The low points included the devastating loss of Cade Horton, the nonstop march of pitching injuries, the 10-game losing streak, a prolonged offensive slump by Dansby Swanson and an early power outage by Bregman, the team\u2019s biggest offseason acquisition.<\/p>\n
There was even a cameo appearance by a well-fed rat at Wrigley Field in April,<\/a> which forced a team spokesman to assure fans the Cubs \u201ctake the health and safety of our guests seriously.\u201d Rat aside, the mental health of Cubs fans was almost always in question, thanks to a team that went from ridiculously good to unquestionably bad and then back to good again.<\/p>\n The Cubs finished things up Sunday with a victory over the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ballpark, ending the first half with a bang.<\/p>\n Bregman\u2019s three-run, seventh-inning home run, his second in two games<\/a>, was part of a four-run inning that gave the Cubs the 8-4 win. He wound up with four RBI as the Cubs improved to 54-42 and 20-8 since June 11, the best record in the majors.<\/p>\n Afterward, everyone but National League All-Star Crow-Armstrong headed off for parts unknown for a brief respite and a chance to decompress before the second half.<\/p>\n Take a deep breath, Cubs fans. Barring a reversal of form, it\u2019s only going to get crazier.<\/p>\n With the MLB draft ending Sunday<\/a>, the focus quickly shifts to the Aug. 3 trade deadline, where the target will be pitching, pitching and pitching. Whether the Cubs will bring in as many as three pitchers \u2014 maybe a starter and two relievers \u2014 is anyone\u2019s guess.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t have a good answer for that,\u201d Counsell said before Sunday\u2019s game. \u201cBut there\u2019s opportunity there, and definitely with our injuries we could use pitching.\u201d<\/p>\n Counsell heads to his Wisconsin home to relax and said he might have the All-Star Game on as background noise, though he\u2019s hoping for some non-baseball recreation to fill his days.<\/p>\n Here are some appetizers to munch on before dessert is served after the All-Star break:<\/p>\n \u2022 Jameson Taillon is set to return next week after allowing one hit over 4 2\/3 innings Saturday in his second rehab outing for Triple-A Iowa, while Brown will begin a throwing program a week after the break and eventually return as an \u201cout-getter,\u201d Counsell said. The Cubs are unsure how Brown will be utilized when he gets back from his neck injury.<\/p>\n \u2022 Entering Sunday, Crow-Armstrong\u2019s 5.9 fWAR led all position players<\/a> besides two-way player Shohei Ohtani (6.1) and was over a win per game higher than the second-ranked position player, Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (4.7). His viral incident with a taunting White Sox fan<\/a> at Rate Field and his home run into a group of taunting St. Louis Cardinals fans<\/a> at Busch Stadium were the yin and yang of an epic first half. With Ohtani and Aaron Judge out of the All-Star Game due to injuries, Crow-Armstrong might be the biggest attraction for Fox Sports, which mic\u2019d him up in last year\u2019s game. Some Cubs higher-ups believe it\u2019s a crime that Crow-Armstrong wasn\u2019t voted into the starting lineup by fans, some of whom no doubt disapprove of his behavior. But perhaps the fans\u2019 snub motivated him. He\u2019s been on fire since.<\/p>\n \u2022 Swanson\u2019s 30 RBI in the last month<\/a> was almost double the total of the next-highest shortstop, the New York Mets\u2019 Bo Bichette (17). Despite his brutal start and a .210 average, Swanson\u2019s 2.4 bWAR was seventh among all shortstops. A sensational diving catch to rob Tyler Stephenson in the second inning Sunday was another example of why Counsell refused to bench him during his prolonged slump. Of the prominent free agent shortstops available in the winter of 2022-23 \u2014 Swanson, Trea Turner, Carlos Correa and Xander Bogaerts \u2014 Swanson\u2019s 15.9 combined bWAR over the last 3 1\/2 seasons in Chicago is the highest of the four.<\/p>\n \u2022 Cubs pitchers served up 147 home runs before Sunday, second-worst in the majors to the Atlanta Braves (148). And don\u2019t forget, the wind is only starting to blow out regularly at Wrigley Field. The bullpen\u2019s 16 blown saves were tied for fourth-worst, and the rotation\u2019s 24 quality starts were tied for sixth-worst, meaning more work for the \u2019pen. Yet the Cubs\u2019 75.6% left-on-base percentage was third-best, behind only Atlanta (76.1%) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (76%), so the no-name bullpen has been good at getting out of jams. Relievers Ryan Rolison, Trent Thornton and Jacob Webb have all stepped up in difficult circumstances with Daniel Palencia and Hoby Milner out and Phil Maton struggling while battling knee issues<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2022 Bregman said his swing the last few weeks is the best he\u2019s felt,<\/a> even though some hard-hit balls resulted in hard outs in Baltimore. The Cubs obviously need Bregman at his best for a playoff run. Players have said he makes an impact in the clubhouse and on the bench. \u201cIt\u2019s a really good baseball conversation,\u201d Counsell said of Bregman\u2019s interactions. \u201cIt\u2019s what the player is feeling during games. He\u2019s really into that, and that\u2019s why the guys feel that way about him.\u201d Bregman\u2019s \u201cthumbs-down\u201d gesture during a home run trot<\/a>, after his failure to go all-out on a grounder in Milwaukee that he would\u2019ve reached on, was a strange response to criticism. But he\u2019s been accountable and has conceded he needs to be more consistent offensively. After a successful road trip, he\u2019s seemingly on his way.<\/p>\n \u201cSuper excited for the rest of the season,\u201d Bregman said Saturday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CINCINNATI \u2014 Alex Bregman described the Chicago Cubs\u2019 first half of the season Saturday as a time of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":750140,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2399],"tags":[72,5,138,24,4245,50,576,161,733,5173,884,4,30818,256,35],"class_list":["post-750139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-cubs","tag-alex-bregman","tag-baseball","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-chicagocubs","tag-cincinnati-reds","tag-craig-counsell","tag-cubs","tag-dansby-swanson","tag-jameson-taillon","tag-jed-hoyer","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-all-star-break","tag-mlb-baseball","tag-pete-crow-armstrong"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116909518842211393","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=750139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/750140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=750139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=750139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=750139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Third](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ctc-z-2285800012_264703489.jpg\")
Third baseman Alex Bregman of the Chicago Cubs tries to tag Edwin Arroyo of the Cincinnati Reds out during the ninth inning at Great American Ball Park on July 12, 2026, in Cincinnati. (Jeff Dean\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"Chicago](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ctc-Cubs-Orioles-Baseball_264606333.jpg\")
Chicago Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong walks onto the field before a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Wednesday, July 8, 2026, in Baltimore. (AP Photo\/Terrance Williams)<\/p>\n