You might have heard that all four members of the Chicago Cubs' infield were voted to start the All-Star Game. You might have also heard that it's the first time that's happened since Bill White, Julian Javier, Dick Groat and Ken Boyer of the Cardinals started for the National League in 1963. Now this might seem like a strange time to write about the greatness of the Cubs' infield, given the team has lost 12 of its past 17 games and the Giants have passed the Cubs for best winning percentage in the majors, but the results are the results, so don't blame me.

So the issue at hand: Are Anthony Rizzo, Ben Zobrist, Addison Russell and Kris Bryant an all-time great single-season infield? Or is this just Cubs fans run amok with their laptops and mobile phones? (Complicating matters is that Bryant has started 32 games in the outfield and Zobrist six, but for the sake of this piece, we'll consider their overall numbers, not just their numbers while playing infield.)

We'll also be relying on wins above replacement for comparing infields across generations. Maybe you don't like WAR. Deal with it. It's the best and simplest way to do a quick study. Here are the totals for our Cubbies entering Thursday, via Baseball-Reference.com:

Bryant: 4.2

Rizzo: 3.3

Zobrist: 2.8

Russell: 2.2

That's impressive. Among NL position players, Bryant ranks first, Rizzo fifth, Zobrist 11th and Russell 25th. Russell doesn't deserve to start ahead of Corey Seager or Brandon Crawford, but he's having a solid season, especially on defense.

How does this group compare to other great infields? As it turns out, back in January, I wrote about the greatest infields of all time.

That 1963 Cardinals infield was very good but not in the all-time great discussion. Their season WAR totals:

Groat: 7.1

White: 6.0

Boyer: 5.2

Javier: 2.2

Total: 20.5

Many will argue the Reds' infield of the mid-1970s would be the greatest ever -- Tony Perez, Joe Morgan, Dave Concepcion, Pete Rose. After all, you have two Hall of Famers, a would-be Hall of Famer in Rose and Concepcion, who some believe should be in the Hall of Fame. That group was together just two seasons, as Rose didn't move to third base until 1975. Trouble is, Perez wasn't that good by then. Their best season was 1976:

Morgan: 9.6

Rose: 6.9

Concepcion: 4.4

Perez: 2.6

Total: 23.5

Those stats put the Reds close to the best, and Morgan won the MVP award that year with a monster season. Among NL position players, Morgan ranked first, Rose third, Concepcion 13th and Perez 36th. That's not quite the best though. (Of course, they also had Johnny Bench at catcher, but we're not including catcher in this equation.)

Back to the Cubs. We're basically at the halfway point (they've played 84 games), so if we simply double their WAR totals, we get this over the entire season:

Bryant: 8.4

Rizzo: 6.6

Zobrist: 5.6

Russell: 4.4

Total: 25.0

That would put them in the running. I chose the 1982 Milwaukee Brewers as the best infield ever (the 1912-13 Philadelphia A's had a higher WAR, but I went with the more recent team). That infield:

Robin Yount: 10.5

Paul Molitor: 6.2

Cecil Cooper: 5.6

Jim Gantner: 2.6

Total: 24.9

Yount had one of the best seasons ever by a shortstop and won MVP honors while Cooper and Molitor had All-Star-caliber seasons. Among AL position players, Yount ranked first, Molitor seventh, Cooper 11th and Gantner 51st.

There you go. The Cubs infield has played at a historic level so far. Now, about that bullpen ...