A Closer Look at the Cubs’ Recent Offensive Struggles

The Chicago Cubs’ 43-28 record this year puts them atop the National League Central and second overall in the NL. They owe the bulk of their success to their offense. With the acquisition of Kyle Tucker in the offseason and All-Star-like seasons from Pete Crow-Armstrong and Seiya Suzuki, they have been unstoppable most of the year. Unfortunately, the Cubs offense has been slumping as of late. What has led to these recent struggles?

Recent Hardships for the Cubs Offense

*All figures as of Friday, Jun 13

While no team will score 10 runs every game, the Cubs have had more offensive difficulties than usual these past 11 games. There are several reasons for these struggles. First of all, they have faced some elite pitching. This includes Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal, MacKenzie Gore, Jack Flaherty, Jesús Luzardo, and Zack Wheeler. This is no easy task for any team. This group of pitchers has four players with a sub-three ERA. When facing this much great pitching in only 10 or so games, any offense is bound to take a hit.

In addition to the top-tier pitching they have faced, most of their numbers are down compared to their season averages. Both their team batting average and their average with RISP are down. On the season they are hitting .258 overall (fourth in the league) and .256 with RISP. In their last 11 games though they are only hitting .222 as a team. While this isn’t a drastic change, it is enough to slow an offense down. Even worse, they are only hitting .153 with RISP in the last 11 games.

Manager Craig Counsell commented on Friday’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, “We just didn’t get a hit with runners in scoring position.”

This is brutal because to score runs and win games, teams need to hit well with runners on 2nd and 3rd. And although they have been extremely good at that most of the season, it’s a problem as of late that they must fix. Finally, the Cubs’ run production overall has been down recently. The home run ball has been there for them, but even with that, they’ve only put up 3 runs/game these last 11 games. This is more than two runs below their season average of 5.43 which has them second in MLB. Because of the Cubs ‘ below-average pitching, three runs per game won’t cut it, and that average needs to increase soon.