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Image courtesy of © Matt Marton-Imagn Images You could call the Cubs' rash of injury troubles a bug, but lately, that feels insufficient. With the club's fiery closer Daniel Palencia the latest to go down with an oblique strain, the "bug" this squad is up against is more akin to one of Godzilla's adversaries than a gnat you swat away while waiting for the Purple Line. Fortunately, there have been signs of lift from the sleeping giant that was the Cubs' offense over the first two-plus weeks. With Javier Assad taking the ball for the Cubs in the first of their three-game set versus the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park last week, the lineup awoke. The Cubs scratched seven runs across the plate in that contest. The trouble is, the home team tallied 13. Craig Counsell's pitching staff labored, surrendering runs to Philadelphia in all but two innings. Former Cubs hero Kyle Schwarber had no hesitation in making life difficult for his former squad, launching a three-run homer that set the tone early. As Schwarber well knows, success is the perfect revenge, and the North Siders exacted theirs in the middle game of the series. Chicago erased an early 3-0 deficit on the strength of a balanced offensive output from the visitors—especially Nico Hoerner and Carson Kelly, who combined for six RBIs. Hoerner, with his consistently elite play at both the plate and second base, is the clear leader of this club and the driving force behind his team's recent success. Suddenly needed to be something like an ace again, Shota Imanaga is either on the cusp of his 2024 All-Star form or already there. It's not that he doesn't surrender the long ball anymore, like the solo shot he gave up early to Trea Turner in the rubber game of last week's set, but his penchant for recovery is impressive. He takes any blemish personally. Imanaga went on to tie a career-high in strikeouts, with 11 of them over six solid innings. The Cubs used four scoring innings, showing both power and situational hitting. Hoerner racked up 5 RBIs with a 3-for-5 day at the plate. Matt Shaw, who has been on an upward trajectory, enjoyed his best offensive day of the year with a 3-for-4 outing, collecting three doubles. It was the rare case this season in which the offense not only rolled, but the Cubs also were terrific defensively, allowing virtually zero meaningful scoring opportunities for the Phillies. The 11-2 romp earned the North Siders an impressive series win on the road. The team rode that wave back to Wrigley Field, for a weekend set against the Mets. Edward Cabrera took the bump for his fourth start as a Cub. His teammates plated four runs in the opening frame, giving him some margin for error. Moisés Ballesteros and Hoerner both homered in an easy 12-4 win to open a seven-game homestand. Their loss Friday was the Mets' ninth in a row; they're often beating themselves. With Freddy Peralta returning to Wrigley Field—a place that became his personal house of horrors in October 2025—that trend didn't change. Even though the Cubs only took this contest by a 4-2 score, it's how they did it that made spectators take note. Ian Happ's solo homer off of his old adversary sparked the home crowd, but it was Kelly's pinch-hit, three-run blast in a tie game in the sixth inning that got the party started in earnest. Having already secured the series win, the North Siders took the field Sunday in search of their first sweep of the 2026 regular season. In the eleventh hour, they found it. Bouncing back from a laborious start earlier in the week, Javier Assad cruised through the first third of the game with relative ease. A solo shot from the Mets' MJ Melendez was the only disruption to what was otherwise a dominant showing from Assad. Though held scoreless through the first eight innings of this contest, the North Siders frequently put runners on base, most notably via a leadoff triple from Pete Crow-Armstrong to kick off the third. Pinch-hitting in the bottom of the ninth inning, Michael Conforto laced a double into the corner in deep right field, scoring pinch-runner Scott Kingery to tie the game against another former divisional foe, Devin Williams. A gutsy 10th-inning relief appearance from newly-minted closer Caleb Thielbar set the stage for the home team to deliver walk-off magic. With one out and the zombie runner Crow-Armstrong standing 90 feet away, Hoerner came through with a game-winning sacrifice fly. The dramatic finish not only marked the club's fifth straight win, but vaulted them three games over .500 and out of the cellar of the National League Central. Good teams find ways to win. At the outset of a four-game series with the Phillies at Wrigley, this feels like a good team, despite its many injury issues. They've benefited from some good luck and they've beaten themselves once or twice this year, but after a tough start, they're finding their groove a bit. If they can survive the pitching crisis and get their key hitters out of early funks, they'll really be on to something. View full article

