A collapsed offense and silent superstars have sparked a freefall in the standings. With expensive hitters struggling and runners stranded, Chicago’s lack of identity threatens their entire season.
Things have changed drastically for the Chicago Cubs.
Just one month ago, the Cubs were playing their best baseball. They were in the midst of their second 10-game winning streak and found themselves at the top of the National League Central division.
Fast forward one month, and the North Siders look like a much different team. This group has played uncompetitive baseball for most of the last three weeks. Chicago has lost 18 of its last 23 games, which included a 10-game losing streak from May 16 to May 26.
This recent skid has now dropped the Cubs down to fourth place in the National League Central. They sit 6 ½ games behind the first-place Brewers and are trending in the wrong direction after losing the first two games of the series against the Athletics to start June.
Every team will go through rough stretches. It’s part of baseball, and why there are 162 games in a season. Teams will have hot streaks, go on losing streaks, and play around .500 baseball at some points.
However, the Cubs have a serious problem on their hands.
They don't have someone who can transcend this offense.
The team doesn’t have that star hitter who can get the lineup going at times. Pete Crow-Armstrong was that hitter in the first half last year, and Kyle Tucker was a solid hitter to have at the top of the lineup.
This season, there’s no one performing like a star in this lineup.
Michael Busch is batting .244 with six home runs. Nico Hoerner somehow can’t hit anymore with a .253 season average. Dansby Swanson needs a full mental reset with his .183 batting average. Ian Happ (.232 batting average) and Seiya Suzuki (.239 batting average) continue to struggle with runners in scoring position, and Moises Ballesteros has fallen off considerably.
Most importantly, the Cubs’ big offseason signing of Alex Bregman hasn’t panned out quite well so far. Bregman is slashing just .255/.337/.356 with five home runs, eight doubles, and 19 RBI in his first 61 games this season.
The Cubs are paying Bregman and Swanson a combined $63 million to lead their offense this year. Unfortunately, neither player has really provided much of an offensive boost recently.
Bregman is batting only .242 with three extra-base hits, three RBI, and 12 strikeouts in his last 15 games, while Swanson is slashing .136/.230/.227 with four extra-base hits, two RBI, and 23 strikeouts in his last 20 games since May 10.
There’s no denying that this Cubs offense is a bad place right now. They have the 12th-worst team batting average (.238) on the season, rank last in batting average with runners in scoring position (.221), rank last in strikeouts with runners in scoring position (162), and rank 24th in total runs scored (120) since May 1.
The “star” players aren’t hitting, the whole team can’t hit with runners in scoring position, and there is no hitter in this lineup stepping up and putting this struggling offense on their back.
