Early bullpen woes and torpedoes bats |
I am going to start by stating that the sky is not falling. This year's Chicago Cubs team is a strong one. A team that will be competing for a division championship by the end of the season. The bullpen, however, does need to stabilize itself reasonably soon. Sunday’s game against the Padres should have gone into the win column for the Cubbies, but unfortunately, in a high-scoring game, the Padres came through in the end.
Coming into this season and securing Ryan Pressly to stabilize the bullpen's backend felt good. After all, not only has he been excellent throughout his career, but he can also be utilized in multiple ways as an inning-stopper when the team is in danger, with runners on the basepaths, or as a closer, which is what he has been doing so far in this young season. In the past few seasons in Houston, he was not used as a closer, so he already has almost as many saves this year, with three, as he had all of last year, with four saves. The one concerning thing so far, and again, it's early, but his strikeouts are down from his regular rate. In 56.2 innings last year, he had 58 strikeouts; this season, in 6 innings, he has two, so the pace is down a little bit, and even though he does have three saves so far, they have not been easy and would have you on the edge of your seat hoping for the best. Road trips starting in Japan and then heading to the West Coast can disrupt your pitching routine, as well as the cold temperatures in Chicago during this time of year. Still, as a key component of this bullpen, the Cubs need a lights-out closer for the bullpen to take that next step this season. Baseball is a team effort, and the pitching staff as a whole is currently working with a 4.36 ERA. Starting pitching has had its moments, especially with Matthew Boyd putting in good work without surrendering a run this season and Shota Imanaga boosting the staff with a 0.98 ERA in his first three starts. Ben Brown has terrific stuff, and once he gets his footing this season, he won't be carrying around a 7.71 ERA like he is now. Justin Steele and Jameson Taillon both have track records where you know what you're going to get, and their ERAs are likely to decline as the season progresses. The pitching staff is going to be okay, and while losing games you should win is never fun, Craig Counsell will have this team turning the page and raring to go day in and day out. That much is guaranteed. The buzz going around the baseball world these days is the torpedo bats. After watching the Yankees demolish the Brewers with their bats, it seems that players from every team are racing to get their hands on the so-called wonder bats. These bats are not new and have been around for a while. For the Cubs, only two players have used them so far, with Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner taking the bats to the plate with them. Swanson’s massive home run on Saturday, with the wind blowing in, could prompt you to take a look at the torpedo bat, as going deep in those conditions is not an easy feat. The truth is that it is the athlete, not the bat, that gets the job done. You need the right equipment suited to what you do best, but simply having a torpedo bat is not going to turn you into a home run-hitting machine. The season is still young, and there is much more baseball to be played, so the early-season stats, both good and bad, will even themselves out throughout the season. The one thing that remains constant is that pitching is what gets you to October, and the staff the 2025 Cubs have assembled is good enough to be playing playoff baseball this season. The question is, however, will it happen? That question will be answered throughout this season, and what makes the season so much fun are the ups and downs, as well as all the emotions that the game of baseball can evoke in a person. Let's sit back, relax, and let the season take us on a remarkable ride this year.
