Cubs Week In Review: The Bullpen Becomes The Steady Hand This Club Needed

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Image courtesy of © Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

Approaching mid-June, every contending baseball club has an Achilles' heel holding it back. Up until very recently, one could emphatically proclaim the Cubs' bullpen as its most glaring vulnerability. A combination of Caleb Thielbar, Brad Keller, Drew Pomeranz, and others have helped the squad to a cumulative bullpen ERA of 3.68. For a Chicago Cubs team with as much offensive talent as they've got, this bodes quite well for a club positioning itself for its larger aspirations pertaining to the regular season and well beyond. 

While the Cubs are still in good shape overall, this past week served as a sobering wake up call to a squad that must improve if it wants to stand with baseball's best. Flying a bit too close to the sun in retrospect, Craig Counsell's squad has gotten so acquainted with success that a surge in competition level was bound to create problems for Chicago's North Side baseball team.

Though this past week saw the Cubbies tally their fifteenth series win of the season, it also marked the first time in a long time that the Cubs encountered some non injury-related adversity, which took its toll in the dreaded loss column. Kicking off a three-game set in our nation's capital, the North Siders came through with an offensive performance that even casual fans of the club have come to expect. With key contributions up and down the lineup, including a three-hit, three-RBI day for the suddenly-hot Michael Busch, the Cubs wore out the Nationals, taking the series opener 8-3.

When this club struggles to score runs, which is a seldom event, they lose. Such was the case in the middle game against the Nats. Marking only the third time this season the Cubs have been shut out, the team squandered a spectacular performance from veteran starter Matthew Boyd. The Cubbies' lefty took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning, working as efficiently as any Cubs starter has all season. The death knell to the team on this day was a puzzling lack of run production. The Cubbies went 1-7 with runners in scoring position and left eight on base. The Nationals picked up the win 2-0. 

If this club is to make a deep run in the postseason as several pundits expect them to do, the Cubs' lead-off batter, Ian Happ, needs to match his glittering performance in game three, where he went 3-for-6 with a home run and four RBIs. Some of the club's offensive usual suspects also contributed, as Seiya Suzuki and Pete Crow-Armstrong created traffic on the bases. For Crow-Armstrong, his first inning two-run blast plated his 52nd and 53rd RBIs of the season. The Cubs sailed to a 7-1 victory. 

The weekend brought the highly-anticipated matchup and possible World Series preview between the Cubs and the magnificent Detroit Tigers. The two squads started the series with similar records but not similar philosophies. While the Cubs beat down their opponents with potent offensive heft, A.J. Hinch's squad boasts elite starting pitching, led by the reigning American League Cy Young champ, Tarik Skubal. That's a tall order for any team to go up against, and Skubal showed why in front of a sellout crowd this past Friday night at Comerica Park. Though Skubal pitched 7 1/3 innings for his club, it was actually his counterpart, Ben Brown, who impressed in many ways. He lasted seven innings and struck out as many batters. Chicago's offense could not get going, though, scraping across only one run. The Tigers collected the first game of the series by a score of 3-1. 

Fans of Major League Baseball know that Comerica Park is a pitcher-friendly space. That didn't stop the Cubs' signature elite offense from making a guest appearance in the Motor City. The North Siders clubbed five home runs, including two from Seiya Suzuki, on their way to an impressive win. The middle contest of this series marked the only time the Cubs looked themselves, with a nice balance of offense and shut down stuff from their flourishing bullpen. After the brilliant Jameson Taillon carried his team through seven strong innings, Caleb Thielbar and the electric Daniel Palencia lured the Tigers' balanced offense into its cage. The Cubs drew even in the series with a 6-1 win. 

Even watching on television, this series gave off serious playoff vibes. Luckily for the Cubs, it only felt like the postseason. Throwing the obviously overmatched Cade Horton on the bump, the rookie failed to hit any high notes in Motown. Tigers starter Jack Flaherty kicked the Cubbies' bats to the curb like a studio executive dismissing a lip-synching recording artist. Teams with more star power, like the Dodgers and Mets, have stolen the spotlight from Detroit, but this series solidified their status as the team to beat in professional baseball. Late, controversial calls at the plate neutralized any chance of a rally for the Cubs in this contest. Typically steadfast batters like Pete Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker looked bewildered at the dish Sunday afternoon. With the loss, the North Siders saw their streak of seven series wins in a row draw to a close. The Tigers seized the finale, 4-0. 

Despite the level of frustration onset by the series in Detroit, nothing that transpired this past week changed anything for the Cubs. What fans should glean from the start of this road trip is that the team has made great strides in finding stability out of the bullpen, and expecting an offensive return to form in the coming days and weeks leading up to the All-Star Break is more than reasonable. The Cubs are more than well-positioned to maintain and perhaps even dominate their division. The squad might not be where they want just yet, but at least now it knows how to get there.

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