Alex Bregman’s rough first half with the 2026 Chicago Cubs got a whole lot uglier on Sunday, and this time it wasn’t just about the bat.
The Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3 in 10 innings to take the series finale, but Bregman left another frustrating imprint on the game. He went 0-for-4, was 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position, and in the sixth inning he grounded into a play that set off Cubs fans all over again.
The sequence started when Pete Crow-Armstrong drew a walk against Brandon Woodruff and then stole second. Bregman followed with a slow chopper to Brewers shortstop Cooper Pratt, who briefly lost the ball before recovering and throwing Bregman out at first. The play wasn’t close - Bregman was out by a full step - but the bigger issue for fans was how he came out of the box.
On the replay, Bregman can be seen not going full speed until he realizes Pratt bobbled the ball, and by then the chance was gone. That drew even more heat from a fan base that has already been fed up with his season.
Jim Deshaies called it out, and the point was hard to miss: against a pitcher like Woodruff, the Cubs needed to squeeze every possible break out of the inning. If Bregman gets out of the box harder, he’s safe, the Cubs have runners on the corners with one out, and the inning looks very different. Instead, the Brewers got the out, then went to a left-handed reliever to face Michael Busch with two outs.
Bregman’s problems didn’t start there. He also came up with two runners on in the third inning and struck out.
The numbers behind the slump are brutal. Bregman is hitting .163 with runners in scoring position, going 15-for-92 in those situations. Among 179 qualified hitters, his 34 wRC+ ranks fourth-worst in MLB with runners in scoring position this season.
Overall, the production has been just as thin. His .335 slugging percentage trails only Brett Baty among everyday third basemen, and he has only six home runs in 82 games.
That’s why the hustle issue hit such a nerve. Players can survive slumps with fans. What they can’t do is look like they’re not emptying the tank, especially when they’re already scuffling and especially when they’re the marquee free-agent addition who was supposed to bring leadership to the lineup.
Cubs fans went through this kind of turn with Kyle Tucker last summer, when he faded in the second half and became public enemy number one. Bregman is signed for five years, and if this keeps up, the noise around him is only going to get louder.
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