Dansby Swanson's insane turnaround has Cubs' shortstop rocketing up leaderboards

I think my daughter needs to go to more Cubs games. We took her on Wednesday for her 'first' game at Wrigley Field (technically, we took her when she was six months old, but this is her first time being old enough to experience everything) - and she was rewarded with a 23-run outburst that completed a sweep of the San Diego Padres.

Oh, and got two ice cream helmets. She'd probably say that was the best part of the day.

But a large part of that scoring barrage came courtesy of shortstop Dansby Swanson, who simply will not stop driving the ball out of the ballpark. The veteran infielder finished the day 3-for-5 with three home runs, four runs and eight runs batted in - including a late-inning grand slam to cap off the afternoon, giving him the first three-homer game of his MLB career.

“That's kind of the beauty of it,” Swanson said after the game. “It's why we keep coming back to this game, no matter how tough it may be at times. Good or bad, you just want to show up every day and give it your best effort. This game seems to reward doing the right things.”

From scapegoat to savior, Dansby Swanson has had a crazy 2026

As of June 20, Swanson was slashing just .183/.292/.325, and there were legitimate conversations amongst Cubs fans about finding ways to reduce his role moving forward, despite the fact that there are three years and $100-ish million left on his contract.

Now, over his last 10 games, he's driven in 26 runs - the most ever for a Cub over a 10-game stretch and his overall season line is up to .210/.300/.431, good for a 104 OPS+. Paired with his still-elite defense at short and Swanson is up to 2.6 bWAR on the year, which is tied with Seiya Suzuki for second on the team behind only Pete Crow-Armstrong.

Oh, and as ridiculous as it seems, he now ranks tied for fifth in all of baseball with 56 RBI and is among the league leaders in WAR at shortstop. His resurgence comes as the Cubs continue their winning ways, taking home victories in 15 of their last 19 and sweeping two of their last three series.

Heading into a Fourth of July weekend showdown with the rival St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley, Swanson and the Cubs are flying high. Carrying this momentum through that series could help cement them as one of the top teams in the league and, should the Brewers ever stumble, give them a chance to draw closer in the race for the NL Central crown.

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