Image courtesy of © Matt Marton-Imagn Images I hate cliches, except for when they're true. Especially in the sports world, one hears the phrase "all hands on deck" so often that it starts to lose its meaning. Phrases like this are deployed by their users almost like a blanket defense mechanism to explain the unexplainable. Even for a franchise like the Chicago Cubs, with a checkered history of curses, their current injury conundrum is truly astonishing. With Porter Hodge now out for the season with a UCL injury, the total numbers of pitchers injured on the North Siders' roster is nine, and that doesn't even include the injury recently sustained by top prospect Jaxon Wiggins in Iowa. With that, the onus is on this club's offense, now more than ever, to give the team's battered pitching staff some leeway. The lineup has finally found a bit of consistency — they've scored 35 runs in their past four games — but the output for the whole season has been lacking. Few people have been reliable, but former Dodger Michael Conforto had looked particularly lost at the plate, until now. Conforto only got two pinch-hit plate appearances in the Phillies series (he struck out in both), but he's otherwise been excellent of late. Even when accounting for his slow start, Conforto wields a wRC+ of 137, and just last week, went 5-12 at the plate with two walks. Is his surge sustainable? Possibly, though his .500 BABIP mark is terrifying. Prior to a weekend series against his old team (the New York Mets), Conforto carries with him a .273 batting average with six hits in 28 plate appearances. For his career, the Cubs' backup outfielder has a .245 batting average with an OBP of .343 and just a shade under 600 RBIs. The moral of the story is that Conforto has arrived in Chicago and produced something akin to what he's put out for his eleven years in the league and counting. Perhaps his consistency, however unremarkable the overall output may be, is the reason why Jed Hoyer and the Chicago Cubs braintrust brought him on in the first place. In the North Siders' previous three wins, they've scored seven or more runs in every game. To the untrained or even the trained eye, this club's hitting comes in waves. When Conforto was down, the rest of the club, outside of Nico Hoerner, was as well. This is not an excuse, nor a justification for the Cubs' sluggish and maddening start, but it describes a significant sign one can point to in analyzing their offensive woes. That Conforto has looked less the part of "PCA" and more like "DFA" doesn't really matter because he's not called upon to do nearly as much as this club's featured players. If you've followed my work here in recent years, you know I'm hesitant to write anyone off. It's my goal to find the positives with this ball club, unless there aren't any. Like everything else, however, this approach has its limits. If a guy just isn't any good, I'm the first to point it out. Michael Conforto is a player who exists outside of these confines. He isn't all that bad, nor is his presence in the lineup on any given night the glaring liability once feared. As the success of this baseball club hopefully grows into something worth remembering, so too will the prosperity and production of Conforto. View full article

Image courtesy of © Matt Marton-Imagn Images However hard it is to keep a good team down, it's even harder for said good team to find itself in a groove. With eight current big leaguers on the Chicago Cubs' roster currently on the IL, Lady Luck has been less than kind to Craig Counsell's ball club in the early going. With Cade Horton out for the season and the return dates of both Matthew Boyd and Justin Steele unknown, the depth of Jed Hoyer's club is being tested in ways no one expected. Adversity finds its way into most MLB clubhouses, but after already having encountered more than their fair share, how the North Siders respond now will say much about where their season goes from here. Said North Siders started their week in St. Petersburg, Florida, playing the role of visitors at Tropicana Field, which hosted its first game since 2024, when the ballpark sustained severe damage in Hurricane Milton. As has often been the case, Cubbies starter Jameson Taillon struggled early, surrendering four runs across the second and third innings. The Cubs collected four runs on four hits, unable to generate any real traffic on the bases. They dropped the series opener to the Rays 6-4. Chicago has yet to produce much in the way of what ought to be the right formula for offensive production in this first full month of the season. Be that as it may, the bats hummed, rattled, and shook themselves awake in the second of three contests versus Tampa Bay. The squad swung the bats with the level of ease and confidence it would need to climb the ranks of its division. The offensive outburst was anchored by Alex Bregman and Pete Crow-Armstrong, who connected on his first home run of the 2026 campaign. Despite Crow-Armstrong's frustrations at the plate, he's provided tangible evidence that he might return to his 2025 form sometime in the near future. Building on their success from the previous outing, the North Siders took the series against the Rays in a convincing yet cathartic fashion. Filling in as a starter for Counsell's depleted rotation, Colin Rea hurled a valiant five innings, keeping the Rays honest by recovering from two walks given up. Quietly ascending as a leader on this ball club, Nico Hoerner delivered clutch knocks for his squad, including his first big fly of the young season. Dating back to last year, few starting pitchers in the majors needed a "get right" game more than the squad's enigmatic lefty Shota Imanaga. And boy did he get it. Over the course of several starts, Imanaga had started to garner a reputation for giving up home runs early in contests, putting his squad behind the proverbial "hole" before they're able to get off