Cubs' most important offensive player has looked lost in a brutal start to the season

There are bad losses - then there are bad losses and Saturday certainly falls in the latter category: one reserved for the games that haunt you for weeks - and sometimes years - to come.

The Chicago Cubs dropped an extra-inning contest to the Pittsburgh Pirates, going 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position and failing to convert a two-on, no-out setup in the 11th inning, falling to 6-8 on the young season. Offensively speaking, there's not much to like about this team right now, but one player's struggles have become so pronounced that Craig Counsell pulled him mid-game.

That player? Michael Busch.

Michael Busch can't find hard contact to save his life this year

Busch went 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts before being lifted for pinch hitter Carson Kelly, as his slash line on the year fell to .118/.220/.157. We saw Kelly and Matt Shaw rotate in at first after Busch was lifted, which goes to show how shaky the team's first base depth is behind the man they planned on giving expanded runway to this year.

Now, there are some metrics that suggest all is not lost and Busch will find his footing soon. But that has been little comfort to a team that's 23rd in OPS, 19th in runs and 25th in slugging percentage. Coming off a 4.6 bWAR, 34-homer 2025 campaign, the Cubs are expecting big things from their first baseman, especially as he gets more ABs than ever, finally shifted out of a platoon setup.

Busch is pounding the ball into the ground (his ground-ball rate is up nearly 10 percent over last year) and has really struggled to find barrels so far. It's hard to envision this being a season-long bottoming-out for him, the same as it's hard to believe the Cubs' offense, as a whole, will perform as poorly as it has so far. But, like I said, that's little comfort when you look at the standings heading into Sunday's finale looking up at the entire NL Central.