Chicago Cubs: Alex Bregman sounds off on team character

“Obviously the season hasn’t started the way we want to start it, but [a] bunch of high character guys that are going to figure it out, and guys with good pedigree to get us rolling,” Bregman told reporters following Tuesday’s feel-good 10-4 win over the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. “Today was a big step in the right direction.”

“I think this is a good group of guys,” Bregman added, after his own 3-for-5, 3 RBI day. “I mean, the guys have come in from day one of spring training, ready to compete, ready to get after it, extremely motivated.

“…it’s a mature group…Obviously, I don’t think anyone’s really felt like they’re at the top of their game, really, to start the season, but it’s a bunch of guys who know how to compete and know how to get the most out of it, even when they’re not feeling good.

“We’ll get this thing rolling and we’ll get guys locked in and be right where we need to be.”

Building a “high-character” team was clearly the goal of Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer when he began constructing this roster and it’s been something the team, as a whole, seems to take pride in.

“We never quit,” 2026 edition?

After a 5-0 comeback win against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field this past Sunday, starting pitcher Jameson Taillon was quick to point out that the belief in the dugout, throughout, was that they’d
finish the day with a “W.”

“I never saw our guys waver or falter today,” Taillon told media after the 7-6 victory. “It would have been easy going down 5-0 and just kind of be like ‘welp, let’s go on the road we got swept’, it was just a really cool vibe and energy today where I thought everyone was picking each other up, guys passing the baton to each other as the game went.”

Character, alone, won’t be enough to get the Cubs to a championship. The offense, for example, has to start executing and putting runs on the board consistently. The pitching staff, meanwhile, has to reverse course on this recent run of injuries and start being more all-around consistent as well.

However, character DOES take an already sound team to that next level of success. That’s what the Cubs are banking on and that’s what Bregman feels about this current Cubs crew. Chicago is going to be better and play better, it’s just a matter of holding on to self-belief through the rough patches.