Alex Bregman fucking sucks right now, and while it might be crazy to think this is the worst contract in Chicago Cubs history, the third baseman has certainly lost the fan base in less than half a year. The 32-year-old was supposed to come in as the veteran leader, good defense, and steady performer on offense. Right now, he’s doing everything except actually being good at baseball.
Sure, he helped out Michael Conforto during his early-season struggles. Cool. Yeah, the defense has been solid, but it does nothing to make up for Bregman’s lack of hitting so far in 2026. On paper, the 93 wRC+, featuring a slash line of ..243/.327/.342, isn’t outright atrocious, but considering Bregman is a third baseman and has been batting in the middle of the batting order for most of the year, his numbers have been killing the Cubs.
Sunday’s 0-for-5 performance against the San Francisco Giants was a microcosm of Bregman’s first 60+ games with the Cubs. A hitter, who has been fawned over because of his swing decisions, hit a broken-bat soft liner on the first pitch he saw in the eighth inning, when the Cubs have runners at the corners with nobody out. A pitch that was several inches off the outside corner. Bad. That failure to drive in the go-ahead run in a 1-1 tie was somewhat overshadowed by Kevin Alcántara’s base-running mistake as he was doubled off third base.
Yet, in the 10th inning, all eyes were on Bregman and Bregman alone, as the right-handed hitter stepped up with two outs and Pete Crow-Armstrong representing the tying run at third base. After taking ball one, Bregman popped up in the infield to end the game. It capped off a 2-4 home stand for the Cubs in which Bregman went 2-for-24 at the plate. He had 14 plate appearances with runners on base, and he failed to get a single hit, going 0-for-13, with a sac-fly, leaving 18 men on base. That is not a type. EIGHTEEN!
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Forget about living up to the $175 million contract; Bregman has failed to live up to even the lowest of expectations in his first three months with the Cubs. At the very least, he’s taking it on the chin, admitting the obvious.
Bregman faced the music following the 2-1 loss Sunday night, and he made no excuses for his offensive output.
Via Jesse Rogers.
“I’ve been terrible. I need to play better. Offensively, its been awful. I’ve failed many times in this game. I’ve struggled. I’ve started slow before, I’ve started fast before. When you’re struggling, there is only one way forward and that’s straight, head-on through it. It comes down to executing in the game. I haven’t executed all year. Runners in scoring position, I’ve been god-awful. I need to be better. If I’m better over the last how many games, we probably win the majority of them.”
-Alex Bregman
With runners in scoring position, Bregman is now batting .173/.250/.187, with one extra-base hit, 19 strikeouts, and the fourth-worst wRC+ at 22. Bregman’s 84 plate appearances with runners in scoring position are the fourth-most among all MLB hitters this season, yet Bregman only has 19 RBI all season long, the fewest amount among any hitter with as many plate appearances as Bregman’s 297 total trips to the plate through June 7.
Bregman has only hit five home runs and is now down to a .669 OPS. The past three weeks have been particularly worse, as the Cubs have been desperate for anyone to step up on offense during a team-wide funk. It hasn’t been Bregman, who has a slash line of .205/.279/.282 in his last 19 games. He has only had one home run and three RBI since May 18, collecting a total of four extra-base hits in the three-week stretch.
Funny, the Cubs finally went above and beyond for a free agent, and right now Alex Bregman could be the leading reason that gets Jed Hoyer on the hot seat if he, along with several other players, doesn’t figure it out soon. This is unacceptable, and while he may be a professional, at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is that Bregman performs. Right now, he isn’t, and the contract is looming over the Chicago Cubs already three months into a five-year deal.