the ground. Adjustments in his release from the mound seem to have shored up his mechanical issues. Imanaga dazzled, going six no-hit innings opposite the Pittsburgh Pirates. Alas, his pitch count was too great for him to continue his pursuit of history in this contest, giving way to reliever Caleb Thielbar. In circumstances such as this one, thinking about what's unfolding, let alone speaking of it, can disrupt the order established by the baseball gods. Almost on cue, Thielbar labored, allowing the Bucs leadoff runner aboard before surrendering a homer to Jason Reynolds. In one swing of the bat, Imanaga's Herculean effort on the mound was reduced to a footnote as his squad's offense once again could not come through in the clutch in a 2-0 loss. The 150-year-old baseball team known as the Chicago Cubs is celebrating the tenth anniversary of its iconic 2016 World Series championship squad. The exhilarated milestone is being commemorated in a myriad of ways, including the return of key players like Ben Zobrist. The vibes around Wrigley were as electric as the energy emanating from the Aon Center, with one of its most cherished heroes returning to the city that made him a legend. Sadly, while the fans safely secured their Zobrist bobbleheads, the Cubs were unable to rally back from an early 3-0 deficit. A desperate, ninth-inning rally knotted things up versus the Pirates, giving the folks at 1060 West Addison free baseball. Squandering multiple opportunities to complete the dramatic comeback, a throwing error on a slow roller back to the mound afforded the Pirates the chance to plate what would become the game and series-winning run. The North Siders fell 4-3 in eleven innings. For so many of us, in multiple arenas in life, getting out of our own way is the hardest thing to do. This truism rang true for starter Jameson Taillon, who bookended one uninspiring start earlier in the week with another. The veteran hurler saddled his squad with an early 5-0 mountain to climb. Though he went on to settle in and fan 10 Pittsburgh batters, Taillon's performance deflated the spirits of a home crowd clad in their finest summer attire. All signs in this game pointed to a would-be sweep, the first at Wrigley Field since 2019. This admirable club, which is full of potential, had other plans, however. Entering the eighth inning as a pinch hitter, Michael Busch stepped up to the plate, toting around a woeful 0-30 stretch to start the season. The clouds lifted when he put a bloop single into center field, knotting the game up on the strength of some superb base running. Daniel Palencia blanked the Buccos in the ninth, setting the stage for Carson Kelly's walk-off knock to the center field warning track. Though the victory merely salvaged one game of the three-game set, the heroics of the comeback for the Cubbies symbolized a shift in tenor for a team that was visibly disturbed and pushing too hard to manifest its expected results. Having lifted the clouds from what could have been a sobering sweep at home, the Cubs now look to establish some momentum as they travel to Citizens Bank Field to do battle with the Phillies for three games. Consistency will be the key for this lineup as it seeks the rhythm necessary to play sustainable, winning baseball. With spirits lifted from the energizing victory over a division foe, this next series in Philadelphia affords this Cubs squad the chance to get its record above the .500 mark for the first time in 2026. Before the season, that would not have sounded like much, but with the club laboring out of the gate, it would be a sign of good things to come. View full article

Image courtesy of © David Richard-Imagn Images It's a Friday, 1:20 start at Wrigley Field, the outfield ivy has yet to grow in, showing its exposed brick. Scanning your surroundings, you look around, your eyes greeted by thousands of jerseys of red, white, and blue, with the number "4" on the back. The Chicago Cubs' young, would-be superstar has started to capture the imaginations of supporters of North Side baseball in a way few others have since the curse-breaking 2016 squad still reigned over Wrigleyville. Though he's not yet cemented himself as one of the current greats of the game, or certainly the franchise, Pete Crow-Armstrong has not only the raw potential but also the attitude to forge a Cubs legacy unlike any other. There is a distinct line of delineation between the kind of player Crow-Armstrong is now and superstardom. In fact, our very own Matt Trueblood recently penned a terrific piece centered around what that line looks like. In the piece, Trueblood delves into the aggressive free-swinging nature of Crow-Armstrong, citing that, across all levels of competition the center fieldeer has faced so far in 2026, he has swung at 55.3% of the pitches he's seen. Accounting for the absence of a World Baseball Classic in 2025, that figure is down from 60% a year ago. Crow-Armstrong is a hyper-aggressive swinger who understands the value of jumping all over the opposition early and often. He became a 30/30 player because of his readiness and all-around approach in each at-bat. He's a player with unexpected power and an insatiable obsession with inflicting pain on the opposition. Those pain-inflicting results haven't quite come in 2026 just yet, nor have they for any of the squad's biggest boppers. The combined batting average of the Cubs' regular top four in the lineup, consisting of Ian Happ, Michael Busch, Alex Bregman, and Crow-Armstrong, is just .194 ten games into the season. One could both hope for and count on that alarming figure ticking up in the near future. And Crow-Armstrong's inevitable breakout will likely be the catalyst that changes everything. Crow-Armstrong fits the identity and tenor of this team and city because he never wants to fall short. His talent is matched by his intensity, and it often manifests in the pure emotion he spills out onto the field. Recently, in a win against the Angels, Ian Happ and Alex Bregman sent back-to-back homers into the iconic Wrigley bleachers. Then, it was Crow-Armstrong's turn. He yearned so badly to make it three in a row that he nearly swung out of his cleats at the first pitch he saw. No, he didn't go yard, but the intent with which he plays, and his love for the team and the city from which they hail, make him the most important player in Cubby pinstripes. Since the 2021 exodus of Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, and Javier Baez, the Chicago Cubs have felt more like a collection of players, rather than a cohesive core team with one collective mission, until now. When Cody Bellinger was a Cub, the city desperately wanted to ignite a love affair with the enigmatic power lefty. The only trouble was, he didn't reciprocate that desire. Bellinger's time in Wrigleyville was spent with one eye on his bank account and the other on the next best thing. It never really felt like he was the leader of the next wave of Chicago legends. With his endearing personality, famous approachability, and competitive edge, Crow-Armstrong couldn't be farther from Bellinger's archetype. Along with his fellow extended teammate, Nico Hoerner, Crow-Armstrong embraces the role of being a Chicagoan, and in reality, lives a lifestyle that citizens from all corners of Cook County would pine for. Without overstepping my bounds here, Crow-Armstrong and Hoerner have at least the blueprint to become the best offensive tandem at Wrigley since "Bryzzo". Debate that idea all you want, but the top brass wanted Crow-Armstrong here for a reason. Perhaps, the crux of that reason is that Jed Hoyer, Carter Hawkins, and the rest of the front office in Chicago knew that he was the face of this squad's new core. This team, as it stands, possesses the foundation to make a run at the World Series. If that dream should be realized, Crow-Armstrong will lead them to that end. View full article

Image courtesy of © David Richard-Imagn Images The first full week of the season started on such a hopeful note. Cubs fans got their first look at Edward Cabrera in blue pinstripes, and he did not disappoint. Using a nasty mix of stuff, Cabrera danced through six innings of one-hit ball and struck out five. The offense produced when it was necessary, including a home run from Ian Happ and RBI knocks from Dansby Swanson and Carson Kelly. It was more than enough to keep a distance between them and the visiting Angels in the opener of their three-game series. Alas: it was practically all downhill from there. Tuesday night's contest highlighted the home side's early offensive struggles. Jameson Taillon kept the Angels off the board in his 4 2/3 innings of work, but the Cubs only mustered four total hits on a cold night, facing the hot heat of José Soriano. No major-league team—even one in the upper echelon—is immune to a slow start. The expectations for this Chicago Cubs team were so high going into the season, however, that the frustrations associated with the club's collective slump were magnified. Hoping to regroup from a sluggish Opening Day start, veteran Matthew Boyd took the hill for the rubber match of the final game of the Cubs' season-opening homestand. Boyd looked much sharper in his second outing of the year, going nearly six innings and racking up 10 strikeouts. On the opposite side of the ledger, the North Siders plated six runs on 10 hits, offering a small preview of what their offense could look like when things are clicking. A fabulous day of pitching secured the club's first series win of the 2026 campaign. In a year celebrating the 10th anniversary of the team's World Series championship, the Cubs next returned to the place where it all went down: Cleveland, Ohio. The faces, fortunes, and even one of the team's names are quite different than what they were then, but the series still felt important. For one thing, it was Cleveland's home opener, so the set kicked off with some pageantry. For another, the Cubs needed to find some rhythm, and narratively, Cleveland felt like the right place to do it. Game one pitted staff ace Cade Horton of the Cubs against the Guardians' Joey Cantillo. The game glided uneventfully into the bottom of the second inning; that's when disaster struck. Horton saw his velocity sag, then left the game with forearm discomfort. He was immediately placed on the 15-day injured list, and now, it's breath-holding time until a full diagnosis of the issue is revealed. Colin Rea did yeoman's work in Horton's stead, but the Cubs dropped the game due a bullpen blowup. A Midwestern squall Saturday set up a true doubleheader at Progressive Field on Easter Sunday. Swapping the order of starters from the first turn of the rotation, the Cubs trotted out the electric Cabrera for the first contest. In almost 12 innings pitched as a Cub, Cabrera has surrendered just two hits and no runs, after shutting out Cleveland for 5 2/3 frames Sunday. The movement on his breaking pitches is devastating, and the energy he's brought in the early going is