The Chicago Cubs have been waiting for a more relaxing stretch of the schedule, a chance to beat up on the rebuilds after playing a steady diet of contenders over the first quarter of the season.
That time finally has arrived, and now it’s up to the Cubs to take advantage of it.
Monday’s 5-2 win over the Miami Marlins was a good way to start. Dansby Swanson and Seiya Suzuki hit two-run home runs in a five-run fifth, and Colin Rea pitched into the seventh on a cool, crisp night at Wrigley Field.
This was the start of a 21-game stretch the Cubs should dominate, even with Justin Steele out for the season and Shota Imanaga’s return from a hamstring strain unknown. They’ve already played eight series against the five best teams in the National League — the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies — and held their own for the most part.
But the St. Louis Cardinals suddenly have begun to show signs of life, creeping within a game of the Cubs, who haven’t had a prolonged hot streak yet.
Swanson, who has lifted his average from .181 to .248 the last couple of weeks, appears to have reverted to his default setting. He helped lift the offense Monday before a crowd of 32,271 and credited his streak to the Red Bull drink that Nicky Lopez started giving him.
“It’s literally one small sip from Nicky,” he said. “That’s the key, I’m telling you.”
As Swanson was speaking, he glanced up at the clubhouse TV.
“There’s a Red Bull commercial on right now, by the way,” he said in another unpaid endorsement.
The Cubs were mostly happy to escape New York, where they could’ve emerged with a series win Sunday only to see the bullpen falter in a 6-2 loss to the Mets.
This upcoming stretch of softer-than-softies started with the Marlins, who have the worst pitching in the NL and are in another in an unending series of rebuilds. The Cubs also will miss Miami’s best starter, Sandy Alcantara, who very well could wind up in a Cubs uniform at the trade deadline if President Jed Hoyer can come up with the right package of prospects.
Next up is the White Sox. Nothing more needs to be said.
It’s always an intense series between Chicago’s two major-league teams, and after the Sox organization trolled the Cubs last weekend over the Cubs’ premature ownership of Pope Leo XIV’s fandom, nothing less than a sweep of the American League’s worst team would suffice for Cubs fans.
Of course, you can throw away the records whenever these teams meet and the pope is involved. Cubs manager Craig Counsell is 4-0 against the Sox since coming to Chicago and would like to keep his perfect record intact.
Then it’s down to Miami, where the Cubs return to the scene of Pete Crow-Armstrong’s inside-the-park home run last August. The Marlins are 4-13 over their last 17 games and just lost two of three to the Sox during their weeklong residency in Chicago. It’s not a franchise on the rise, but at least they conned their city and state into building them a new stadium no one goes to.
After the Marlins, the Cubs travel to Cincinnati for their first series against the Reds, whom some experts picked to win the NL Central because of new manager Terry Francona. But they’re the same old Reds so far, and not even Francona’s genius can change that.
The Cubs return home after Cincy to face the Colorado Rockies, who look ready to smash the 2024 White Sox’s record for most losses in a season. The Rockies not only are the worst team in the majors, they might be worse than most Triple-A teams.
Unlike the 1962 Mets, all of the ‘24 Sox players are still alive, so recollections of that record-breaking season will be easy to find come September when the Rockies go for loss No. 122,
The Reds make their first trip to Wrigley after the Rockies, and then the Cubs are off to Washington for a three-game series with the Nationals, yet another rebuilding team. At least the Nats seem close to being competitive, so they figure to be the toughest of the softies.
The long, casual walk on the sandy beach ends for the Cubs on June 6, when they travel to Detroit to face the Tigers, a real team that successfully executed its rebuild and could be a pennant contender.
Of course, it’s baseball and anything can happen.
The Cubs will remind us these are all major-league teams they’re playing, as every team is obligated to say when playing teams it should beat. Rest assured the Cubs know this is their opportunity to cash in and separate themselves from the Cardinals.
Coming off back-to-back series losses to the Giants and Mets, the Cubs were locked in a scoreless game with the Marlins in the fifth before Swanson’s two-run homer off Cal Quantrill opened the gates.
An RBI triple by Kyle Tucker and Suzuki’s two-run blast, his 10th of the season, were more than enough to subdue Miami — even with left fielder and leadoff man Ian Happ missing his third straight game with an oblique injury and reportedly headed to the injured list. Catcher/DH Moisés Ballesteros will be called up from Triple-A Iowa according to the WSCR-AM 670 report.
Rea carried a shutout into the seventh before being removed after a two-out, two-run home run by Derek Hill.
“It doesn’t feel flashy, it doesn’t feel overpowering, but it’s good,” Counsell said of Rea.
The same could be said of the Cubs, who’ve been just good enough so far.
But there’s another level they can get to, and this is their opportunity to take the next step.
