The Chicago Cubs are in the playoff mix right now, but if they want to do more than just qualify, the second half has to bring more from a few key names. Nico Hoerner, Alex Bregman and Edward Cabrera all enter the stretch run with different kinds of pressure on them, and the Cubs need each of them to answer.
Hoerner’s season has been a tale of two very different stretches. On Opening Day, the Cubs took a loss, but the club still gave fans something to celebrate by signing him to a six-year contract extension.
For a while, it looked like that move was paying off in a big way. Hoerner was the team’s best all-around player through the middle of April, pairing his usual gold-glove-level work at second base with real production at the plate.
By April 18, the right-handed hitter was sitting on a .973 OPS and had hit .342/.420/.553 across 19 games.
Since then, though, the bottom has fallen out. Over his last 75 games, Hoerner has been the second-worst-qualified hitter in MLB, putting up a 55 wRC+.
His slash line in that span is .205/.274/.268, and the clutch reputation he’s built has not carried over. Even with runners in scoring position, he’s hit just .206/.274/.268 since April 18.
The glove is still there, but the Cubs can’t afford that kind of near-automatic out in the lineup for the next 2.5 months if they’re trying to close the gap with the Brewers.
Bregman is a different story, but the Cubs need him just as much. The veteran third baseman found a groove in the final couple of weeks before the All-Star break, and the hope now is that the timing sticks.
He’s locked into a middle-of-the-order spot, which means the Cubs need the version of Bregman they’ve seen since June 30. That stretch has led the team with 14 RBI.
The power questions around Bregman were real as recently as mid-June. He was getting mocked, drawing Nick Madrigal comparisons, and plenty of fans were frustrated by what he was doing with runners in scoring position.
He wasn’t expected to be a 30-35 home run bat this year, but the lack of thump had become a problem. Through 431 plate appearances, Bregman is hitting .241/.336/.359 with nine home runs, and he’s batting exactly .200 with runners in scoring position in 131 chances.
Then there’s Cabrera, who may end up mattering most if the Cubs are serious about a deep October run. If they’re going to catch the Brewers or get past the Dodgers in the playoffs, they need him to pitch like the ace-level arm he can be. The stuff is there, but even before the injury, his first half had already been a disappointment in the rotation.
The Cubs paid a real price to get him, sending their top prospect at the time in the deal. Team control was part of the appeal, but the belief was clearly in Cabrera’s ceiling.
So far, he hasn’t come close to reaching it, and his 2026 season has fallen back from the breakout he had in 2025 with the Miami Marlins. Right now, he’s on the injured list with a hamstring strain, and mid-August is the target for his return.
Pitching always matters in October, and that’s especially true for a team trying to make a real run. Even if the Cubs add another starter before the deadline, their biggest swings may still come down to whether Cabrera can rebound after a frustrating first half.
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Cade Townsend and Caden Sorrell are now part of that conversation, and the overall picture suggests the Cubs have more young talent in the pipeline than they did a year ago. The bigger question is how all of those recent picks will sort themselves out over time, especially with the rankings already showing how quickly the balance can shift when a draft class starts to hit. [Read more 🡒]