'There's no drop-off down there': How the bottom of the order is powering the Cubs' offense to top of MLB

CHICAGO -- Carson Kelly needed a moment to take in what he was hearing last Friday. Batting eighth in the lineup, the Chicago Cubs catcher had already hit two home runs and driven in five in what would end up as a wild 13-11 comeback win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

He was about to step into the batter's box in the eighth inning for his fourth at-bat when he heard it coming from the stands: "Car-son, Kel-ly. Car-son Kel-ly."

"I had to take a step out," Kelly told ESPN with a smile the next day. "'Wait, is that actually what they're saying?'"

Chants directed toward a catcher at the bottom of the order aren't commonplace in MLB -- but then again, neither is the month the Cubs catcher is having nor the production the team is getting from the bottom of the lineup.

Fast-forward a couple days and this time it was the Cubs' No. 7 hitter, Pete Crow-Armstrong, who earned the treatment.

"P-C-A, P-C-A," bellowed the Wrigley Field crowd during the team's two-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers earlier this week. After slugging a whopping .897 against the Dodgers in the seven-game season series, the L.A. native deserved all the attention he was getting. In fact, the 7-8-9 hitters in the Cubs' lineup are garnering as many headlines as other teams' 1-2-3 hitters as Chicago has vaulted to the top of the run-scoring leaderboards in MLB.

To wit: Heading into their weekend series against the Philadelphia Phillies, the Cubs are averaging 6.3 runs per game. That's nearly a full run higher than the next best team, the New York Yankees, who average 5.5 runs. The separator has been the bottom of the order, which includes Crow-Armstrong, Kelly and fellow catcher Miguel Amaya. That trio, along with newcomer Kyle Tucker, has transformed the team's offense into the best in the league over the first month of the season.

"This team is a completely different ballclub than the one we saw in Tokyo," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "They're playing a lot better."

The Cubs went to Japan in mid-March hoping for the best in their two-game series against the Dodgers but instead got their worst. Their offense scored a total of four runs in two losses, looking as anemic as they had for much of last year when they missed out on the playoffs for the fifth straight (full) season. Chicago was a league-average offense in 2024, leading to a league-average type of year in the standings: 83 wins and ticket home for October.

But something clicked at the plate late in the season for two young players: Crow-Armstrong and Amaya. The former, in particular, began to show why he was taken in the first round by the New York Mets in 2020, eventually getting traded to the Cubs for Javier Baez one season later. PCA -- as he's known -- is a five-tool speedster whose game is as brash as his personality, all in a good way. His OPS jumped 150 points in the second half of last season.

Meanwhile, Amaya was a once-promising prospect who got sidelined by injuries and was slow to find his form at the plate. There was chatter the Cubs were in the market to replace him in the first half of last season but then he eliminated a leg kick and suddenly found his stroke. His OPS jumped over 200 points from the first half to the second last year. The team added Kelly via free agency this winter and he has gone on to produce a 1.413 OPS in 14 games.

Needless to say, the bottom of the Cubs' order is rolling.

"Me and Miggy [Amaya] talk about that a lot," Crow-Armstrong told ESPN recently. "We take a ton of pride of being at the bottom and producing at the bottom, and f---ing turning the lineup over.

"That's where we belong right now."

The numbers bear out their production -- as of Wednesday, the Cubs had led the majors in home runs (13) from their 7-8-9 hitters. According to ESPN Research, that's as many home runs as 21 other organizations have from their 1-2-3 hitters and as many home runs as two entire teams have overall, Boston and Toronto.

"Last year, I felt like our offense really struggled because the bottom of the order really wasn't producing," president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said.

The players' individual transformations all came in different forms. Crow-Armstrong got "on-time" (and quieter) with his swing, Amaya eliminated that leg kick while Kelly might be the biggest surprise as his 10-year major league track record showed a career high OPS+ of just 112 in a single season. It's 293 right now.

"I finally found something I believe in and know that works," Kelly said. "I'm not chasing a certain result. You have to go through the ups and downs to learn what it takes to be a big leaguer."

Kelly's production has prompted the speedy Crow-Armstrong to slow down on the bases when hitting behind the catcher.

"I have no inclination to steal when Carson is hitting," Crow-Armstrong quipped. "It looks like he's seeing f---ing beach balls."

Perhaps there is no better illustration of the Cubs' depth on offense than what happened the day after Kelly hit for the cycle earlier this month in Sacramento: He got a day off.

"The fact that he gets an off day the day after he hits for the cycle and the day after a two-homer game is pretty funny," Crow-Armstrong said with a laugh.

The Cubs are getting the best version of Kelly -- he's hitting .342 -- something the Diamondbacks were hoping for in the years he played for them, from 2019 to 2023. He hit 18 home runs that first season in Phoenix but never came close to who he is at this moment -- smashing long balls against his former team, including a three-run homer earlier in the inning that brought on those chants last Friday.

"Carson Kelly is a way different player than when we had him," Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen said after that game. "Good for him. We always believed in the potential. It seems like it's coming together for him."

Hazen sees the same overall potential coming together for the Cubs, who have a similar offense to the Diamondbacks: Both have plenty of power and speed.

"PCA is a stud," Hazen continued. "That was probably more of an age/experience situation .... Their lineup is way deeper, way more dangerous and way more dynamic than I remember being last year."

And that has proved to be the case so far. The Cubs are the first team in major league history to compile 35 home runs and 35 stolen bases in the first 25 games of a season. They lead all of baseball in batting average (.265), on-base percentage (.346), stolen bases (40) and OPS (.806) while tied with the Yankees for first in slugging and third in home runs.

"We've been consistent against everyone," the longest tenured Cub, Ian Happ, said. "Scoring late, adding on. We've done it against everybody. It's been 1-9, the ability of guys to get on base and make things happen. Every day is someone different."

The Cubs truly have done it against "everyone" -- they're ending the toughest strength-of-schedule month of any team in baseball this season, at least as it's rated right now. They've already won season series against the Dodgers and Diamondbacks while splitting six games with the San Diego Padres. All three of those teams are off to great starts, and the Cubs have played a whopping 20 games against NL West opponents already, meaning easier days should be ahead.

And while the bottom of the order has been the difference-maker, one player near the top is doing his part as well. Tucker has been every bit as good as advertised in his first month with the team, becoming the first Cubs player since 1900 to record at least seven home runs and seven stolen bases within the team's first 26 games.

"He's unbelievable," Crow-Armstrong stated simply.

It hasn't all been perfect for Chicago. The team has a glaring hole at third base after sending down struggling prospect Matt Shaw while shortstop Dansby Swanson is off to a slow start, striking out 33 times in 104 at-bats. But even he got into the flow in Wednesday's win over the Dodgers, going 2-for-4 while driving in two runs in yet another thrilling Cubs victory, 7-6 over the reigning World Series champions.

Even after the night that he had, Swanson chose to direct conversation back to the bottom of the order -- the driving force behind the Cubs' 16-10 start, which has them in first place in the NL Central.

"Seeing a guy like Miggy or Pete grow up is really fun to see," Swanson said. "The work, the conversations, the advice, you start to see it show up in real time. As a group, it's a huge reason we've had the start that we've had.

"There's no drop-off down there. It's impressive."