Chicago Cubs right fielder Kyle Tucker Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Cubs set to make drastic move with Kyle Tucker amid epic slump

By Jordan Sigler | Last updated Aug 18, 2025 6:22 PM ET

The Chicago Cubs have had enough with Kyler Tucker after his performance in a 7-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday. The defeat was another embarrassment for a Cubs team that has seen the Brewers overtake them and run away with the NL Central in the last month.

Per Bruce Levine of 670 The Score, Cubs manager Craig Counsell announced the team would bench Tucker for the second game of Monday's doubleheader, which was ultimately rained out and will be made up on Tuesday. It's unclear when Chicago will play their star right fielder while they try to hold on to a spot in the wild-card.

“We will take a step back and try to figure this out with him," Counsell said. "He will not play in the second game. We will give him some days off to reset him hopefully."

Counsell on Kyle Tucker struggles . “We will take a step back and try to figure this out with him.He will not play in the second game. We will give him some days off to reset him hopefully. “
— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) August 18, 2025

The benching is a bold move from Counsell and the Cubs in August, but the team is getting desperate for a solution.

Tucker went 0-for-4 at-bat against the Brewers on Monday. The right fielder has just two hits in 21 at-bats in the last seven days, his only two hits coming in the Cubs' 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday.

Following the loss in the first game on Monday, the Cubs are now nine games back from the Brewers for first place in the NL Central and are holding on to a spot in the wild card by four games.

The slump comes at a bad time for Tucker and the Cubs. Tucker, who earned his fourth consecutive All-Star appearance in July, is playing on the final year of his contract and could be costing himself tens of millions of dollars this month.

Jordan Sigler

Jordan Sigler is a sports writer with a decade of experience as a journalist, including his time as a breaking news/day cops reporter for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. His sports coverage across the NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB, NHL, and college football world has also been featured at ChiCitySports, Gridiron Heroics, Pro Football Network, and Athlon Sports. Based in Austin, Texas, Jordan graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism from Texas Tech University in 2014

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