The Cubs came home this past week hoping to make up for their 3-4 road trip.
They did not. In fact, they were even worse in the Friendly Confines, which were decidedly unfriendly against West Coast visitors, the Athletics and Giants, and the Cubs won just two of the games — and they had to come from behind and walk off both those wins.
Sheesh. Let’s hope that improves, and soon.
Here’s who was hot and not for the Cubs over the past week.
Three up
Pete Crow-Armstrong’s recent hitting is at MVP level
PCA is on a career-high 12-game hitting streak and once again looking
like the hitter he was the first half of 2025. That got him an All-Star nod. Maybe he’ll get another, if he keeps this up.
For the week: .440/.481/.920 (11-for-25) with four home runs, six RBI and two stolen bases. It’s a testament to how bad the Cubs offense has been that PCA got on base nearly half the time and the only runs he scored were on the home runs.
For his 12-game hitting streak: .392/.456/.745 (20-for-51) with three doubles, five home runs, nine RBI and nine runs scored.
He’s got a pretty good chance at being named National League Player of the Week.
Here’s his walkoff hit against the A’s on Thursday [VIDEO].
Ben Brown has been magnificent
Brown pitched just once this past week, 5.1 shutout innings against the Giants on Saturday, allowing just one hit and striking out five.
Since joining the rotation: 1.44 ERA, 1.89 FIP, 0.766 WHIP in six starts and 31.1 innings. And, of course, he has allowed just one home run this year — to the very first batter he faced, Jacob Young of the Nats on Opening Day. Since then: 219 batters faced, no homers.
Here are his five strikeouts on Saturday [VIDEO].
Jacob Webb has become perhaps the most trustworthy Cubs reliever
After Webb’s first four outings of 2026, in which he allowed multiple runs in two of them, he had a 7 .36 ERA.
Since then: 1.46 ERA, 1.85 FIP, 1.094 WHIP, 31 strikeouts in 24.2 innings. He’s allowed runs in just five of his last 24 outings and none in his last 11.
Webb has certainly arrived near the top of Craig Counsell’s Circle of Trust.
Three down
Where have you gone, Alex Bregman?
Bregman was 2-for-24 during the homestand and 0-for-12 against the Giants, striking out three times and hitting into a rally-killing double play on Sunday (though the second out of that DP wasn’t his fault, it was Kevin Alcántara straying too far off third base).
To his credit, Bregman did not make excuses and said he’s been “awful”:
That’s really just it. Bregman is 32. That should be an age at which he can still be productive. There are 96 games remaining in the season. It’s time for him to start hitting again. Hopefully, beginning Tuesday in Colorado.
Edward Cabrera, yikes
Cabrera returned from his minimum 15-day stay on the injured list and was just terrible, serving up three home runs to the Giants in their Friday afternoon blowout win.
I’ll spare you the carnage. His next start will be Thursday in Denver.
Please try to keep the ball in Coors Field, Edward.
Dansby Swanson’s offense has also vanished
Swanson was 2-for-14 during the homestand with four strikeouts before Craig Counsell gave him the last two games off from starting. Pretty sure Counsell intended for Swanson to not play at all those days, but he was pressed into service as a pinch-runner in the 10th inning Saturday and wound up scoring the winning run.
Over the first three years of his Cubs contract, Swanson batted .243/.313/.408 with 62 home runs in 455 games. That’s not great, but it’s perfectly acceptable with his elite defense.
The defense is still elite, but he’s got to do better than a .606 OPS, which is over 100 points lower than his career mark. Perhaps the two days off and Coors Field can jumpstart his offense.
