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Though the Cubs are now 0-2, in heartbreaking fashion -- c'mon, two extra-innings, walkoff losses to start a season? -- they have at least one bright spot thus far. New leadoff man Emilio Bonifacio has set a modern-day, major-league record with nine hits through the first two games of the regular season.
Bonifacio went 4-for-5 on Opening Day and followed it up by going 5-for-7 in Wednesday's 16-inning affair. So he's hitting .750 through two games.
The nine hits part, however, is where the focus should be.
Thanks to baseball-reference.com's play index tool, we can find that four men in MLB history have collected at least four hits in each of the first two games of the season: Ira Flagstead (1926), Showboat Fisher (1930), Wade Boggs (1994) and Dante Bichette (1998).
Further searches on play index show that no player in the modern era has ever collected as many as nine hits through the first two games of the regular season, so Bonifacio has set a record.
Not that a ridiculously good start is something new to Bonifacio. Back in 2009, he was 14-for-24 (.583) through five games -- going 4, 2, 2, 3, 3, respectively, in hits per game to begin the season.
