Cubs are seeing early success undone by these three things

The Cubs could fade fast if these three trends don’t change direction.

After dropping three of four to the rival Brewers (all by a one-run margin) over the weekend, dark clouds started to settle in over the Cubs. The club went from 13-3 to 13-6 and then the Cardinals proceeded to pour it on by taking the opener of Monday’s doubleheader to push Chicago’s losing streak to four.

The team got off to a scorching start – one you almost knew wasn’t sustainable given the issues we were all aware existed with the roster. Craig Kimbrel has left a glaring hole at the back of the bullpen and many of his fellow relievers haven’t pulled their weight.

But that went largely overshadowed by dominant starting pitching, led by the Cubs’ big three of Yu Darvish, Kyle Hendricks and Jon Lester. Hot starts by guys like Jason Kipnis and Anthony Rizzo and ridiculous slugging percentages up and down the lineup may have covered up some more underlying concerns offensively.

If the Cubs are going to get back to their winning ways, they’ll need three recent trends to reverse course – starting with their approach at the dish.