The Chicago Cubs are mostly done adding pitchers to their roster for the 2026 season. 

While they could still make smaller moves, it’s unlikely the team will sign a big-time player. Even though the Cubs are reportedly still interested in Zac Gallen, committing another $15+ million to a player doesn’t seem like something the front office would do. 

That means the Cubs' pitching group is mostly complete ahead of the 2026 season. That makes now a good time to compare last year’s group to this year’s pitching group. Are the North Siders a better pitching team than they were a season ago? 

Let’s break down the rotation and the bullpen to compare if the Cubs' pitching did improve this offseason. 

The Cubs will enter the 2026 season with a very similar rotation. Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga, Cade Horton, and Jameson Taillon are all back from last year’s team. But this rotation is better than it was last year. 

Justin Steele will rejoin this group at some point in the first half after pitching in just four games in 2025, and the front office went out and traded for Edward Cabrera. Cabrera is coming off the best season of his career, in which he finished with a 3.53 ERA and 150 strikeouts across 137 ⅔ innings pitched. 

That gives the Cubs a solid rotation of Boyd, Imanaga, Horton, Taillon, Steele, and Cabrera when everyone is healthy. 

That’s an upgrade of last year’s rotation, when the team had to rely on Ben Brown to make 15 starts. This season, Brown will come in as the team’s No. 9 starting pitcher behind those six pitchers, Colin Rea and Javier Assad. 

So, the Cubs’ rotation is better in 2026. Having Taillon -- who has finished with a sub-3.70 ERA in back-to-back seasons -- as the No. 5 starter to begin the year shows just that. 

The Cubs will enter the 2026 season with a brand new bullpen. Brad Keller, Drew Pomeranz, and Andrew Kittredge all left this offseason, and the team was extremely active in the relief pitcher market in free agency. 

Chicago signed Phil Maton, Hoby Milner, Jacob Webb, and Hunter Harvey to Major League deals this winter. The team also re-signed Caleb Thielbar to a one-year deal after a resurgent 2025 campaign. 

With all these moving parts this offseason, it’s hard to really evaluate if the bullpen improved from a season ago. The two main pieces that remain with the team are Daniel Palencia and Thielbar. Outside of them, the Cubs have a completely new bullpen. 

Losing Keller is a bigger loss than people might realize, and Pomeranz emerged as a reliable left-handed reliever out of the bullpen. Kittredge was also solid to end the regular season, with a 1.54 ERA over his last 12 appearances. 

That makes last year’s bullpen slightly better than this year’s bullpen entering 2026. However, it’s extremely close. 

Overall, the front office did a nice job improving the pitching this offseason. The rotation is more promising, and the bullpen has the potential to be better than a season ago. 

The collective group of Maton, Milner, Webb, and Harvey could all emerge as reliable bullpen arms in 2026. Maton and Milner are coming off solid seasons, Webb has finished with a sub-3.05 ERA in back-to-back seasons, and Harvey is a top reliever when healthy. 

As a result, this Cubs pitching group is better than in 2025. The addition of Cabrera gives the team six strong rotation arms, and Jed Hoyer did a nice job revamping the bullpen this offseason.