The Cubs offense put up 27 runs against the Pirates this week and still lost two of three, so yeah, unfortunately this team has bigger problems than David Ross not being able to maximize his talent and his aversion to playing rookies.
After losing 10 of 13 games, Ross is changing things slightly, but I’m not sure anyone was asking for Jared Young to be in the starting lineup. Young is the designated hitter on Friday, batting seventh against the Colorado Rockies. Once again, Pete Crow-Armstrong is on the bench and after recording 5 RBI in his first big-league start that included a run-scoring double and grand slam, Alexander Canario remains seated.
Cubs Lineup (9/22)
Mike Tauchman
Nico Hoerner
Ian Happ
Cody Bellinger
Dansby Swanson
Seiya Suzuki
Jared Young
Miles Mastrobuoni
Miguel Amaya
The Pirates were basically pitching around Bellinger Thursday night to get to Swanson and it worked out perfectly, as the Cubs shortstop stranded five runners on base in his first two at-bats. Swanson did come through later in the game, singling in a run and then hitting a two-run homer in the ninth inning. Heading into Thursday’s game, Swanson had an 81 wRC+ dating back July 26, slashing .208/.279/.396.
Absolutely no idea why Swanson is hitting ahead of Seiya Suzuki. The Cubs right fielder has been a top-5 player in baseball for the past six weeks and he’s pretty much been as good of a hitter as Bellinger throughout the second half of the regular season. It’s crazy how early in the season Ross refused to move Suzuki from the cleanup spot when he was struggling, while Swanson was heating up and now the same thing is happening in the reverse.
It’s insane to me that the Cubs called up two of their better outfield prospects from Triple-A, including their number one prospect in Pete Crow-Armstrong and he’s only gotten two starts. What a waste, as Ross continues to stick with guys who have all been a part of a brutal collapse the past two weeks.
But like I said from the start of this post, these things may not be the biggest issues because you’d think scoring an average of 9 runs per game would win at least 2 of 3, but the Cubs bullpen might be cooked.
Michael Fulmer and Adbert Alzolay are both out with injured forearms, while Mark Leiter Jr. has lost feel on his best pitch and it was painful to see the bullpen surrender 15 runs that included five different Cubs relievers giving up 2+ runs during the Pirates series.
Not many things are going the Cubs way here down the stretch and they aren’t helping themselves either.
Jameson Taillon gets the start on Friday.
