Cubs’ big second inning snaps slump, but doubts linger

Cubs’ eight-run – Jed Hoyer called the Cubs offense a clear problem that hasn’t shown up in high-leverage moments. A dominant eight-run burst in the second inning against the Rockies delivered the kind of performance Chicago has been waiting for, but the team’s broader slump st

For the first time in a long stretch, the Cubs looked like a team that can turn a season’s frustrations into an inning that feels effortless.

On Tuesday, Jed Hoyer didn’t sugarcoat it. “The offense has been a challenge, overall,” the Cubs’ team president said. “It shouldn’t be, in general. We should score plenty of runs. but that hasn’t been the case.” He added. “As a team. we need to score more runs. And especially we need to hit in leverage situations. That hasn’t happened.”.

A night later, Chicago did.

The Cubs exploded for eight runs. with seven coming in the second inning. as they bested the Rockies to secure back-to-back series wins. Shortstop Dansby Swanson described the inning as something the Cubs have repeatedly used to their advantage. “That inning. for so many reasons. was so good for everybody. ” Swanson said. pointing to the way it pushed the game into constant motion. His home run capped a rally that turned a night that had felt familiar—questions hanging over the offense—into one that finally moved like it used to.

Swanson said the Cubs’ best version has often been about forcing pitchers to make outs while the ballpark works on the hitters too. “That’s what we’ve been so good at in the past is having those big innings. really making pitchers work to get outs. using the ballpark to our advantage. That’s what we do. To have an inning happen like that felt really good for everybody involved.”.

Earlier in the season. offensive performances like Wednesday’s helped vault the Cubs to the top of the NL Central and reinforced their championship-level expectations. Then the offense slipped into something closer to a freefall—one that left fans and the organization alike trying to find the specific cause.

Even after Wednesday’s win, the Cubs are 12-24 in their last 36 games since May 9. That stretch has drained life from a lineup built for October. and players and coaches have spent the last five weeks describing their attempts to work their way out of the slump. The results haven’t come often enough, leaving room for the kind of worry that lingers in baseball’s downtime.

Hoyer has been thinking about it too. openly acknowledging the awkwardness of trying to diagnose an offense that looks capable on paper but inconsistent at the moments that decide games. “For better or worse, we’ve spent five weeks having that discussion of, ‘Too much [work]?. Too little?. Do you do things differently?’” Hoyer said. “There are times you want [to ask], ‘Are they overly serious?. Are they doing too much?’ We’ve asked all those questions.” He said he’s ready for that kind of conversation to end. “I’ll be happy when we’re not having those conversations, because they’ve taken up a lot of time.”.

Wednesday’s second inning offered a brief, vivid answer to at least part of the problem.

In that frame, the Cubs sent 11 batters to the plate. They produced seven hits and scored seven runs. with Matt Shaw tripling. Seiya Suzuki and Carson Kelly doubling. and Swanson homering as the rally built pitch after pitch. Manager Craig Counsell said the biggest inning looked rare even by the Cubs’ own recent standards. “We haven’t had an inning like that, it feels like, for a long time.”.

The most glaring difference was situational—exactly where Hoyer said the offense had failed. In the second inning alone, Cubs hitters delivered four hits with runners in scoring position, a detail that has been at the center of the team’s struggles.

The Cubs entered Wednesday with the second lowest batting average in baseball with runners in scoring position, hitting just .220 for the season. Since May 9—the day after they completed their second 10-game win streak this year—that number dropped to .177.

How could a lineup with proven hitters produce numbers like that?

Hoyer didn’t claim certainty. but he did point to the possibility that when a slump settles in. it can start feeding on itself. “If, theoretically, there’s no psychological component to those things, they should revert back to the mean,” Hoyer said. “When it becomes something people are worried or thinking about. it can become its own problem.” He continued: “You always wonder that when the group is struggling in high-leverage situations. You wonder if that’s something that guys feel. If you look at our numbers, … guys in high-leverage situations have been poor. So you kind of wonder, ‘That doesn’t make a lot of sense. Is that a psychological thing?. Is that a change in thought process?’”.

For one night. the Cubs’ bats looked like they belonged back in the kind of game they built their reputation around. at least for a second inning that felt like a return to Wrigley Field form. But the team has already passed through several big moments in the last couple weeks. only for them to prove mirages.

So the question after Wednesday wasn’t whether the Cubs could still score—it was whether this would last.

Pete Crow-Armstrong made that boundary clear. “I’m not going to buy into that yet,” the center fielder said. “I want to keep stacking [wins].”

Cubs Jed Hoyer Dansby Swanson Rockies Craig Counsell NL Central Wrigley Field baseball slump high-leverage hitting