The Cubs walked into the weekend looking like one of baseball’s hottest teams. They walked out of it with a fresh reminder that this season has been anything but steady.
Chicago dropped the series to the St. Louis Cardinals, and the way it happened said plenty.
A 17-1 loss on Friday was followed by a shutout defeat on Saturday, the kind of back-to-back punch that wipes out any momentum in a hurry. For a club that keeps flashing signs it’s ready to take off, then stumbling just as fast, it was another jolt of reality.
Even with that stumble, the Cubs are still very much in the mix. They entered Sunday nine games above .500 and remain a team that should stay in the Wild Card conversation right down to the finish.
That’s why the trade deadline picture is still so fluid. The expectation remains that the Cubs will buy, but Jed Hoyer made it clear earlier this weekend that nothing is locked in yet.
“It has been a really up-and-down season,” Hoyer told reporters. “There’s no reason to think that’s the way the rest of the season is going to go.
It could go that way, or we could just proceed to level things out, and I hope we do. But, yeah, this is a really important stretch.
The market will dictate a lot of those things. But, of course, our play is going to dictate a level of aggressiveness.”
That’s the tension hanging over this team now. The Cubs have enough talent to stay in the hunt, but they also have enough volatility to make every losing streak feel dangerous. With a number of impending free agents on the roster, the door is still open for the club to slide back into seller territory if things go sideways again.
The Cardinals are the warning sign. St.
Louis entered July last season at 47-39, then cratered with an 8-16 stretch in the month leading into the deadline. In a matter of weeks, a team that looked like a Wild Card threat turned into an obvious seller.
That’s the kind of swing the Cubs are trying to avoid. Back in May, there was already a sense that the season could head in that direction if the losses piled up. Another extended skid would make that possibility much harder to ignore.
The schedule ahead gives Chicago a chance to change the conversation before the All-Star break. The Cubs still have series against the Baltimore Orioles and Cincinnati Reds, and both opponents offer an opening. Baltimore has been one of the season’s biggest disappointments at 42-48, while the Reds entered Sunday having lost seven of their last ten.
It’s the same sort of chance the Cubs had earlier this month against the New York Mets and San Diego Padres: put together a strong stretch, score in bunches, and make the deadline discussion tilt even more toward buying.
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The Tigers have put a pair of familiar deadline names on the board in Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize, and the Cubs are once again being mentioned in the mix as the market starts to sort itself out. For Chicago, the appeal is obvious: rotation help is hard to find in late July, and Detroits willingness to listen gives the Cubs another avenue to explore if they decide the staff needs a boost.
What makes this one worth watching is how the Cubs view their place in the National League Central as the deadline gets closer. If theyre hanging around the Brewers, the front office could be pushed toward a more aggressive approach, but the financial side matters too, and that may shape how far they go in chasing pitching help from Detroit. [Read more 🡒]
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The Pirates have been forced to absorb another hit in a season already shaped by injuries, and it comes at a moment when every roster decision carries extra weight. Their young shortstop has been one of the more important bats in the lineup, giving Pittsburgh a boost as it has stayed in the mix longer than many expected.
For the Cubs, the timing matters because the trade deadline is never just about who buys and who sells, but how aggressively a division rival feels it needs to respond. If Pittsburgh is suddenly less inclined to push chips in, Chicago could find one more competitor easing off the gas at exactly the wrong time. [Read more 🡒]
Cubs Linked To The Deadline Arm Their Rotation Desperately Needs
The Cubs search for rotation help has pushed them toward the trade market, and Freddy Peralta has emerged as a name worth watching. According to a report from The Athletics Will Sammon, Chicago has interest in the right-handed starter as it looks to reinforce a staff hit by injuries, and Peraltas expiring contract makes him the kind of deadline arm teams can actually move for in July.
There is also a familiar thread here for Craig Counsell, who spent six seasons with Peralta in Milwaukee and knows exactly what the starter can bring when he is right. The question for the Cubs is whether that comfort level, plus the immediate need on the mound, is enough to make Peralta a realistic target as the deadline chatter starts to sharpen. [Read more 🡒]