Cubs Week in Review: All-Star Break Arrives, and While This Team is Hot, the Rest Will Be Welcome

Resilience in baseball must take many forms. Teams and players have to shake off personal setbacks and off-field distractions. They have to withstand injuries and gut-wrenching losses and show up the next day ready to win. They have to perform even when dead tired. The Cubs haven't passed those tests at all turns this season, but heading into a weeklong road trip before the All-Star break, they were in a good position, with a chance to further strengthen it.

First up, the team paid a visit to the Baltimore Orioles, a team who got slammed with as much adversity as Chicago has this year but hasn't handled it as smoothly. Matthew Boyd toed the rubber for the North Siders, picking up the win and a quality start by going six scoreless innings and surrendering just three hits. He appears much more in control on the mound of late, and gave his offense (fueled by a two-RBI day from Alex Bregman) the opportunity to put just enough cushion between them and the O's in a 5-2 win to open the series. 

Despite being outhit 14 to 8 in the middle contest of the three-game set in Charm City, the North Siders secured a 9-7 win. All-Star center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong crushed two long balls, one to deep right field and one to right-center, to reach the 20/20 mark (20 stolen bases and 20 home runs) for the second straight year. Michael Conforto and Carson Kelly chimed in with big hits to help Chicago hold off the O's on a night when the pitching staff showed its cracks.

The home team spoiled a nine-hit day for the visitors in the finale, salvaging one in the series with a 3-2 victory over the North Siders. Encouragingly, starter David Peterson bounced back from a dismal showing in his previous turn, as he managed five innings of work, allowing just one earned run, though walking four. Squandered opportunities doomed the Cubs, who went just 1-for-9 with RISP. 

The next day, the weary travelers arrived at Great American Ballpark to do battle in their final series before the All-Star break, a three-gamer with the division rival Cincinnati Reds. They couldn't get anything going against Hunter Greene and the Reds. Greene set down 12 Cubs batters via the strikeout in one of his sharpest outings of the season. That made waste of a good showing from Shota Imanaga, who allowed just one run over five innings. Chicago dropped the opener 4-0. 

Wiping away the stain of two consecutive deflating losses, the Cubs bounced back Saturday with a 5-3 win. Fans have waited most of the first half to witness starting third baseman Alex Bregman heat up, and that wait might have ended. With the game tied in the seventh inning, Bregman drilled a go-ahead, two-run home run to left field. Outside a lone run coughed up by Drew Pomeranz, the bullpen rose to the occasion, blanking the Reds in the final three frames. 

Bookending a strong week on the bump, starter Matthew Boyd tallied his fifth win of the year in an 8-4 triumph Sunday to sail into the intermission. Boyd lasted 6 1/3 innings, allowing four earned runs. A gargantuan day from the lilliputian Bregman helped his squad win the day. His towering, three-run blast in the seventh blew the game open. The win was the club's 54th of the year, ending a consistent run of victories from the end of June into mid-July. 

And with that, the first half of the 2026 MLB season draws to a close. Though they're diminished by injury and sit a handful of games behind the powerhouse Brewers, the Cubs have just as much to play for now as they did in the campaign's nascent stages. They've already survived a lot. Now, they get a chance to recharge and reset, before a furious finish in which they have to switch into 'thrive' mode.