infectious. His performance led the team to a 1-0 win. The second game offered the North Siders the chance to raise their record above the .500 mark for the first time this season. It was an opportunity squandered. Shota Imanaga took the bump, and fared nicely in the face of mounting concerns over his penchant for surrendering the long ball. The Pitching Philosopher pitched five relatively strong innings and was charged with one earned run. To a degree, the Cubs' bats came to life, with home runs from Matt Shaw, Dansby Swanson, and Ian Happ. Their 3-0 lead held up until another lackluster appearance from Ben Brown, and another late collapse, this time by second-tier reliever Jacob Webb. Some of the club's regular boppers made it interesting late, bringing Carson Kelly to the dish down one with two runners in scoring position. A strikeout ended the game, though, giving Cleveland the series win as the Cubs head to St. Petersburg for their date with the Rays. Through the first week or so, the Cubs have shown glimpses of their upside, but they're in some immediate trouble. Injuries aside, this is far from a complete team. Chicago starts this week 4-5, looking up at all of their division rivals. The season isn't out of control just yet, but if you enter the season hoping to topple a team with three straight division titles in the bag, spotting them a three-game lead (while losing your ace, be it for a short time or a long one) is a poor way to go about it. It was a bad week; the Cubs need this to be a good one. The stakes might be highest off the field, though, as they await news on Horton. View full article

Image courtesy of © Matt Marton-Imagn Images As scores of revelers lined the streets of Wrigleyville in celebration of the arrival of another highly anticipated Chicago Cubs Opening Day, members of the team showed up at the player arrival entry on Waveland Avenue, prepared to go to work. Now, you're right to point out that even the most beloved individuals on this squad, such as Ian Happ and Pete Crow-Armstrong, don't technically "go to work"; they play a game. But, if the club is to reach some of its loftier goals for the year, they're going to have to treat the game like the most important job they've ever had. This squad, when healthy, aims to be one of the most fearsome in the majors. Notably, they are not healthy at the moment; though he'll be starting his rehab assignment soon, slugging outfielder Seiya Suzuki is still nursing his knee injury suffered in the World Baseball Classic. With the type of depth this club has, one would think that'd be enough to thwart Blake Butera's Nationals squad, especially with 2025 All-Star Matthew Boyd toeing the rubber, but it was not. The North Siders scattered eight hits and scraped only four runs across the plate. The Nats used a six-run fourth inning to take control of a contest that featured all kinds of hard contact. Cade Horton, one of the top-three leading vote getters in the 2025 Rookie of the Year race, looked the part of a Cy Young in his first start of the campaign against Washington. Horton heard deafening cheers through the first few innings, using an electric mix of his four-seam fastball and changeup to keep Nats hitters off balance. He surrendered just four hits in his 6.1 innings of work. While Horton impressed, the Cubs' offense came to life, once again jumping all over starter Miles Mikolas. Crow-Armstrong and Nico Hoerner combined for three stolen bases, and the action was punctuated by homers from Ian Happ and Miguel Amaya, who continues his surprising ascent from last season. In the series' finales versus Washington, the Chicago Cubs collected four total hits, two of which were Alex Bregman's first and second home runs in the home pinstripes. Stop me if you've heard this one before, but after striking out the first two batters of the ball game, starter Shota Imanaga couldn't get out of the first inning, giving up a three-run blast to known Cub killer Joey Wiemer. Given both what Imanaga once was and due to the nature of his contract for this year, which will earn him $20 million, the North Siders must figure out a way to get Imanaga back to something resembling All-Star form. Up next, Craig Counsell's squad welcomes another mid-tier club, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, into the Friendly Confines for a three-game set. All eyes will be on the opening contest of this series as it will feature Edward Cabrera's first start in a Cub uniform. He has the opportunity to not only use his introduction as a means of proving the front office right for signing him, but most importantly, get his squad a tally in the win column. View full article

Image courtesy of © Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images The promise of Opening Day at Wrigley Field holds an air of romance that few other spring rituals can. The North Siders are back in Chicago, ready to do battle this Thursday with the Washington Nationals. As camp broke in Arizona, Craig Counsell's crew continued to set its Opening Day roster, with Moisés Ballesteros, Michael Conforto and Ben Brown getting good news. Despite the decidedly deflating absence of the right fielder Seiya Suzuki at the outset of the season, the Cubs still feature an envious lineup, with Michael Busch, Alex Bregman, and Pete Crow-Armstrong joining Ballesteros, Ian Happ and Nico Hoerner in anchoring the batting order. Suzuki's absence will put some pressure on the remaining regulars, but it also creates early opportunities for