The Chicago Cubs have spent the first half of 2026 surviving one hit after another, and somehow they’re still sitting among baseball’s best teams.
That’s the strange part of this season. The Cubs have had the kind of pitching chaos that usually drags a contender straight into the mud - injuries, blown saves, a rotation held together by sheer force of will - and yet they’re 54-42. That puts them 6.5 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers for the best record in MLB and five games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central.
For a team that looked so sharp in early May and so battered by mid-June, that record says plenty. It also says plenty about Craig Counsell, who has taken a roster full of absences and instability and kept it afloat. However much grief he’s taken from Cubs fans and around the league, he’s getting more out of less than just about anyone in Chicago right now.
The numbers on the mound tell the story. Chicago’s starting rotation has a 4.52 ERA, which ranks 23rd.
The bullpen sits at 4.09, 16th in MLB. The Cubs have only 24 quality starts, sixth fewest, and 16 blown saves, the fourth-most in the league.
The relief corps has been especially thin. Only four Cubs relievers have enough innings to qualify for MLB’s leaderboard, and only two teams have fewer qualified relievers.
Half of those four weren’t even on the Opening Day roster. Ryan Rolison was called up from Triple-A on April 14, and Trenton Thornton made his season debut on May 6.
The other two have had their own issues. Jacob Webb looked like a candidate to be DFA’d after April, while Hoby Milner is on the injured list with appendicitis and hasn’t pitched since June 25.
That instability has shown up in the save totals, too. The Cubs have only 20 saves, which ranks 25th in MLB.
Even more unusual, 10 different pitchers have recorded at least one save in 2026. Daniel Palencia, last year’s save leader, has already been on the injured list twice and has only three saves.
Webb leads the club with five, and Thornton is next with three.
The rotation has been just as battered. Shōta Imanaga is the only qualified starter on the team, and that fits because he’s the only Cubs starter who has not been on the injured list this season.
Chicago Cubs SP Injuries
Cade Horton: Tommy John Surgery, out for the year, only made 2 starts
Matthew Boyd: 2 trips to IL, 9 starts, 46 IP
Edward Cabrera: 2 trips to IL, 14 starts, 72.1 IP
Jameson Taillon: out since June 7, 13 starts, 67.2 IP
Ben Brown: out since June 19, 8 starts, 68 IP
Justin Steele: setback during rehab, has not pitched in 2026
The bullpen hasn’t been spared either. Daniel Palencia, Phil Maton, Hunter Harvey, Caleb Thielbar, Hoby Milner, Ethan Roberts, and Riley Martin have all spent time on the injured list.
And then there was the offense’s rough patch, which is easy to forget now that the bats have heated up. From May 9 through June 16, Chicago posted the third-worst offense in baseball, hitting .217/.306/.355 over 35 games. During that span, the Cubs scored 3.45 runs per game, second worst in MLB behind the San Diego Padres.
That’s the backdrop for Counsell’s first half. The Cubs have dealt with a 10-game losing streak, a pile of walk-off losses, and plenty of blowout wins mixed in with the chaos.
Through all of it, they’re still 54-42. If they can get healthier and add a few arms by the trade deadline, Counsell’s case for Manager of the Year is going to get a lot stronger.
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Owen Ayers Just Made The Cubs Catching Picture A Lot Murkier
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Ayers is reportedly on the verge of a Triple-A promotion after earning his way there with strong offensive showings at High-A and Double-A, and his bat has been the calling card all along. Chicago has spent plenty of attention on the pitching side of the draft too, selecting Cade Townsend in the first round, but Ayers rise is the kind of development that can quietly reshape a roster picture before anyone expects it to. [Read more 🡒]