The Chicago Cubs have not had a lot of great starting pitching in recent years, but Marcus Stroman appears determined to change that this season. He has started the year with back-to-back scoreless starts that have resulted in Chicago victories.

https://twitter.com/MLBastian/status/1644448144573231105

Specifically, Stroman has thrown 6.0 scoreless innings against the Milwaukee Brewers and the Texas Rangers. The Cubs were victorious in both games, picking up a 4-0 victory over the Brewers and following up with a 2-0 shutout of the Rangers.

The Cubs have split their first 6 games, and Stroman's early excellence is the most encouraging aspect of the start. He allowed 3 hits in the win over Milwaukee and gave up just 2 hits to the hard-hitting Rangers.

Stroman is the first Cubs starting pitcher with consecutive outings of 6.0-plus shutout inning to start a season since Mike Bielecki did it in 1991. Only 4 Cubs starting pitchers in team history have started the season with consecutive scoreless outings of 6.0 innings.

Marcus Stroman gave an indication that he could regain his top form at the conclusion of the 2022 season. He has allowed 1 earned run or fewer in 7 of his last 9 starts, and he has a 1.67 earned run average in 54.0 innings over that span.

The pitcher credited his time pitching in the World Baseball Classic as a reason for his great start.

“For sure,” he said. “In 2017 when I played in the WBC I feel I had one of the best starts to my season. I came out and threw 200 innings.

“I feel it puts you in that competitive mind frame and gets you going much earlier than spring training, where you can go through the motions at that time.”