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.

Cubs have been taking a lot of pitches this year

Working counts and pushing up opposing starter’s pitch counts is always good. That is, unless you’re missing out on very hittable pitches in the zone. Bleacher Nation pointed out some pretty poignant trends as far as the offense goes on Monday:

I get not wanting to be overaggressive. That makes sense. But when pitchers make mistakes, you’ve got to be ready to make them pay. Although the Cubs slugged well early in the season, that number has cratered (as of Monday night, the team ranked in the bottom third of MLB in slugging percentage).

Per Baseball Savant, the Cubs have just four hitters with a whiff rate that’s better than league average: Jason Heyward, Victor Caratini, Anthony Rizzo and Nico Hoerner. Guys are swinging at too many bad pitches and letting too many good ones go sailing past them. If that doesn’t get addressed – and soon – the team will be lucky to even sneak into the postseason, let alone win a division.

Cubs (and every other team) can be leveled by the injury bug

Chicago has been without left-hander Jose Quintana the entire season to this point. The veteran left-hander is continuing to work his way back from surgery to repair a damaged nerve in the thumb of his pitching hand. Ross made it clear that Quintana won’t be back this week, but it’s feasible we could see him by the end of the month.

Now, the Cubs are down another starter with Tyler Chatwood hitting the 10-day IL with back issues. That led to the team calling up right-hander Tyson Miller to start Monday night’s game against St. Louis – hardly an ideal situation, but it is what it is,

Given the glaring lack of quality pitching options on-hand, these are obviously the injuries that have worried fans the most. But we’ve seen Bryant battle multiple ailments, Heyward experienced a minor back issue over the weekend and Kyle Schwarber work through knee soreness as well.

On their own, bumps and bruises are to be expected – even in a 60-game season. But when they start piling up, a team like the Cubs could be derailed in a hurry. Staying safe and healthy is critical (especially in a COVID-19 world) – and keeping your best guys on the field will be a key down the stretch.