The Cubs had themselves a nice series in Anaheim, sweeping the Angels and creeping a bit closer to the top of the NL Central.
Here’s who’s hot and not for the Cubs over the last five games. (Five, because the last edition of this series posted last Wednesday. This one covers the Angels series and the last two against the Brewers.)
Three up
Welcome back, Kyle Tucker
Tucker sat out all but the last game of the Brewers series, then came back for that game and went 0-for-4 with a walk.
Once the Cubs got to Anaheim, though, Tucker’s bat came
alive again. He homered Friday and twice on Saturday and had a hit and two walks Sunday. That’s a slash line of .313/.421/.938 (5-for-16) with a double, three home runs, seven RBI, three walks and four runs scored.
The Cubs will need this sort of production from Tucker over the season’s last five weeks.
Here’s Tucker’s two-homer game from Saturday [VIDEO].
Matt Shaw crosses the .700 OPS mark
It’s been a long road, but Shaw’s .300/.417/.700 (3-for-10, a home run, two walks) performance over the five games has his season OPS at .705. It was .556 at the All-Star break, and since then: .298/.343/.691 in 34 games (28-for-94, six doubles, two triples, nine home runs, four stolen bases and 18 runs scored).
Oh, and he’s playing great defense at third base, too [VIDEO].
Brad Keller: Still lights-out
Keller appeared in three of the five games, throwing one inning in each, retiring all nine batters he faced, two by strikeout.
But Keller’s scoreless streak goes back longer than that. In 15 games since the All-Star break covering 16 innings, Keller has not given up a run and has allowed just seven of 55 batters faced to reach base (three singles, four walks).
I wasn’t convinced Keller could do this when the Cubs signed him, but clearly I was wrong. This has been one of Jed Hoyer’s best acquisitions for 2025 — and for only $1.5 million.
Three down
Seiya Suzuki desperately needs a reset
I was surprised that Suzuki played Sunday — that would have been a perfect time to rest him and give Owen Caissie some playing time.
Suzuki did have three hits and three walks in the five games — but that made for just a .158/.261/.158 (3-for-19) line. He struck out six times, but as we know, Suzuki has gotten jobbed a number of times by umpires on called third strikes that weren’t.
But it’s not just this week. It’s the whole second half. Suzuki batted .263/.319/.547 with 25 home runs in 92 games before the All-Star break. In 34 games since: .181/.312/.259 with just two home runs.
Please, Craig. Give Seiya a break sometime soon.
Pete Crow-Armstrong is also in a slump
PCA homered on Saturday in Anaheim, but that was one of just two hits he had over the five games, in which he batted .118/.150/.294 (2-for-17) with five strikeouts.
Even with that, he enters Monday’s action still leading NL players in bWAR at 6.4. Much of that, of course, is from his defense — he leads all MLB players in defensive bWAR at 2.5.
Perhaps the Cubs are using Andrew Kittredge a bit too much
Kittredge started off his Cubs tenure pretty well, apart from one awful inning early this month against the Reds.
Then he settled in, but allowed runs in both of his last two appearances, and threw 20+ pitches both Friday and Sunday. With the off day today he’s likely available for the Giants series; hopefully he can straighten things out.
