r/CHICubs

One week we’re hanging 23 runs and tying the franchise record with 8 home runs, then the next we’re struggling to scratch across 2-3 runs.
It feels like a lot of our lineup is built around players who can carry the offense for a week but also disappear for stretches.

A few examples:
Pete Crow-Armstrong: Electric season with power and speed, but he’s also among the team leaders in strikeouts. When he’s locked in, he looks like an MVP candidate. When he’s off, it’s a lot of swing-and-miss.
Ian Happ: Plenty of power and an above-average OPS, but he has long stretches where he seems invisible before suddenly catching fire again.
Seiya Suzuki: Can absolutely carry the offense for a series, then disappear for the next week.
Michael Busch: Another guy who seems to go on huge heaters before cooling off.
Dansby Swanson: Maybe the biggest example. He looked completely lost for a while, then suddenly hit 5 home runs in two games and 9 in a 13-game stretch.

The team seems to reflect that same volatility. During the 10-game losing streak, the Cubs hit .185/.288/.293 as a team and scored just 25 runs. Then, just a couple of weeks later, they exploded for 32 runs in two games, including the 23-run outburst.
Maybe that’s just modern baseball, but this Cubs team feels especially streaky. When multiple guys get hot at the same time, they look like the best offense in baseball. When those same hitters cool off together, the lineup can look completely lifeless.
Am I just noticing it more because I watch every game, or does this team feel more feast-or-famine than most contenders?

I see posts and comments on here every day bashing Bregman, the contract, Jed for signing Bregman, etc. I don’t see anything acknowledging what PCA has said about Bregman helping him this season. Am I not seeing those comments or something? What’s going on?

Justin Turner’s influence on PCA was well-documented here and in other media last year. The team itself acknowledged that Crow-Armstrong was benefitting from Turner’s leadership and guidance. Every time the cameras caught PCA pitching a fit in the dugout, Turner was right there in the same shot. The cameras would usually pan back to Justin obviously talking Pete down from a 15 to a 5 or so. The rest of the team seemed to enjoy having Turner and his enthusiasm around as well.

This year I’ve heard the TV crews, the radio crew, and PCA himself talk about Bregman’s role in the change we’ve seen in PCA’s offensive game. You can go to YouTube, type in “Pete Crow-Armstrong credits Alex Bregman,” and see a video Marquee posted yesterday of PCA talking about a conversation he had with Bregman about what to look for from a Braves pitcher when his hot streak started a month ago. There’s no doubt the two of them have connected on a personal level as well; I remember a Bregman interview during or shortly after spring training when he mentioned his son had been FaceTiming him just to talk to Pete. I rarely, if ever, see any comments or posts mentioning any of this. All I see is Bregman bashing.

Are we just not acknowledging here all of the good things Bregman has brought to the club that have led to an improved PCA? Is it different from Turner because of the cheap 1-year contract vs. the expensive 5-year contract? Do Bregman’s contributions not matter because of his Astros history, the expensive contract, and the fact that he’s offensively abysmal?

Contract: 5 years, $175 million

2026 Stats as of 7/5: BA 240, OPS 684, HR 7, RBI 31, SO 62, BB 47, WAR 2.2, LOB 187 (#2 in MLB, Happ is #1)

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Should he be in the HoF?

Of the 36 pitchers ahead of him in all time war, 27 are HoF, 3 not in because steroids, 4 still playing or not yet eligible and 2 played solely before 1900 when numbers are skewed compared to the modern game.

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not something like “because i’m from chicago.” something deep. my story’s a bit long but i wanted to share.

long story short, im from LA and grew up rooting for different teams. i couldn’t get myself to be a dodgers fan. the cubs were a team i always liked. always fekt an appreciation to the culture, the fanbase, the aura, and the franchise history. every year i picked an NL team to root for (mostly because my favorite team would finish in the lower end of the division every season). normally i would pick one team per season and switch to another one the next, but in 2024, when i picked the cubs, i remember they missed the playoffs but i decided to break my rule and run it back with the cubs for another one.

another thing was when i was younger (a couple years before i picked the cubs in 2024) i had this weird random dream where i hopped on a train and went to a baseball game in this comfy looking ballpark that was settled in a neighborhood. i remember walking to the stadium, through the concourse, taking my seat around left field. the dream ended with me looking at the stadium seats, the overhead lights, the field and so on. (hold on to this, it’s important)

anyways, i decided to run it back with the cubs in 2025. already i felt a weird connection to the cubs, remembering that i had a friend in high school who’s uncle pitched for the cubs, or how they did spring training in my university’s ballpark, so i was already considering making them my permanent second team. anyways i visited chicago and i got to finally go to wrigley for the first time (something i wanted to do in general as a baseball fan). my first trip to wrigley involved me taking the red line to addison, hopping off, walking to the ballpark, getting inside, and walking through the concourse. it all felt too familiar, but didn’t know why . my seat happened to be in left field. i found them and took it, with my view being stadium seats, the overhead lights, the field and everything else. i distinctly remembered this view being so familiar when it hit me, this is exactly bar for bar what i saw in my dream. and the last frame i saw before i woke up was exactly what i was witnessing in that moment. so yeah, after that, i realized the cubs are my team and not even my second team. still new to everything but honestly, i love it 💙🐻

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Be excellent to each other. Party on, dudes!