Chicago Cubs: The slump isn’t from bad baseball
The Chicago Cubs are in the midst of one of their worst slumps of the season. But they haven’t done much wrong on the diamond.
The Chicago Cubs went into the weekend with the hopes of beating up on Cincinnati—a pastime they’ve grown accustomed to in recent years. However, the tables turned this time around, and the Reds had their way with the Cubs.
The Cubs are struggling due to a series of weird circumstances though. Brandon Morrow went on the disabled list after back spasms from undressing. Tyler Chatwood and his wife had their first child which made him miss his start on Sunday.
A doubleheader with the Dodgers before the weekend further shuffled their rotation, requiring Duane Underwood to be recalled for his first MLB start Monday. Kris Bryant has also been missing games on a day-to-day basis due to a bug in his shoulder.
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The culmination of players being unavailable resulted in the Cubs being swept by the Reds in a four-game set for the first time since 1983. But fortunately for the Cubs, progression the mean appears to be imminent.
Clearing the disabled list
The Chicago Cubs currently have a relatively crowded disabled list, and it’s all pitchers. Yu Darvish, Rob Zastryzny, Brandon Morrow, Carl Edwards Jr., Eddie Butler and Drew Smyly comprise the current DL with the aforementioned Kris Bryant shoulder making him day-to-day.
It’s challenging to hold leads with so much of your bullpen unavailable, and it showed this weekend; the Cubs blew leads in three of their four games against Cincinnati.
But the DL party seems to be near its conclusion. Yu Darvish made his first rehab start on Monday. Carl Edwards Jr. has been throwing off flat ground and is expected to return in the next couple of weeks. Brandon Morrow’s injury has been apparently benign since he was designated to the DL and should be back by the end of his 10-day assignment.
The Cubs look positioned to get healthy just in time for their annual post-All Star break, hot-streak.
Next: Detroit Tigers: Is now the time to trade Nicholas Castellanos?
The Chicago Cubs are slogging through one of their most frustrating stretches of the season. But their return to form looks likely to be sooner rather than later.