Chicago Cubs: 3 questions we must ask after a historically bad week

As the days go on, it’s obviously getting harder and harder to watch the Chicago Cubs play baseball and feel optimistic about what we’re seeing. After the historically bad homestand we witnessed the Cubs play against the arch-rival Chicago White Sox and Milwaukee Brewers (0-7 record, 18 runs scored, 58 runs against), they made their way south to Miami to take on the Marlins and it did not look any prettier.

After getting swept again in South Florida, the Cubs are in the middle of an 11-game losing streak, their second double-digit losing streak of the season. The starting pitching is unable to stay in the game long enough to obtain a quality start, and they’re giving up runs at an alarming rate. The bullpen is depleted, overworked, and seemingly unable to get outs. Additionally, the only offense we’re seeing from the team is when the game is far from salvageable. These are all ingredients to a recipe of losing and failure.

Now, after three consecutive series sweeps, the Cubs are headed to Cincinnati for three games against the second-place Reds, and it’s hard to believe it will not be more of the same.

Cubs fans of today are seemingly the most privileged in franchise history, as we are just five years removed from a championship and have been postseason-bound in five of the last six seasons. With that, we’ve become spoiled, and the expectation is greatness year after year. This is now unfamiliar and unaccepted territory.

The Cubs are a team surrounded by questions and uncertainty. Here are three questions being asked heading into the back half of these Hot August Nights (shoutout Neil Diamond) and into 2022.