Just a month ago, the Cubs looked like one of the better teams in baseball. They were 26-21, sitting in second place in the NL Central, and only two games behind the Brewers for first. They also were in the second wild card spot in the National League. Sure, some of the expected stats suggested the team was overachieving. However if they could just stay where they were, they could fix the issues they had at the deadline.
Unfortunately for the North Siders, things haven’t gone the way they wanted. Over the past month, the Cubs have gone 8-18, one of the worst records in the league. They have also plummeted down the standings, finding themselves in last place in the NL Central. They’re also two games out of a Wild Card spot, but have six teams ahead of them. So what has caused the Cubs to collapse like this?
Reasons for the Cubs Struggles
There are two big issues with this Cubs team. The first one has been the offense going completely cold. One of the more glaring stats changes over the past month has been in run differential. Back on May 18, they had a run differential of +9. Not great, but it was still positive. Fast forward to today, and it’s -18. This means the Cubs have been outscored by 27 runs over the past month. Now sure, the offense isn’t all to blame for this, but they aren’t without blame. The Cubs as a team have a .644 OPS in the past month, the fifth lowest in all of baseball. They also rank 5th worst in runs scored during that span as well.
The second main problem this Cubs team has is their bullpen. While the Cubs starters have been decent all season, the bullpen has been one of the worst in all of baseball. The bullpen has blown a National League-high 16 games this season. Only the historically bad White Sox have more this season in MLB. If there is one person who has been the face of this Cubs struggle, it’s been Hector Neris. He has a 4.73 ERA over 26.2 innings, with 24 strikeouts to 20 walks, and a WHIP of 1.65. Over his last three outings, the righty has allowed eight runs and has blown two saves.
Can They Get Back On Track?
So, even though the Cubs had one of the worst stretches over the past month, can they turn it around? After all, baseball is a marathon, not a sprint. There are highs and lows, cold streaks and hot streaks. Every baseball team will go through some sort of struggle. Maybe not to the same extent as the Cubs did, but plenty of teams have had brutal losing streaks and still have successful seasons.
However, as mentioned earlier in the article, there were signs that this team was overachieving. If you were to look at the expected record a month ago, it was 24-23. This means the Cubs had won two more games than the stats said they should. Now this might not seem like a major difference, but it’s still a sign that the Cubs were getting lucky. This team has major flaws that can’t be fixed with one deadline. The smart move would be to serve as soft sellers at the deadline, and look for 2025 as the year to compete.
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