The Chicago Cubs have hit their first true rough patch of this, so far, stellar 2025 season.
They’ve lost three of their last four games– at home– and their first place lead in the NL Central Division has been whittled away to just 3.5 games over the second place Milwaukee Brewers and 4.5 games over the third place St. Louis Cardinals. Even the Cincinnati Reds have moved to within 6.5 games of the Cubs.
With a four-game series in St. Louis slated next, there’s legitimate concern that these next few games will be way more crucial than games in late June need to be. That’s how precarious the Cubs’ position may be.
It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, however, what is bringing the high-flying Cubs back down to earth.
Chicago Cubs bullpen woes
The team’s weak spots right now, were the team’s weak spots headed into the season.
First, there’s the bullpen.
Cubs manager Craig Counsell and staff had done an impressive job of creating a quality bullpen from what was essentially a crew mostly comprised of castoffs and second/third-chancers, especially after Houston Astros trade acquisition Ryan Pressly proved himself NOT to be the closer the team needed. The rehab stories of Brad Keller, Chris Flexen, and Drew Pomeranz, specifically, have been inspiring. Daniel Palencia coming out of nowhere to earn the closer role has been a godsend.
There has been a lot of positivity coming from the Cubs’ ragtag relief corps.
But fairy tales are fairy tales and it appears that reality may be starting to push its way into the forefront.
In their last five games, the Cubs bullpen has a horrendous 8.41 ERA. Now, admittedly, Genesis Cabrera and Nate Pearson have accounted for 12 of those earned runs in that five-game span and if you remove those two pitchers from the mix, the bullpen’s ERA shrinks down to 3.09. But, honestly, there’ve been very few quality bullpen appearances recently and the crew gives the distinct vibe of being near a breakdown.
The busted up starting rotation
When it comes to starting pitching, the thought headed into 2025 was that the Cubs would have a surplus of rotation assets. With Justin Steele, Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon, and Matthew Boyd making up the front four, the only debate seemed to be about who would be the team’s fifth starter. Javier Assad, Ben Brown, Colin Rea, and top pitching prospect Cade Horton were all in the mix for that last spot.
Steele, however, would be lost for the season in earlyApril due to elbow injury. Imanaga went down a month later with a hamstring injury. Assad was lost before day one with an oblique issue that has kept him from throwing a single competitive major league pitch so far this season.
With the key losses, Boyd and Taillon have had to step up to be the rotation anchors. Cade Brown has done well as an emergency call-up, but has been rushed along in his development nonetheless. Rea and Brown have been present, but not consistently effective.
Offseason concerns about the back end of the starting rotation have been amplified as that back end has become front line out of necessity.
And, now, the realities surrounding a thinned-out rotation that had overachieved over the first couple months of the season look to be emerging as Taillon, Rea, Horton, and Brown have all struggled in recent outings. The imminent return of Imanaga will definitely help, but it won’t be a cure-all.
Third base problems, still
Then, there was the other concern headed into 2025– third base.
Top prospect Matt Shaw was slated into the hot corner spot, but was sent down to the minors after a dismal start that saw him post a weak .172 batting average.
The 23-year-old Shaw would earn his way back into the majors after a little more than a month in Triple-A. Things went well at first, with him hitting an impressive .359 in the month of May despite metrics stating that he was making some of the weakest contact in the league.
Well, metrics usually don’t lie and Shaw’s weak-contact good fortune has apparently run out. So far in June, the rookie is hitting .180 with only 11 hits and 2 RBIs in 61 at bats.
So, in summary, all of the Cubs’ pre-season weaknesses have re-emerged in mid-to-late June, This shouldn’t have been unexpected, even as the team showcased a stellar offense alongside some true grit all throughout the season. Water eventually seeks its own level.
It will now be up to the Cubs front office to fill these holes by the July 31 trade deadline— at a much steeper price than what it would’ve cost to fill them during the offseason.
Calls mount for Chicago Cubs to take drastic action on Ben Brown
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