Light is at the end of the tunnel for the Cubs after surviving terrifying gauntlet in April

The Chicago Cubs have done well in their initial month of the 2025 season, where they have faced steep competition from teams that all have winning records (the exception being the Athletics). The Cubs are set to escape April with a win/loss record above .500, and the list of opponents for May should be much easier to find success against.

That's not to say the Cubs will take a commanding lead in the division over the next four weeks. Facing any team in Major League Baseball comes with no guarantees, so the Cubs still need to take care of business and keep their foot on the gas. That being said, the Cubs will not have to compete against the defending World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers (who they faced seven times in March and April).

Chicago also won't have to deal with the pesky San Diego Padres (17-11) or Arizona Diamondbacks (15-13), whose lineups were a constant gauntlet for Cubs' pitching.

The Cubs will host two of the worst teams in MLB this month

After a road trip against the Pittsburgh Pirates and Milwaukee Brewers, the Cubs return home to welcome the first-place San Francisco Giants in a three-game homestand. Then, after a brief trip to play the Mets in New York, things get less complicated for the Cubs.

From May 12-31, the Cubs will play six games against the last-place Miami Marlins, who admittedly have some formidable pitching with Sandy Alcantara and Max Meyer, but they shouldn't be as much of a problem as the competition from April. Where the Cubs really need to clean up is during their homestand against the White Sox, who are again struggling to find wins with a 7-21 record through their first 28 games.

Somehow, the Colorado Rockies are on pace to break the White Sox's 121-loss season, as they have only collected four wins in 2025. Through their first 27 games last year, the White Sox had one more win than the Rockies do now, with a 5-22 record. The Cubs will host the Rockies for a three-game series starting on May 26, a set of games where Chicago can't afford to underperform.

Even though the Cubs' offense was electric in April and they've performed better than most expected, there is only a 1.5-game separation between Chicago and the second-place Cincinnati Reds. Things are theoretically going to get easier with a lighter caliber of opponents and warmer weather on the horizon, but the Cubs still need to stack wins and avoid the prolonged slumps that have kept them out of the playoffs in recent years.