The Chicago Cubs passed their first series of tests Sunday, ending the most treacherous part of their 2025 schedule.
They survived Japan and jet lag, rain delays and cold waves. They survived Shohei Ohtani, the National League West, and Justin Steele’s season-ending elbow injury. Oh, and they won a game despite a 10-run inning by the Arizona Diamondbacks, and the season series against that team despite Eugenio Suárez’s five home runs in 24 at-bats off Cubs pitching, which was one more than he hit Saturday against the Atlanta Braves, becoming the 19th player to hit four home runs in one major-league game.
After Sunday’s 3-1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies in 10 innings, the Cubs can relax on Monday before it’s on to the next phase — divisional play.
No matter how they felt about the Cubs going into the season, Cubs fans have reason to feel optimistic after what they’ve seen in the first 29 games.
“Resilience-building” is a term manager Craig Counsell likes to use, and it aptly describes the opening month obstacle course the Cubs overcame before starting their first stretch of NL Central games Tuesday with three-game series in Pittsburgh and Milwaukee.
They’ve hit and run, and they’ve run and hit. The Kyle Tucker Effect on the lineup has been glaring, helping the Cubs to top the major league in runs. And for the first time in most of our lifetimes, the Cubs could actually lead the league in stolen bases. Pete Crow-Armstrong was tied for the major-league lead Sunday with 12 steals, and could break the 122-year-old franchise set in 1903 by Frank Chance, who swiped 67 bases. The last Cub to steal as many as 50 bases was Juan Pierre, who finished with 58 in 2006. According to team historian Ed Hartig, the last time the Cubs led the NL in steals was in 1939 with 61, while they haven’t led the majors in steals since 1894 with 332.
How the Cubs have done it has also opened eyes. They’ve done it in comeback fashion, including the wild, 13-11 win over Arizona that will go down in Cubs history, and the 11-10 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers three games later.
They’ve won when their bullpen has let them down, forcing them to make those aforementioned comebacks. They’ve won with base-running smarts, beating out throws to second on potential fielder’s choice grounders to key rallies. They’ve won in spite of some standout performances like those of Suárez or the Dodgers’ Tommy Edman, who hit home runs off the Cubs in three different stadiums — the Tokyo Dome, Dodger Stadium and Wrigley Field.
For what it’s worth, they’ve also won with a goose nesting in the Wrigley bleachers during the opening series against the San Diego Padres and continued to win in the post-goose days. PETA’s thank you letter to president Jed Hoyer for the ethical treatment of the goose was just another feather in Hoyer’s cap this season, along with acquiring Tucker and signing catcher Carson Kelly.
The Cubs still figure to be a work-in-progress for the immediate future as Hoyer and Counsell deal with issues like Ben Brown’s inconsistency, the bullpen’s high-leverage ups and downs, the third base conundrum and whatever injury issues will crop up unexpectedly, as they tend to do.
Hoyer already has shown a renewed sense of urgency, demoting Matt Shaw, Nate Pearson, Luke Little and Jordan Wicks to Iowa, and dealing Rule 5 draft pick Gage Workman to the White Sox. The Cubs on Sunday sent down reliever Ethan Roberts and called up left-hander Tom Cosgrove to give the bullpen three lefties.
It’s going to be a whirlwind of roster moves, and players already are on notice. Counsell was blunt Saturday when addressing Brown’s 3 2/3 innings outing against the Phillies in a 10-4 loss.
“We need better, frankly,” Counsell said, frankly speaking.
That Obvious T-shirt-ready statement easily could’ve applied to all the other moves the Cubs have made.
Performance matters.
That should seem like a given in professional sports, but contracts, a player’s stature and likeability often give executives pause when making roster decisions based on small sample sizes. Trey Mancini and Eric Hosmer were given time to come out of slumps before being dumped.
The old adage that looked to Memorial Day — basically the two-month mark — as a perfect time to assess the roster, get rid of what’s not working and promote top prospects now seems antiquated. Any time is a good time to either upgrade or simply cut your losses, with three wild-card spots leaving more teams in contention by September.
Minor-league starters no longer need to be stretched out six or more innings, since they probably won’t be required to pitch more than five when they get called up. And teams don’t have to wait until the middle of the year. The Pirates promoted Paul Skenes to make his debut against the Cubs on May 11, 2024. Skenes, who is on schedule to face the Cubs on Thursday at PNC Park, dominated major-league hitters from that day on, and is 14-5 with a 2.06 ERA and 209 strikeouts in 29 starts.
The Cubs’ best Triple-A starter, 23-year-old Cade Horton, might not be in Skenes’ category. Who is? But Horton has looked like the pitcher the Cubs thought he’d be when they made him the No. 7 pick of the 2022 draft, and fans are already counting down to his arrival.
The Cubs point to Horton missing most of 2024 with a shoulder injury, and are taking it slowly. He’s pitched only 17 innings with a 1.06 ERA in four starts, averaging 12.2 strikeouts per nine innings and limiting opposing hitters to a .130 average.
Maybe the Cubs can wait until mid-summer for Horton’s call-up. Counsell seems to want to give Brown the benefit of the doubt for now.
But the first month of games has flown by, and things can change at a moment’s notice. It’s not a team you can take your eyes off without the risk of missing something. And that’s something Cubs fans have been waiting for since 2021.