Paul Sullivan: Despite lackluster 4-0 loss to Reds, Cubs should be satisfied with their first half
· Yahoo Sports
CINCINNATI — Who are the real Chicago Cubs?
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We’re still asking ourselves that question nearly four months into the 2026 season.
The Cubs entered the final series before the All-Star break on pace for 91 wins, just a notch below their 92-win season in 2025. It has been a bumpy ride for sure, with a couple of prolonged stretches of dominance and an entire month in which nothing seemed to go right.
It seems as if they’re heading in the right direction as they began a series against the Cincinnati Reds on Friday, but it’s hard to look at this team and say it’s in the same class as the Los Angeles Dodgers or Milwaukee Brewers.
The Cubs lineup was on mute Friday night against Reds ace Hunter Greene, who struck out 11 in seven shutout innings in a 4-0 win at Great American Ballpark.
“We didn’t take very many good swings,” manager Craig Counsell said. “I think we hit four balls hard tonight (and had) five baserunners total on the night. That’s never going to be enough.”
The Cubs had a season-high 16 strikeouts, including three apiece from Pete Crow-Armstrong, Alex Bregman and Michael Conforto. Greene, making only his second start after missing the first three months after bone chips were removed from his right elbow, was still throwing 101 mph in the seventh inning.
It was a poor showing by the Cubs offense, which finished with only four hits and one walk in their ninth shutout loss, tied with the San Francisco Giants for second-most in the majors.
Yet considering the plethora of pitching injuries, a 10-game losing streak, the struggles of Bregman and other obstacles along the way, should the Cubs be satisfied with where they’re at going into the break?
“We’ve got a decent record, right?” Counsell replied before the game in the sweltering Cubs dugout. “We’ve put ourselves in a pretty good position. That doesn’t guarantee us anything going forward.
“We’re not going to come back after the break and be finished with the injuries. We’ve still got injury issues and we’ve got a way to get what I’d considered back to medium strength. We’re still at a pretty big deficit after the break.”
Counsell said Jameson Taillon could return next week on the homestand after making a rehab start Saturday, which would solidify a rotation that has been hit hard. But despite losing Cade Horton for the season and Ben Brown, Taillon and Edward Cabrera over the last month, Cubs starters were a combined 13-3 with a 3.45 ERA since June 10, third-best in the National League behind the Brewers (2.69) and Miami Marlins (3.18) and sixth overall.
Shota Imanaga, who allowed a solo home run to Elly De La Cruz over five innings Friday, has stepped up since becoming the de facto ace again, and Matthew Boyd had one of his strongest outings as a Cub on Tuesday in Baltimore, throwing six shutout innings.
Imanaga threw 102 pitches and had to leave early, trailing 1-0. He ended the first half a much better pitcher than the one Counsell declined to use in the decisive Game 5 of the National League Division Series against the Brewers.
“There were a couple starts there where i didn’t perform well,” Imanaga said through his interpreter. “But thanks to the support of my teammates, I’m still here. Looking at the second half, I’m looking at what I need to do to better myself as a pitcher, organize those thoughts and just execute pitches.”
The Reds added three runs in the eighth off Jake Woodford, who was making his Cubs debut, to put the game out of reach.
While there have been peaks and valleys with the pitching and offense, the certainty this season has been the steady Cubs defense, which led the majors in defensive runs saved entering the weekend. Dansby Swanson and Crow-Armstrong appear on track for Gold Glove Awards at short and center, respectively, while Nico Hoerner, Bregman and Ian Happ all will be in the picture if they continue at their current pace.
The defense has helped the pitching keep the Cubs in games.
“Our defense is definitely a factor,” Counsell said. “You can go to the Baltimore series or the St. Louis series to see examples of runs taken off the board by our defense. They just make our pitchers better.
“From a pitching perspective, it’s been a revolving door. We’ve had a lot of new faces and people have really stepped up in that opportunity and done a good job. That’s a reason why we’re here as well.”
The offense has been the most unpredictable part of the Cubs season. After starting out with a .782 OPS while getting off to a 27-12 start, they were 29th with a .632 OPS over their next 29 games, going 7-22. But they’ve rebounded once again with an .829 OPS from June 11 until Friday, sparked by Crow-Armstrong’s resurgence.
After the series in Cincinnati and a short break, the second half provides players who weren’t consistent offensively with a chance to reset. Bregman obviously will be the one everyone is looking at to improve his numbers, which he has admitted are not up to his standards.
If Bregman starts hitting like Bregman, the Cubs could take a big leap forward in the second half and peak for the postseason.
“I think Alex is going to have a strong rest of the season,” Counsell said. “I don’t know if the All-Star break is going to be the marker for it. I thought he had a pretty strong series in Baltimore, so hopefully that’s the start of it.”