Conforto and Matt Shaw to have an impact. Over the next day or two, we'll find out which two players will round out the bench, with Dylan Carlson and Kevin Alcántara seemingly having the inside track—barring a late trade. Matthew Boyd is set to take the bump for the squad's opener against the Nationals. After that, an expected starting rotation of Cade Horton, Shota Imanaga, Edward Cabrera, and Jameson Taillon will toe the rubber for Chicago to begin the season. Cabrera, in particular, brings much-needed swing-and-miss to this rotation, and that trend has held up through spring camp. The pieces for success are certainly in place for this rotation. They will depend largely on sustaining health and keeping the return of lefty Justin Steele on schedule to bolster an incredibly deep starting pitching corps. Because the hoped-for fivesome is intact so far, Javier Assad is heading for Iowa, while Ben Brown got the final spot in the bullpen. It's so close, now, you can smell it. The Cubs are on the hunt for their first full-season division title since 2017. The task is a tall one, but they have the wherewithal to complete it. All that's left is to play the games. View full article

Image courtesy of © Sam Navarro-Imagn Images It was all going so well. Before Venezuela ousted Samurai Japan Saturday night, Seiya Suzuki went 3-for-10 in the World Baseball Classic, with a homer and a double. He played center field, batted near the top of the order, and drew six walks, while striking out just once. Then, in a nightmarish turn for the Cubs, he seemed to twist or jam his knee as he went into a slide on a stolen-base attempt, and limped off the field in the first inning of Japan's eventual loss. Even as he returns to Arizona, the question looms: If he's out for an extended period, who will take his place as the team's regular right fielder? The most obvious candidate is Matt Shaw. Displaced from third base, Shaw has responded well to the challenge of playing the outfield this spring, and his stance and swing seem to have undergone another round of adjustments. His numbers last year weren't pretty, and he's certainly not the hitter Suzuki is, but as he works past some of the consequences of having been rushed to the majors, he might be ready to handle a bat-first everyday job. We don't yet know whether Suzuki will miss any time, though, and even if he does, it's most likely that some combination of Shaw, Michael Conforto, Chas McCormick, Dylan Carlson and/or Kevin Alcántara will fill the gap, rather than that any one of them will take all the playing time. With up to nine potential starting pitchers on the roster, few major-league teams have more pitching depth at the ready. One hurler whose role is still not quite clear, however, is Ben Brown. While the youngster continues developing a stronger arsenal (with greater dedication to his sinker and changeup than in the past), he's locked in on the mound in Mesa. He's posted a 3.38 ERA in 10 2/3 innings and has struck out 33.3% of the batters he's faced. He could be ticketed for a starting job in Iowa, or a bullpen job in Chicago—although he sounds like a man on a mission to earn a big-league rotation spot. There's nothing good about an injury to anyone on the roster, especially to one so instrumental to their success. Hopefully, Suzuki's balky knee calms down quickly. For now, though, the team's problems are in balance with its reasons for optimism. Setbacks are a part of the game, but the Cubs are well-equipped to handle them. View full article

Image courtesy of © Troy Taormina-Imagn Images The Cubs delegation to the World Baseball Classic has represented the team admirably. Pool play eliminated Novena México, but that was no fault of Javier Assad, who pitched eight solid innings for them. Meanwhile, Daniel Palencia, Alex Bregman and Matthew Boyd went along for the ride as Team Venezuela and Team USA advanced—and Pete Crow-Armstrong did something more akin to dragging the United States through to the quarterfinals, going 3-for-10 with two walks, two home runs and a double. Though the U.S. squad was almost ousted, it was Crow-Armstrong's two homers that enlivened the team late in their lone loss of the round, to Team Italy. Because of his heroics, they were safe from elimination by the midpoint of the next day's game between México and Italy. A sputtering second half last season had the baseball world wondering whether Crow-Armstrong could really sustain what he flashed in the first half of 2025. Those questions aren't answered, but he's been thoroughly impressive. For a short time, Jaxon Wiggins was the talk of Cubs camp back in Mesa. He was never going to start the season with the parent club, though, so it was no surprise when he, Justin Dean, Luke Little and Ryan Rolison were optioned to the minors (or, in Wiggins's case, simply returned to minor-league camp). Those moves did begin to tighten the scope of battles for the team's final roster spots, and those four players can now turn their attention to being ready when an opportunity arises for them later this year. Despite a shaky appearance in the World Baseball Classic, Matthew Boyd earned Counsell's nod as the starting pitcher when the Cubs begin their season on Mar. 26, against the Nationals. Opting for the coveted Opening Day start, Boyd turned down an extended run into the WBC and has returned to Arizona. In a deep rotation with a couple of more electric arms, Boyd nonetheless won Counsell's trust, thanks to his steady performance last season. Cubs camp hasn't been especially buzzy this spring, because the team feels mature, and complete. As the regular season draws near, though, it's getting easier to feel the excitement. Once the games count, the talent of this team will begin to spur more energy—and more anxiety. View full article

