I was gonna offer this. That season BABIP of .251 is so ludicrously out of step with decades of history... are we *that* good on defense and *that* good at getting weak contact? (Perhaps pitchers who induce weak contact synergize exceptionally well with great defenders, both improving each other?) If it was just luck though, and we were that much of an outlier, you would have expected the half season BABIP to start regressing, and it really hasn't, over thousands of batted balls. I dunno. I think the article proves that its a fairly balanaced mix of luck, ability to force weak contact, great defense, and great pitching. Of course luck is a chunk of that. But I'd guess that if the Cubs had neutral luck or even slightly below average luck they'd still be a top 3 rotation in the league because of those other factors. The luck just brings it into historic status. At least that's my theory after reading the article. I'm sure I do sound like a bit of a hypocrite to Cardinals fans though when I mocked them for their historically fluky numbers last year and now partially defend our even more outlier numbers this year.