The Cubs Are Baseball's Leaders in Stranding Runners: Why That's Not All Bad

The Chicago Cubs have always been a team of peaks and valleys, going way back to the Joe Maddon days. The Cubs offense could roll out of bed and outhit any team in baseball. Depending on what kind of streak they’re on, however, they could also make a back-end starter look like a Cy Young contender. Right now, nothing seems to be working. Before salvaging two games to split a series in Pittsburgh, they had lost six straight sets. Health issues have caused the pitching staff to rely heavily on minor-league depth to get through the game, and the hitting… well, that's what I am here to talk about. 

The Cubs snapped their 10-game skid, their longest since 2022, on Wednesday with an offensive explosion in Pittsburgh, and followed that with a good win on getaway night. Broadly, however, they can still be said to be struggling and lacking consistency, especially at bat. Since the first game of the Rangers series beginning on May 8, the Cubs are 26th in baseball in runs scored, 29th in team batting average, 25th in home runs, 28th in OPS, 27th in wRC+... you get the picture. Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Dansby Swanson, Moisés Ballesteros, and Nico Hoerner are all hitting under .200 over that span. Happ and Suzuki are striking out in nearly every other at-bat, while combining for four home runs even after Happ hit two to close out his week back at home In Pittsburgh. Even when the Cubs were hitting, they were leaving runners on base at an alarming rate. Below is the list of the top 10 hitters who have stranded the most runners this season: 

1. Ian Happ, Chicago Cubs 

2. Alex Bregman, Chicago Cubs

3. Colson Montgomery, Chicago White Sox

4. Seiya Suzuki, Chicago Cubs

5. Tyler Soderstrom, Athletics

      6. Nolan Schanuel, Los Angeles Angels

      7. Pete Alonso, Baltimore Orioles

      8. Daylen Lile, Washington Nationals

      9. Michael Busch, Chicago Cubs

     10. Matt Olson, Atlanta Braves

If we expand this list to the top 20 players, the Braves are the only team with a second player on the list. Here we see Cubs occupying three of the first four spots, and four of the top 10. The silver lining here is that, to drive in runs, you need runners on base, so the Cubs are getting themselves into plenty of innings where they have chances to score. Unsurprisingly, the Cubs also lead baseball in runners left in scoring position per game. Putting more runners on and advancing them is going to naturally create more opportunities to strand them, and the Cubs had no issue getting on base prior to May 8. From Opening Day through May 7 (what I like to refer to as the fun part of the season), the Cubs led baseball with an OBP of .353. They were also leading baseball in walks with 179. Even during this not-so-fun part of the season, the Cubs still have the third-most walks in baseball, though their OBP has fallen to 21st. 

The perpetually expressionless Craig Counsell has been tinkering with the lineup slightly, but is still penciling in Happ in the cleanup spot, followed by Suzuki, for the majority of games. Bregman, who has been the hottest hitter during this humbling month, seems to be firmly entrenched in the three spot, but for most of this month, Michael Busch has been behind hitters that he shouldn’t be. Top position player prospect Pedro Ramirez is up in the big leagues, but he is 22 and was not projected to be a key part of this season. There's not going to be significant outside help joining the squad to ignite the offense, so there are really only two paths forward: this group gets it together, or they continue to fall to the bottom of the division. Until the pitching gets healthy, they are going to have to hit their way to wins, and that is just not happening. 

We are Cubs fans here, and while it is warranted to be downright baffled by their recent performance, there is a lot of baseball left to be played, and this is still a team that had two 10-game winning streaks this season. In fact, the 2026 Cubs have joined the 2017 Dodgers as the only teams in baseball history with two 10-game winning streaks and a 10-game losing streak in the same season, so the odds are with them to win the pennant this year. (If only this sport was that simple.)

This is still a team that can heat right back up again and start mashing baseballs. Optimistically, there is no chance their underwhelming hitters stay in a season-long slump. Hitting is contagious, and this group has proven they can compete offensively with anyone; it’s going to be a matter of getting their heads right. The Cubs round out the month in St. Louis before the real opportunity to gain some ground. The pesky A’s are in town next week, but that's followed by a 12-game stretch split between the Giants and Rockies. Bregman, Busch, and Carson Kelly are all doing their jobs, and the hits will eventually return for the rest of the gang. Regardless of the pitching situation, we should still be in for a fun summer of baseballs flying around Wrigley Field.