No. 2 hitters are on the rise in Major League Baseball, but the Cubs and White Sox find themselves at different points.
Led by Willson Contreras, Cubs second-spot hitters have a .795 OPS through Sunday, topping all positions in the lineup.
That’s right in line with trends in the majors. Second-place hitters lead baseball with a .776 OPS, while also leading in batting average (.266), on-base percentage (.339) and slugging percentage (.437).
Ten of the 30 major-league teams have their highest OPS at No. 2. That includes the Yankees (Aaron Judge has a 1.043 OPS and 22 of his majors-leading 25 home runs batting second) and the Angels (Mike Trout has a 1.