The Chicago Cubs Are a Shape-Shifting Baseball Monster

After yet another ho-hum 8-1 victory to move the Chicago Cubs to 8-1 on the year, manager Joe Maddon was asked whether he feels like he's just pushing a bunch of buttons that happen to work. Maddon took exception to that suggestion.

"What I like to do is sit down before a game and play the game in advance," Maddon said. "I never take a team for granted, ever."

But it's clear that Maddon has been playing a lot of different games in his head. Despite the fact that the Cubs are on an early-season roll, Maddon hasn't got comfortable—and the lineup you see one day is almost assuredly not going to be the same as the one you see the next.

Not counting pitching changes, Chicago has averaged 4.4 changes to its batting order between each game, and the starting batting order has changed every game. Teams average roughly 122 different lineups throughout the season; nine games into the 2016 campaign, the Cubs have used 22.

"There are so many different ways to construct a lineup," Madden said during spring training. "You have to try and understand the most important components of it. People talk about how many more times a (good) hitter can come to the plate during a season, hitting in this spot compared to that spot. Not every night is the same and not every pitching matchup is the same."

The fielders used have varied wildly, as well. The Cubs have used four different left fielders, three different center fielders, three different third basemen, and two different right fielders. Star second-year player Kris Bryant has played three different positions, while Jason Heyward and Matt Szczur each have played two. And again, this is just nine games into the season!

The lack of continuity seems to be working. The Cubs have the best record in baseball, and so far they've been winning in dominant fashion. They have a ridiculous plus-43 run differential—19 better than second-place St. Louis—and they have scored more runs per game (7.1) than anyone else in baseball. Those numbers may regress to the mean as the season continues, but it's certainly not a bad position to be in.

The constant switching of defenses—which sometimes calls for players to move twice during games—hasn't had a negative effect, either. The Cubs are tied for first in the majors in fielding percentage, and they're second in Baseball Reference's defensive efficiency statistic.

It would be wrong to assume that the Cubs are winning because they keep switching lineups, and Maddon insists the constant mixing and matching it isn't some sudden flash of managerial genius. "This is all about the players," he said. "I have nothing to do with this." That much is correct: Maddon has enjoyed the luxury of testing out different lineups to see what works, largely because his team is so deep.

That depth even extends to the pitchers, as Jason Hammel has had a RBI double and Jake Arrieta has had a home run just this past week. "We have athletic pitchers who can do that kind of thing, so we're not just going to go up there and concede an out," Maddon said. That means putting pitchers wherever they can be most effective against a particular pitching matchup—not necessarily at the bottom of the order.

Other teams change lineups because they can't find what works, or they keep everything stable because they don't want to mess with success. The Cubs know that they're going to be able to hit with just about any order they use. That effectively allows Maddon to conduct market research during the season. Other teams have to guess which lineups will be most effective—the Cubs have room to tinker with it live.

After sweeping the Reds, Maddon was reminded of the Cubs' "dismal" offensive performance against the New York Mets in last year's National League Championship Series, in which the Mets swept the Cubs, four games to none. "For me, our guys, my guys, all of our guys, I think we're being proactive," he said. "If we get back to that particular moment, hopefully we'll be better off."

The more research the Cubs can compile now on what works, the less hope they'll need down the road.