The Chicago Cubs' growing bullpen problem came to a historically embarrassing head against the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night.
Kyle Tucker's game-tying single with two outs in the ninth forced extra innings, just one more magical moment in a season that's been full of them so far. But that magic was short-lived thanks to closer Ryan Pressly: Called on to preserve a tie game in the top of the 11th inning, the righty instead gave up nine runs (eight earned) on five hits and a walk — all while failing to record a single out. He's just the 15th pitcher (and only the eighth reliever) in MLB history to face at least eight batters in game while failing to retire even one of them.
On the one hand, it's tempting to write this off as just one horrible, no-good, very bad night, the kind that every reliever is bound to have once in a while. After all, this was the first time Pressly had allowed a run since late March. But those top-line numbers have masked just how shaky the veteran has looked so far on the North Side. In reality, Tuesday's implosion was just the latest step on what's been a prolonged decline — one that had the Houston Astros eager to get rid of him in the first place.
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Cubs should have known that Ryan Pressly wasn't the bullpen fix they needed
Cubs GM Jed Hoyer knew that he needed to do something to address his team's bullpen over the offseason. And despite several big names changing hands via trade or free agency, he settled on Pressly, acquiring the 36-year-old in exchange for Minor Leaguer Juan Bello.
Pressly came with quite the resume, including two All-Star appearances and a World Series ring in 2022. But he also came with several red flags, ones that Astros fans who'd watched him over the last couple of years were all too aware of.
The righty used to be one of the league's premier strikeout artists, with a 12.1 K/9 from 2018-2022. Father Time is undefeated, however, and it started to come for Pressly: His fastball velocity has steadily declined since the start of 2023, and it's taken both his whiff and strikeout rates with it. Pressly's K rate was a healthy 35.9% in 2022, but dipped to 27.6 in 2023 and 23.8 last year. So far in 2025? 8.1%, in the first percentile of all pitchers in the Majors.
That's why the Astros had bumped him from the closer's role to begin with, and why they were very open to moving him over the winter. It's also why Cubs fans shouldn't have been fooled by his superficially strong start: Pressly was keeping runs off the scoreboard, but he was walking everyone while failing to miss much of any bats. He looks for all the world like a once-elite pitcher who has finally bottomed out as he reaches the end of his big-league career, and in that context, Tuesday night feels more like a harbinger than an anomaly.
Chicago was depending on Pressly to be the back-end option that stabilized things for Craig Counsell. Instead, the team ranks 25th in baseball in reliever ERA, and it's not clear what other options they have to stop the bleeding. Meanwhile, that faint sound you hear is Astros fans nodding their heads in unison.