The Cubs Are Building Back Momentum Ahead of the All-Star Break
The Cubs’ struggles in May were evident.
After achieving two 10-game winning streaks to start the year, they collapsed with sweeps by the Brewers and Astros, marking the low point of the slide.
This left fans wondering if this was a lost season.
Offense Finding Groove
I’m not here to tell you what the future may or may not hold. Again, an MLB season has many twists and turns. They say after all, it’s a marathon, not a sprint (unless you’re talking 2020). But the Cubs needed to string together some solid performances moving forward.
On June 11th, after losing the series to the dreaded Rockies, the Cubs salvaged the series finale. Since then, the Cubs have series wins vs the Giants, the Rockies, and now the Mets. The Blue Jays series finale was rained out and postponed, so that’s TBD. But it appears the Cubs’ offense is finding its stride again.
Look no further than the Mets series—scoring of 9, 10, and 10 in the first three games. Dansby Swanson drove in ELEVEN, yes, that’s right, 11 runs in the double header sweep. Closing out the books with a 4-3 extra-inning affair to sweep the season series only adds to what is a difficult road ahead.
Pitching Injuries
The constant theme of the Cubs’ season has been inconsistent offense and injuries to the pitching staff. Cade Horton, Ben Brown, Matthew Boyd, Jameson Taillon, Daniel Palencia, Jacob Webb, Hunter Harvey, Ethan Roberts, and several others have all at one point ended up on the IL. That hurts you not only in the short term but also in the not-so-distant future. No team could survive this when all your rotation and half the original bullpen end up on IL.
Justin Steele had a recent setback with his injury. Top Cubs prospect Jaxson Wiggins missed a couple of months due to injury in Triple-A. Just countless injuries have really hampered any form of consistency.
The Cubs have had to rely on Colin Rea and Javier Assad more than was thought.
There is no magical cure for any team during a season. Not one that has suffered this much, but the Cubs are righting the ship for a better June and potentially more.
Let’s just hope the injury bug gets a little nicer on them.
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