Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- Alex Bregman admitted his struggles in Chicago, acknowledging his poor performance with runners in scoring position this season.
- Jameson Taillon will head to the injured list after suffering a hamstring injury, further depleting the Cubs' already thin rotation.
- The Cubs dropped another series to the San Francisco Giants, scoring just seven runs across three games.
It wasn't a good weekend to be a Chicago Cubs fan. Chicago has gone a full month without a series victory, their starting rotation cannot remotely stay healthy, and even Alex Bregman is feeling the heat. The Cubs are the most consistently inconsistent team in baseball. They have multiple double-digit winning streaks, but are hanging on for dear life in an NL Central division where every team but the Reds are above the .500 water mark.
Whether it be Bregman's failure with runners in scoring position, Taillon's injury or another tough loss to the San Francisco Giants, no Cub minus maybe Pete Crow-Armstrong is carrying their weight.
Alex Bregman comments on frustrating first Cubs season
Bregman received boos for the first time since signing his $175 million deal with the Cubs this winter. Few believed that moment would come this soon, but in Bregman's first season starring at Wrigley Field, no player has left more runners on base than he has through June 7. The frustration is setting in for a player who isn't used to being in this position.
"I've been terrible," Bregman said. "I need to play better. Offensively, it's been awful. I've failed many times in this game. I've struggled. I've started slow before. I've started fast before. When you're struggling, there is only one way forward and that's straight, head-on through it. It comes down to executing in the game."
Whether Cubs fans love him or hate him, they are stuck with Bregman, who Hoyer signed to a five-year contract this winter. At 32 years old, Bregman has nowhere to go but down. He had an OPS of .821 last season with the Boston Red Sox, a fanbase that desperately wanted to keep him around this past offseason. Now, that number is down to .669 in Chicago. Go figure.
"I haven't executed all year," Bregman said. "Runners in scoring position, I've been god-awful. I need to be better. If I'm better over the last how many games, we probably win the majority of them."
Jameson Taillon's injury couldn't come at a worse time
As if a devastating loss to the Giants — which we'll get to — wasn't enough. The Cubs will also be without Jameson Taillon for at least a short IL stint. Taillon is set to undergo imaging on Monday to reveal just how much damage was done to his hamstring.
“Obviously it’ll be an IL stint,” Taillon said. “But hopefully we can keep the arm conditioned and moving around. I don’t think it’s surgical or anything like that. I’m getting an MRI tomorrow and we’ll know more then.”
Chicago's rotation is already missing Matthew Boyd, Justin Steele and Cade Horton. They've even been without Shota Imanaga at times this season. The starting pitchers who are healthy haven't quite been good enough, as none have an ERA south of four. A trade deadline addition is a must for the Cubs if they hope to make a deep playoff run, but at this point in the season, that sounds farfetched.
“You can do everything in your power to stay healthy, but sometimes all it takes is landing weird once,” Taillon said. “I’m proud of the work I do in between starts to make myself available and out there, but sometimes you just can’t avoid it.”
Taillon had a 5.13 ERA heading into Sunday's start against the Giants.
Another Cubs series loss to the San Francisco Giants
If the Cubs rotation has stumbled, their lineup has crumbled. Javier Assad, who was promoted from Triple-A earlier that weekend, provided some much-needed length out of the bullpen. But over the span of three games, the Cubs scored just seven runs. They were lucky to win on Saturday, 3-2, thanks to Crow-Armstrong's heroics.
The Cubs have tried it all. If Counsell's group is failing miserably at the plate, it is not due to a lack of effort on the managerial end. He benched Dansby Swanson just last weekend, who himself is hitting under the Mendoza line. Counsell and his staff are doing all they can to turn around a lineup that ought to be a strength, rather than a weakness. In the end, Bregman's commentary sums it up best.
“We looked at a lot of stuff before the game today, and worked on a lot of stuff before the game today. The work was the best it’s been all year. But none of that matters at all. I got to come through in the game when it matters," Bregman said.
The Cubs last series win came in a four-game sweep against the Reds, which ended on May 7. It doesn't get more embarrassing than that.
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