Breathe.
It’s a rough day to be a Cub fan. Don’t borrow trouble. You don’t know. First and foremost, you don’t know the extent of Cade Horton’s situation. Yes, they said elbow and forearm. Those are dirty words when a pitcher leaves abruptly. Cade has had Tommy John surgery once before. So we all can certainly understand his concern. We all understand the caution. The injured list stint is obvious, The caution is obvious. But we don’t know.
Don’t borrow that trouble. You have to have it scanned. You have to treat
that young man carefully. But don’t give up today. There hasn’t been a bell. No one’s thrown in the towel. The fight isn’t over.
Breathe.
Give this a minute to play out. You’re assuming the worst. Almost exactly a year ago, the Cubs lost Justin Steele to an elbow injury. Steele had to have his UCL repaired just under a year ago. After that injury, the Cubs recovered and went on to be one of the best teams in the National League. They won a playoff series. They pushed the Brewers to the brink in the Division Series.
To be fair, Cade Horton emerging helped get them to that point. It’s not fair to assume that Jaxon Wiggins might emerge that way this year. Each season is unique. Maybe it’s Steele himself who emerges. We can’t know. We know that Colin Rea was generally up to the task when asked in 2025. Or Javier Assad in 2024. There are options. It isn’t over.
Horton left early. The Cubs did eventually lead. But they couldn’t hold it. The bullpen, asked to throw eight innings in this one, came up short. The end result? Four runs in seven innings by the pen. Not good enough. But the bigger story is nine innings and just one run for the offense. Eight total runs across four losses in the seven games. Just two runs per game. Not good enough. Yet 23 runs across three wins. Nearly eight runs per game.
It’s early. 28 runs across seven games. That’s what they’ve allowed. It’s high. You likely aren’t going to reach the playoffs at four runs per game. 31 runs scored over seven games. That’s pretty good. Let’s not draw conclusions yet.
The reasons for nervousness. They are there.
Breathe.
This isn’t great. But it isn’t over yet. It’s far too soon. There are 155 games left to play. This is a deep and talented roster. If Cade is somehow done for 2026, the team is undoubtedly less good than we thought it would be. No sane person can just wave off a loss like that. Also, the season doesn’t hinge on one player. Certainly, he is one of the more valuable pieces on this team. But there are redundancies.
The margin is slimmer. But it isn’t over. And it isn’t even known just how bad the situation is.
Breathe.
It’s going to be okay. Promise.
Three Positives:
- Hoby Milner has been fun in the early going, no? He came into this one with runners on second and third and one out, the Cubs leading by one. He did yield the lead. But also got a pop out, nearly escaping the inning. Thenm threw another scoreless behind it. Milner is a really interesting left-handed weapon.
- Carson Kelly had a couple of hits against a left-handed starter.
- Colin Rea was pressed into emergency action. He faced 14 batters, allowing four hits and a walk. He was charged with one run. He struck out four. I presume he’ll slide into Horton’s spot until we know more.
Game 7, April 3: Cleveland 4, Chicago 1 (3-4)
Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.
THREE HEROES:
- Superhero: Hoby Milner (.117). 1.2 IP, 6 BF, 2 H
- Hero: Colin Rea (.076). 3.1 IP, 14 BF, 4 H, BB, ER, 4 K
- Sidekick: Alex Bregman (.072). 1-4
THREE GOATS:
- Billy Goat: Hunter Harvey (-.350). 0.2 IP, 5 BF, 2 H, BB, 3 ER (L 0-1)
- Goat: Michael Busch (-.192). 0-4
- Kid: Ian Happ (-.154). 0-4
WPA Play of the Game: Gabriel Arias faced Hunter Harvey with one out in the seventh, the game tied at one. He homers, giving Cleveland the lead. (.227)
*Cubs Play of the Game: Alex Bregman batted with a runner on first and no outs in the sixth, the game tied at one. He singled, sending the runner to third. (.135)
Cubs Player of the Game:
Game 6 Winner: Matthew Boyd received 153 of 189 votes.
Rizzo Award Standings: (Top 3/Bottom 3)
The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.
- Hoby Milner +4
- Miguel Amaya/Edward Cabrera/Jameson Taillon +3
- Shōta Imanaga/Phil Maton/Alex Bregman -3
- Matt Shaw -5
Up Next: Game two in Cleveland. Shōta Imanaga (0-1, 7.20) starts for the Cubs. Slade Cecconi (0-1, 12.46) stars for Cleveland. Cecconi is right handed. At least until Seiya Suzuki returns to the Cubs, the Cubs are much better against right handed pitching. Cleveland is yet to face a lefty this season. They were 22-24 against lefty starters a year ago, on their way to an 88-win season overall. Did they adequately address that issue? The Cubs were 73-47 against righty starters on the way to 92 wins. So generally, the Cubs are better against righties.
I think this matchup favors the Cubs. So I’ll lean into the pattern continuing one more day, at least.
Breathe my friend. Breathe. It’s going to be okay.