Image courtesy of © Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images While the progress continues for the Chicago Cubs at their Arizona home, the much-anticipated World Baseball Classic is off and running in Tokyo, Japan. Last season, a different-look Cubs squad commenced their regular season in the same venue opposite the vaunted Los Angeles Dodgers. The Tokyo Dome is playing host to some of the game's best, including standouts from your North Side ball club. Fans of this baseball team want a lot out of its stars, especially newbie Alex Bregman, and de facto squad leader Pete Crow-Armstrong. Both have been electric so far in the international tournament. During two recent exhibition tilts versus big league clubs, Bregman drilled two no-doubt home runs, igniting the hopes of Red Line riders across the city of Chicago. Elsewhere, Crow-Armstrong looks as good as ever, both at the plate and patrolling center field for the American squad in the WBC. To this point, Crow-Armstrong looks like he's in mid-season form. In terms of rumors surrounding the franchise, it's hard to ignore what's going on in left field. Veteran Ian Happ is synonymous with the Chicago Cubs franchise. A true lifer in this organization, Happ is a tremendous ambassador for the city, but as he volunteered, his time in the blue pinstripes may soon be drawing to an end. "It’s been a true honor for me to represent this great city, organization, and fan base," Happ said. "The reality of this is, you can’t control if the team wants you back. It's totally plausible another chapter elsewhere awaits me." During his nine years with the North Siders, Happ famously stipulated a no-trade clause on his contract, but with a crowded list of prospects ready for opportunities in left field, it appears Chicago is ready to move on from the Gold Glover, now that he's on the wrong side of 30. Of the myriad pleasant surprises from the Cubbies' 2025 campaign, the arrival of Moises Ballesteros was arguably the most pleasing. With a .394 OBP, "Mo Baller" came through in key situations during his club's playoff push. As an encore, Ballesteros, 22, looks to deliver more behind the plate and "prove people wrong," as to the extent of his capabilities. Soon, music will blare from the rooftops up and down Sheffield Avenue and the surrounding areas near the Cubs' home of Wrigley Field. There are no awards handed out for who can practice the best, but the improvements and implications of the North Siders' performances this spring prove that many coveted accolades could come in time. View full article

Image courtesy of © Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images Stop me if you've heard this one before, but the Chicago Cubs are once again battling the injury bug. Earlier this week, news broke from the club's spring training home in Mesa, Arizona, that the squad's newly acquired backup first baseman, Tyler Austin, suffered an injury to his knee. The injury will require the veteran to undergo surgery, and forecasts have him set for a return no earlier than late May. With this setback, the Cubs encountered their first real speed bump on the road to what they hope is a division title and a long playoff run. Depth at first is quite sparse for the North Siders at the moment, and as such, the club is getting looks at several options, including catchers Christian Bethancourt and Miguel Amaya. Bethancourt last spent time with the squad in 2024, when he held his own as a bench option at catcher with a .301 OBP. Changes to his swing mechanics seemingly changed what Amaya can bring to this ball club. Before injury curtailed his 2025 season, Amaya had 27 hits in 96 at-bats and an OPS+ of 131. He's quietly becoming a fan favorite, and his abilities at the plate and his potential to fill in at first base could help his club make noise—if he, himself, can stay on the field better this season. Rather than counting on Bethancourt or Amaya at first, though, Chicago will leave no stone unturned at forming a contingency plan for every position on the diamond. Certainly, bringing on former Dodger Michael Conforto on a minor-league deal is evidence of this. It should make one feel a stronger sense of security in the team's outlook; they've tried to create the depth needed to survive this kind of injury. There are times when it feels as though sports fans in the modern age get more enjoyment from overreacting than from the actual play on the field. This is no time for overreactions. At a minimum, the actions of the franchise this past offseason have demonstrated that when they break camp in late March, each individual who makes the final cut will be ready. Austin's loss poses some challenges, but Counsell is one of the highest-paid managers ever for a reason, and the team has enough fallback plans to survive without one piece of their would-be bench corps. View full article

