With the offense struggling across the board, the Chicago Cubs are still hanging around .500 thanks to run prevention, and that's an encouraging sign for when the lineup heats up.
Nine games and three series down for the Chicago Cubs in 2026, and there’s already plenty for fans to be frustrated about.
After getting blitzed on Opening Day with a 10-4 loss to the Washington Nationals, the Cubs have alternated results in every game so far this season. Every loss has been followed by a win, and every win followed by a loss. That leaves the Cubs at 4-5, which puts them in last place in the NL Central and a full three games behind the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers.
It’s only a nine-game sample size, so there’s no reason to panic. But giving the Brewers a head start in the division race because of a lousy stretch of nine games isn’t exactly what Cubs fans had in mind for the opening week.
There’s plenty to complain about, and it starts with the offense. The Cubs are currently 26th in baseball in team batting average at just .206, and they are 22nd in team OPS at .638.
Between Michael Busch, Dansby Swanson, Alex Bregman, Pete Crow-Armstrong, and Matt Shaw, the best OPS of that group belongs to Bregman at .602. That’s inexcusable for five of the best hitters in your lineup.
If not for Nico Hoerner’s .436 on-base percentage or Ian Happ’s .541 slugging percentage, who knows how much worse things would look right now.
And yet, I’m here to tell you Cubs fans should still be encouraged with what they’ve seen from this team despite a 4-5 start. How can that be?
The simplest way to put it is that it should be a lot worse.
With so many hitters in the Cubs lineup struggling, they should be much worse off than they actually are. But one area the Cubs invested in significantly this offseason was the pitching staff, and it has done enough to keep Chicago competitive.
Edward Cabrera and Jameson Taillon have combined for 16.1 scoreless innings.
Matthew Boyd was tremendous in his last start, going 5.2 innings with one earned run and 10 strikeouts.
Hoby Milner has done his job, Caleb Thielbar hasn’t missed a beat, and Daniel Palencia looks even better than he did last season when he recorded 22 saves with a 2.91 ERA.
Instead of looking at it like “the Cubs have played bad baseball and are 4-5 to start the season,” I see it more as “the Cubs have played about as bad as possible, and they’re still 4-5.”
Slumps happen in baseball. No team is going to be on point for all 162 games. It’s about finding a way to tread water during those rough stretches, and that’s what allows teams to stay in the race.
The Cubs have held their opponents to two runs or fewer in five of their nine games so far. They are 4-1 in those contests, and that’s what has them hovering around .500.
And rest assured, the offense will heat up with time. There’s also more help on the way.
The Cubs will get a middle-of-the-order bat back when Seiya Suzuki returns. Justin Steele isn’t far away either, which will give the rotation a boost after Cade Horton’s untimely injury.
Things could be better. That’s easy to see. But for how much has gone wrong for the Cubs so far, a 4-5 record is actually more encouraging than it is concerning.
If the Cubs are in the same spot a month from now, then it’s time to sound the alarm. But for now, they’ve done a nice job of finding ways to win despite not playing good baseball.