How bottom of order is powering Cubs' offense to top of MLB - ESPN

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