Cubs Week in Review: I Think We All Need a Break

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Image courtesy of © Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

In the English language (and most others), there are several adages regarding the importance of seizing opportunities when they present themselves. If you need to verify this in some small way, go to your local bakery and be right behind the person who claims the last bear claw. It's painful to miss out on a chance so delicious, but sadly, it's not unfamiliar to Cubs fans. They've longed for the team to step on the throats of their rivals in the NL Central, but the team was too slow to the counter for that. Not much has changed for the North Siders in their quest for a division crown, paired with playoff prosperity. The heat in the kitchen is rising, and as you might have expected, I would say: Good things don't come to those who wait. 

After the team bashed their way to an 11-0 national TV win over the Cardinals before hitting the road last week, they were on top of the world. Leave it to the Minnesota Twins—about as average a team as you'll find, one game over .500 since the start of 2024—to send the Cubs cascading downward from the summit. I'm not much of a "count your chickens" type of fellow, but when Shota Imanaga takes the bump, as he did in Game 1 of his squad's three-game tilt with the Twins, I expect at least a puncher's chance at victory. Imanaga had the length, going six two-run innings, but the team behind him lacked the punch, scraping only one run across the plate, long after it ceased to matter. A curiously poor performance from the typically sound Porter Hodge revealed a lingering injury, which sent the right-handed reliever back to the injured list. The North Siders dropped the opener 8-1. 

The second game was a bit less lopsided, but no less frustrating. Aside from Ben Brown, Cade Horton (though he possesses a near-bottomless well of potential) has been the club's most uneven starter. That remained true in this one, as the 23-year old righty labored over 4 2/3 innings of four-run ball. If, on a given day, the defense isn't there, the offense has to be, but for the second straight game, it wasn't. Cashing in just two runs, Chicago fell in this contest 4-2.

Chicago did salvage something from the Twins series Thursday, and that something (an 8-1 triumph) felt like a lot more than just a parting gift for a squad looking for a "get-right" win. Colin Rea was a stopper, delivering a seven-inning quality start that felt like his best in ages. He worked with confidence and efficiency; his club's mighty offense took care of the rest. If you haven't already purchased your Pete Crow-Armstrong jersey, that endeavor didn't get any easier, as the All-Star center fielder launched his 24th and 25th long balls of the campaign. In an already historic season, Crow-Armstrong became the fastest Cub ever to reach 25 home runs and 25 stolen bases.

The New Yorker bestowed the not-so-flattering moniker of "The Second City" on our beloved town. While Chicagoans spun that title into a term of everlasting endearment, the North Side club sure did feel like a runner-up in their first of a three-game set versus the Yankees. It can't quite be called an unexpected outcome, though; the team tried a fairly uninspiring bullpen game to bridge their rotation gap. Chris Flexen toed the rubber to kick off the proceedings, but his colleagues in the pen (especially the now-optioned Jordan Wicks) helped the Bronx Bombers live up to their nickname in an 11-0 drubbing. 

Few Cubs have had a season as impressive as Matthew Boyd's, and in Game 2 of Chicago's series against New York, he showed why. Spinning eight dominant innings, the southpaw stifled the Bombers' formidable offense. Carson Kelly smashed his 12th home run of the year, in a match in which the Cubs took the field with a sense of urgency that seemed lacking in other recent contests. During a 5-2 victory, the Cubs failed to take the whole Big Apple, but certainly got back to their hotel room with a decent slice of it. 

The concluding game of this series in New York gave Chicago a chance to end the first half of the season on a high note, leaving a good taste in everyone's mouth before the outset of the fateful home stretch to the campaign. Shota Imanaga delivered the ace-like performance his squad so eagerly desired. Aside from surrendering a solo shot to Giancarlo Stanton, Imanaga soared through 7 sensational innings. The Cubs offense closed out the first half of the season in respectable fashion with crucial home runs from Michael Busch and Dansby Swanson. Securing the 4-1 win over the Yankees not only locked up the series victory, but ensured the North Siders sole possession of first place in their division to start the second half of the 2025 campaign. 

The first half of the season is over. The Cubs are in the mix, but there's still much work to be done. One could argue that this club has more untapped potential that could very well be unleashed with the proper trade deadline moves. If Jed Hoyer goes out and bolsters the pitching staff, we can reassess the team as something more than a divisional co-favorite. Perhaps the lapses the Cubbies have displayed at times in the campaign thus far have led you to proceed with caution, but with this club's biggest, most ambitious goals laid before it, the time is now to ascend to the next level.

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