Steele's healthy return injects much-needed reliability. This ace’s consistent dominance offers some consistency throughout the rotation.
After a dominant first half, the Cubs' rotation took a slight step back in the second half. Matthew Boyd’s numbers regressed after the All-Star break, and Shota Imanaga was one of the worst pitchers in baseball over the final two and a half months.
Although Cade Horton was arguably the best pitcher in the second half, his injury late in the season really hurt the Cubs’ rotation for the postseason. Simply put, Chicago's starters ran out of gas toward the end of the year.
Now, heading into the 2026 season, there are some question marks surrounding this rotation. Will Imanaga be the same pitcher he was in the second half? Can Boyd replicate his 2025 success? How will Horton pitch in Year 2?
While we won’t know the answer to those questions until the season starts, one thing for certain is that the Cubs will be getting back a dominant pitcher who should help improve the rotation’s consistency throughout the year.
That pitcher is Justin Steele.
Steele missed most of the 2025 season due to an elbow injury that required surgery. The good news is that the southpaw didn’t undergo Tommy John surgery, so his timeline to return will be a bit quicker since he had an internal brace procedure.
But getting Steele back is a big boost for this Cubs rotation. Fans might have forgotten just how good the left-hander is when he’s healthy.
He has finished with a sub-3.20 ERA in each of his last three full seasons in the Major Leagues. He maintained a 3.18 ERA and 126 strikeouts across 119 innings in 2022, had a 3.06 ERA and 176 strikeouts in 2023, and ended with a 3.07 ERA and 135 punchouts in 2024.
That consistency is what the Cubs were missing in 2025, especially in the second half of the season. The veteran has proved time and time again that he is one of the most underrated pitchers in baseball.
Steele has the 10th-lowest ERA (3.18) among pitchers with at least 400 innings pitched since 2022. He has a lower ERA during this span than National League Cy Young runner-up Christopher Sanchez (3.20), free agent Framber Valdez (3.21), and workhorse Logan Webb (3.22).
With Steele expected to be back in the fold sometime in the first half of 2026, he’ll make this rotation that much more dangerous. He has had a lot of success on the mound in his career and will continue to act as a top-of-the-line starting pitcher for this team.