Cubs' playoff odds approaching a season-low amidst absolutely baffling regression

Big ups and big downs. That's been the story of the 2026 Chicago Cubs.

The ups? A pair of 10-game winning streaks by early May. That, uh, that's really it.

The downs? A 10-game losing streak, a team-wide offensive slump that includes major issues with runners in scorting position, a bevy of pitching injuries, including a season-ending elbow injury to Cade Horton and a setback in Justin Steele's recovery, and the team's two big offseason bullpen additions falling on their faces and providing negative value through the first two-plus months.

It's probably because we're still very much amidst the 'downs' - this team hasn't won a series since the first full week of May - but it feels like there are a lot more checkboxes in that column than the other, and the Cubs' latest playoff odds from FanGraphs tell the same story.

Cubs have squandered a golden opportunity to re-claim the NL Central

Their high-water mark came back on May 7 which, who'd have guessed, was the end of that last series win. Since then, the Cubs have lost series to the Rangers, Braves, White Sox, Pirates (split), Cardinals and Athletics - erasing their now-forgotten cushion in the standings and putting their October hopes on life support.

Nearly everywhere you look, there are problems. Dansby Swanson is beyond lost at the plate, Alex Bregman (and pretty much every one of his teammates) is coming up empty in clutch spots and the Cubs just aren't playing a high-quality brand of baseball right now. It's honestly gotten painful to watch in recent weeks and now that we're into June, the 'it's still early' excuse doesn't quite land the way it did three weeks ago.

This all stands in stark contrast to what we're seeing the rival Milwaukee Brewers do, which is to say, what they always do: play consistent baseball and stack wins to build a nice lead in the division heading into the summer months. With their two-headed monster of Jacob Misiorowski and Kyle Harrison atop the rotation and their typical strike-gold moves like Jake Bauers, it's more of the same for the Cubs' I-94 rivals, which has only added to the frustrations of the Wrigleyville faithful.

There are exactly 100 games left (as of Thursday). There is time for the Cubs to turn their season around. But given how the last month has gone, there's anything but optimism permeating the fanbase right now.

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