3 frustrating Chicago Cubs storylines thus far in 2022

Cubs: Inconsistent play and injuries sum up the starting rotation so far

The starting rotation has had no consistency in terms of either how they play on the field or who actually is on the mound.

Marcus Stroman has already landed on the IL twice, as has Wade Miley, who left Friday’s game on top of that. Drew Smyly is currently on the injured list and Kyle Hendricks has been “dealing with some stuff“, having not pitched since June 1. Cannot fail to mention Adbert Alzolay, who has missed all of 2022 so far and seems still a ways away from coming back.

The play on the field has been so up and down. Stroman, Justin Steele and Keegan Thompson in mid-May all had solid numbers before they each blew up in a start, ballooning their season stats. Stroman had the nine-run debacle against the Cardinals, while Steele blew up in Cincinnati and Thompson in Baltimore.

On top of all of that is the fact that Hendricks just is not the guy he once was. While he still gives you some really good starts, he will blow up much more often than he used to. He sports a 5.22 ERA, 1.35 WHIP and 5.44 FIP on the year. You just do not know which Hendricks you will get in a given start.

As a whole, Cubs starters are pitching to a 4.77 ERA, 4.63 FIP, 7.24 K/9, 3.28 BB/9 and 1.33 WHIP, while not going very deep into games. It is easy to believe things would be better if this rotation could stay healthy, but regardless they have work to do if they want to get better in the future.