Image courtesy of © Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images When Craig Counsell's squad lost Justin Steele to elbow surgery last April, the North Siders found ways to get by. The ascensions of veteran Matthew Boyd and then rookie Cade Horton to All-Star/Cy Young-caliber levels rescued the team's season. While Steele was forced to spend much of the season rehabbing and won't even return to the mound right away this spring, his club collected a cathartic playoff berth and a run that cracked open a new World Series window. The team's hurlers stepped up in a way that decreased the urgency for the return of their All-Star lefty. Like a Chicagoan who gets acclimated to keeping an extra pair of gloves around in the winter, the club built out pitching depth this winter, knowing they might not get Steele back until midsummer. But with his progress remaining ahead of schedule even into spring training, Steele looks poised to deliver key upside and better volume than previously hoped. In case you forgot, here's a refresher on what a Cubs rotation with Steele might look like. The North Siders' 30-year-old lefty has 517 career strikeouts, but over half of those came during the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Though he lacks the deep arsenal and the overpowering velocity of most frontline starters, his hard, cutting heater and endlessly manipulable slider proved good enough to put him in that echelon. In 2023, he put it all together, achieving his most impressive results with a record of 16-5 and an ERA of just 3.07. Had his club not sputtered down the stretch that year, those numbers would have looked even better. Fast-forwarding to the quickly approaching 2026 season, Steele could re-enter a rotation that, with the addition of Edward Cabrera, creates more swing-and-miss than they've generated in years. Steele's pinpoint accuracy would richly supplement the formula this pitching staff has in place. Chicago is a club that thrives on veteran leadership from stars like Ian Happ, Dansby Swanson, and Jameson Taillon. The wise-beyond-his-years Steele brings an additional intangible layer of fire and morale to the clubhouse the moment he walks in the building. Beyond that, however, his return reduces the urgency for his teammates to deal on the mound, just as the depth of this staff should take some pressure off of Steele's shoulders once he returns. Opening Day at Wrigley is just under four weeks away, which has excitement for baseball on the North Side reaching its crescendo. In the past several weeks and months, we here at North Side Baseball have laid out a plethora of reasons to justify your excitement. But the return of Steele brings about something more than excitement; it brings comfort. Not only is he one of our own, but he's a catalyst in the engine that makes this squad run. Once he starts to toe the rubber once more, the Cubs will really be firing on all cylinders. View full article

Image courtesy of © Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images Seeing as the 2026 World Series will mark the 10-year anniversary of that championship, I don't feel it is a stretch to say that most of us would love to skip ahead to March 26 when the 150th version of this squad hosts the Washington Nationals on Opening Day. Lest one of you fine readers be Marty McFly, we are required to wait it out here in the present, but this past week alone, the club gave its faithful a lot to be excited about. Now, while fans of the city's North Side ball club don't need to line up for their Ben Zobrist bobbleheads quite yet, they certainly are recognizing both the work and the tone being set down in Mesa, Arizona. Since the outset of spring training, no one has put in more work than the Cubs' new superstar third baseman Alex Bregman. On three separate occasions recently, the veteran slugger sent cascading long flies into the dry Arizona skies during live batting practice. It was Bregman's signing in mid-January that created the most positive buzz around this club, and he's currently displaying that buzz was for good reason. He's settling in nicely and buying into the team culture as hoped. It's great to have him in the Cubs' pinstripes. This squad's pitching staff is heralded as being one of the most formidable in baseball, and a key piece of that staff, newly-acquired starter Edward Cabrera, gave his new team their first taste of what to expect from the young hurler. Cabrera established a rhythm and chemistry with catchers Carson Kelly and Miguel Amaya, looking to come back strong from an injury that sidelined him in the midst of a promising 2025 season. What this squad accomplishes on the mound this year will directly inform how much success they do, in fact, attain. Off the practice fields, all eyes were on team Chairman Tom Ricketts this past week, as he spoke candidly with the media on expectations for this specific club and the franchise as a whole. It turns out, he also wants to see some success, as Ricketts expressed an explicit desire to win the division, and ultimately, yes, the World Series. His candor wasn't necessarily a heel turn; he wants to win, but he received some praise for saying the quiet part out loud in his comments. Depending on when you've clicked on this article, the Cubbies have already gotten their spring training slate underway against their Crosstown rival, the Chicago White Sox. Toeing the rubber for the North Siders in their spring opener is the underrated Jameson Taillon. The versatile righty is set to get his first meaningful reps of the year against Chicago's Southside team. Taillon went 11-7 with a 3.68 ERA in 2025. Completely letting yourself bask in a good Cubs team can be a big ask, but at this point, the club has provided plenty of convincing evidence as to why it's ok to catch a good vibe, at least for now. View full article