When Craig Counsell‘s squad lost Justin Steele to elbow surgery last April, the North Siders found ways to get by. The ascensions of veteran Matthew Boyd and then rookie Cade Horton to All-Star/Cy Young-caliber levels rescued the team’s season. While Steele was forced to spend much of the season rehabbing and won’t even return to the mound right away this spring, his club collected a cathartic playoff berth and a run that cracked open a new World Series window.

The team’s hurlers stepped up in a way that decreased the urgency for the return of their All-Star lefty. Like a Chicagoan who gets acclimated to keeping an extra pair of gloves around in the winter, the club built out pitching depth this winter, knowing they might not get Steele back until midsummer. But with his progress remaining ahead of schedule even into spring training, Steele looks poised to deliver key upside and better volume than previously hoped. In case you forgot, here’s a refresher on what a Cubs rotation with Steele might look like. 

The North Siders’ 30-year-old lefty has 517 career strikeouts, but over half of those came during the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Though he lacks the deep arsenal and the overpowering velocity of most frontline starters, his hard, cutting heater and endlessly manipulable slider proved good enough to put him in that echelon. In 2023, he put it all together, achieving his most impressive results with a record of 16-5 and an ERA of just 3.07. Had his club not sputtered down the stretch that year, those numbers would have looked even better. Fast-forwarding to the quickly approaching 2026 season, Steele could re-enter a rotation that, with the addition of Edward Cabrera, creates more swing-and-miss than they’ve generated in years. Steele’s pinpoint accuracy would richly supplement the formula this pitching staff has in place. 

Chicago is a club that thrives on veteran leadership from stars like Ian Happ, Dansby Swanson, and Jameson Taillon. The wise-beyond-his-years Steele brings an additional intangible layer of fire and morale to the clubhouse the moment he walks in the building. Beyond that, however, his return reduces the urgency for his teammates to deal on the mound, just as the depth of this staff should take some pressure off of Steele’s shoulders once he returns. 

Opening Day at Wrigley is just under four weeks away, which has excitement for baseball on the North Side reaching its crescendo. In the past several weeks and months, we here at North Side Baseball have laid out a plethora of reasons to justify your excitement. But the return of Steele brings about something more than excitement; it brings comfort. Not only is he one of our own, but he’s a catalyst in the engine that makes this squad run. Once he starts to toe the rubber once more, the Cubs will really be firing on all cylinders.Â