
36,328
37,356
9,735
54,416
Through the season
Average home crowd by month.
Month
Games
Average
Mar
1
41,089
Apr
15
39,801
May
17
40,488
Jun
10
41,349
Jul
10
41,470
Aug
19
41,011
Sep
9
40,713
By season
Announced gate — tickets distributed, which is the figure every reference publishes and is not the same as people through the turnstile. A game the feed reports no gate for is left out rather than counted as empty. Seasons before attendance was carried into the lake are absent from the trend rather than shown as zero.
Game time
First pitch to final out across 160 completed games, 2008.
Regulation
2:50
144 games
All games
2:56
Extra innings
3:45
16 of them
Longest
4:17
2008-09-02, 11 inn
Shortest
2:14
2008-08-21
By situation
Regulation and extra innings divide the season, and so do home and road. Day and night overlap both.
Split
Games
Avg
Med
Fastest
Longest
All
160
2:56
2:53
2:14
4:47
Regulation
144
2:50
2:52
2:14
3:59
Extra innings
16
3:45
3:46
2:59
4:47
Home
80
2:53
2:52
2:14
4:17
Road
80
2:58
2:54
2:16
4:47
Day
77
2:54
2:52
2:14
4:47
Night
83
2:57
2:53
2:16
4:21
Through the season
Average completed game by month.
Month
Games
Average
Mar
1
2:59
Apr
15
2:59
May
17
2:45
Jun
10
2:55
Jul
10
3:00
Aug
18
2:46
Sep
9
3:02
By season
Regulation games only, in minutes. 170 minutes this season.
Elapsed time from first pitch to final out. The feed does not itemise delays, so a rain delay is inside these numbers with no way to subtract it. Games called early are excluded — five innings in ninety-three minutes is not a short game — but they still count in attendance, because the crowd turned up.
Record versus run differential
Chicago Cubs are 97-64, a .602 win rate, while their +184 run differential implies .609. That is essentially in line — the record reflects the run scoring.
