Bullet point summary by AI
- The Chicago Cubs have fallen into a six-game losing streak, dropping them to third in the competitive NL Central.
- Four key players have consistently underperformed, aligning with the team’s recent struggles and jeopardizing their division hopes.
- The next step hinges on whether these players can rebound quickly enough to turn the season around before the Brewers pull away.
The Chicago Cubs have had a pair of 10-game winning streaks before Memorial Day, yet they enter Saturday’s action with a 29-22 record, good for third place in the NL Central, 2.5 games back of the first-place Brewers. Some of that misfortune stems from the Cubs being stuck in the NL Central, the most competitive division in the league thus far, and some of it also has to do with remarkably inconsistent play.
The Cubs are currently on a six-game losing streak after dropping Friday’s series opener to the lowly Houston Astros, and while injuries haven’t helped their cause, neither have these four players of late.
RHP Jameson Taillon
Jameson Taillon has been a rock in the middle of Chicago’s rotation for much of his tenure with the team, but he’s been anything but reliable this season, as his 5.20 ERA in 10 starts would indicate. In fact, he’s only becoming more and more unreliable every time he takes the ball.
The right-hander allowed four runs in 4.2 innings in Friday’s loss, and that was after he allowed eight runs in five innings thanks to five (!) home runs his previous time out. Home runs remain a major issue for Taillon, as he’s surrendered a MLB-leading 17 long balls this season. For reference, he allowed 24 home runs in 129.2 innings last season. He’s just seven shy of tying that mark despite having thrown only 55.2 innings this season.
The Cubs don’t really have a choice but to start Taillon every fifth day and hope for the best right now, but once they get healthier, it’ll be hard to justify using him out of their rotation.
OF Seiya Suzuki
Seiya Suzuki’s overall numbers are around where you’d expect. His .802 OPS is right on par with his career .817 mark, and his seven home runs thus far have him on pace to hit around 22 home runs, which, again, is right around where you’d expect him to end up. The problem, though, is that Suzuki’s numbers are merely average by his standards, even though he ended April with a .998 OPS.
Suzuki has slashed .197/.293/.324 with two home runs and nine RBI in May, and he’s gone just 5-for-24 with no extra-base hits and seven strikeouts during this six-game losing streak. Not only has Suzuki been struggling at the same time as virtually everyone else, but he’s been coming up incredibly small when it matters most.
Suzuki has gone 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position in this stretch, and he’s slashed .130/.226/.217 overall in such situations this season. Suzuki is expected to be a major run producer for this team, and his inability to produce in clutch moments has held the Cubs back.
LHP Shota Imanaga
With Matthew Boyd, Cade Horton and Justin Steele all sidelined, Shota Imanaga is the pitcher the Cubs have needed to step up and lead the way. To his credit, he’s done that for the most part, as his 3.38 ERA in 10 starts would indicate. His start during this skid, though, couldn’t have gone much worse.
Facing a Brewers team that the Cubs are in a race with in the NL Central, Imanaga was simply uncompetitive. He allowed eight runs (all earned) on nine hits in just 4.1 innings, giving up a pair of home runs as well. The Cubs’ best offensive showing in their last four games came in that Imanaga start, yet he was so uncompetitive that the final score wasn’t even close.
There’s only so much Imanaga can do as a starting pitcher when he only pitches once every five days, but given the guys who are out, the Cubs need him to give them a chance every time he takes the mound. The fact of the matter is, he did not do that his last time out.
OF Ian Happ
As Ian Happ goes, the Cubs go. In Cubs wins, Happ is slashing .275/.413/.569 with eight home runs and 17 RBI this season. In Cubs losses, he is slashing .138/.266/.250 with two home runs and three RBI. His OPS in wins (.981) is almost 500 points higher than his mark in losses (.516), a very extreme difference. Given that, it should come as no surprise that Happ is mired in a brutal slump.
The outfielder finally recorded a hit yesterday, but he still has one hit in his last 24 at-bats with 14 strikeouts. Happ is always going to strike out a lot, but the Cubs’ clean-up hitter struggling to even hit a single and only drawing two walks during this six-game losing streak has really hurt the team.
When he’s right, Happ is one of the most well-rounded left fielders in the game. When he struggles like this, though, it’s hard for the Cubs to get anything going. They can only hope he breaks out of his funk sooner rather than later.
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