Cubs Win First Rawlings Team Gold Glove

If it wasn’t for moral victories, the Cubs would have no victories at all since the regular season ended. But hey, this is still at least moderately cool for everyone other than the curmudgeons who whined about Javy Báez‘s batting average in the wake of his Gold Glove win. With two winners and seven total nominees, it only makes sense that the Cubs took home the first-ever Team Gold Glove.

Just like the individual awards, this one was given out solely in accordance with the SABR Defensive Index. Wanna know what makes that even better? With a total SDI of 21.9, the Cubs just narrowly edged out the Cardinals (21.6) to win. Things fell off after that, with the Dodgers (13.1) and Padres (8.0) rounding out the top four.

The Indians won the AL with 17.2, so the Cubs were actually the best team in MLB. And if you want to know how they were able to reach that pinnacle, look no further than their catchers. Willson Contreras and Victor Caratini easily beat out What’s His Name and his backup in St. Louis to pad the stats. Having a pair of Gold Glove nominees on the mound didn’t hurt, either.

Just in case you’re interested, the Nationals were the worst team in MLB with a whopping -29.4 on the season. Yikes.