Cubs Week in Review: Consistent Play Has North Siders Atop Division

All across professional baseball, there are good, competitive teams. As expected, the NL Central is littered with them. But there is a distinct line separating the good teams and the great ones. Craig Counsell's club has looked great for a plethora of reasons, though more than 30 games into this 2026 campaign, it's too early to tell for sure which side of the line they'll be on come September and October. The Cubs are a team that can beat you in every possible way, and that was on full display this past week—but they continue to be threatened by attrition.

Even after rattling off 10 impressive victories in a row, including a comeback win over the Dodgers, pundits didn't acknowledge the Cubs as one of the premier squads in the league. That sentiment did not change in the club's first of three games versus the San Diego Padres. In a now steady pitching rotation, veteran lefty Matthew Boyd is still finding his way through an uneven start to the season. Lasting just four innings, Boyd labored through the heart of the Friars' lineup, coughing up five earned runs. A dramatic grand slam from young slugger Moisés Ballesteros briefly got the Cubs back into the lead in the third inning, but a San Diego answer in the home half of that inning put them back out in front for good.

Game 2 of that series saw Edward Cabrera toeing the rubber, looking for his third win with his new club. He found it. Hurling 5 2/3 innings, Cabrera came just a hair short of a quality start, though the offense did more than enough to back up their starting pitcher. Pete Crow-Armstrong's continued recovery from a slow start at the plate manifested in a clutch 3-run bomb in the seventh inning to seal the bounce-back win for Chicago's North Side team. 

Chicago, with its deep musical roots, is a place where rhythm matters. Smashing his second home run in as many games, Pete Crow-Armstrong found his. The exciting center fielder crushed a two-run homer, at the time putting his squad up 3-0. Meanwhile, Jameson Taillon displayed why he is one of the more resilient pitchers in baseball, logging seven innings of three-hit baseball. The gutsy performance helped the team secure not only the series win, but a .500 road trip as the club boarded the plane back to Illinois. 

The homecoming homestanders let their guard down in the first of their three-game tilt with the Arizona Diamondbacks at Wrigley Field. After grabbing a 6-1 lead in the fourth inning, the North Siders appeared to be cruising, until the Diamondbacks and Geraldo Perdomo struck back with a four-run sixth inning. Thereafter, though, they quieted things down. Reliever Phil Maton followed up a very poor previous outing by blanking the Snakes. Jacob Webb turned in his best performance as a Cub, earning the save with two impressive shutout innings. 

On a brisk, sun-drenched Saturday, Shota Imanaga took the ball for the North Siders. In a greatly altered starting pitching rotation, Imanaga has dazzled in a way that even the squad's top executives could not have predicted. The lefty was in command from the start, keeping his pitch count low through seven strong innings. In total, the North Siders conceded a stingy four hits to Arizona, a dangerous Arizona lineup. Despite a career day from Ian Happ, they only pushed across two runs, but that was more than enough. Ben Brown closed it out with two sparkling innings of relief.

A win in the Sunday finale saw Nico Hoerner and his squad climb to 10 games above .500 for the first time this season. After an injury scare in the first contest of the series, Hoerner helped his squad get things going early with his now trademark table-setting. A bases-clearing triple from Michael Busch made this meeting look like a laugher on a day where the North Siders got key contributions from virtually all of their usual suspects. Hoby Milner looked sharp out of the bullpen, but a sluggish start to the 9th inning for Corbin Martin caused a brief scare on an otherwise quiet day. Martin recovered nicely, helping the home team secure the victory�their 11th straight at the Friendly Confines. The win put Chicago two games up in the division, and was their third sweep in the last five series. 

Up next, the Cubs stay right at home, kicking off a four-game set with the young, dynamic Cincinnati Reds. Led by the electric Elly De La Cruz, the Reds offer a new test. Chicago ought to count itself lucky that it gets this beefy contest at home, with the rotation lined up nicely for the North Siders. This is their first opportunity to both build a significant lead in the division, and send a message to the other major contenders around the league.