Dansby Swanson is facing mounting pressure over his bat while the Cubs keep leaning on his defense. After a 16-2 win over the Blue Jays on Friday, Swanson credited a sense that “today is the day the dam breaks,” even as his season numbers remain among the wors
Wrigley Field was already loud in the first inning when Dansby Swanson stepped in with the Cubs ahead 6-0, dirtied from chest to knee and ready to make the question feel a little less constant.
Swanson lined a Kevin Gausman fastball into left for a single, then stole second with a head-first slide. He took third on an infield hit by Pete Crow-Armstrong and scored on an Alex Bregman hit. The early spark looked like the kind of start that turns conversations—at least for a night—away from what’s missing at the plate.
He later walked twice, including once with the bases loaded. He reached on an error on a hard-hit smash to third, finished with two steals, two runs scored, and—by any assessment—several sharp defensive plays.
It still doesn’t erase what’s been driving Cubs fans nearly every day since Swanson’s seven-year free-agent contract. worth $177 million. the second-richest total in team history. brought him into the 2023 season. For many in the stands. the debate has never been complicated: what happens when a shortstop’s defense is “golden” but the bat doesn’t keep up?.
Swanson didn’t offer a clap-back to the chorus that he should be benched, but he also didn’t pretend the criticism wasn’t landing.
“Everyone’s entitled to their own opinions,” Swanson said. “I’m a sports fan, too. I have my teams that I root for and get upset with certain players at times. I’m no stranger to that. People are entitled to feel the way they feel. I get frustrated about it, too, the play and the performance.”
Then he returned to the only place he can really control the narrative: his own swing, his own timing, and the private insistence that the drought will break.
“I know I can,” Swanson said. “I literally feel it every day when I show up here: Today is the day the dam breaks.”
“Every day when I walk in these doors, I feel that. I think that’s what’s made it even more frustrating for me. I know what I’m capable of doing and just haven’t shown it, this year, especially.”
The numbers he’s carrying this season explain why that message keeps getting tested.
Swanson is locked in a sad battle with Padres star Manny Machado and the Rangers’ Evan Carter for the lowest batting average in baseball and is among the bottom 10 with an OPS of .601. After hitting .151 with a .448 OPS in May, Swanson is at .152 and .511 in June. He has one multi-hit game since April, only two multi-RBI games, and only three multi-run games.
The Cubs’ offense has carried plenty of nights where roles could look different. but the most uncomfortable part for fans is how long this one has gone. In the modern era (starting in 1900). the worst Cubs batting average for a player with at least 400 at-bats was shortstop Ivan De Jesus’ .194 in 1981. With games moving fast, there’s a grim kind of pressure in the math—one that hangs over every at-bat.
Friday brought another kind of irony: catcher Carson Kelly’s career-high six RBI in that 16-2 win was the first game with that many knocked in by a Cub since Swanson did it last Aug. 29 at Colorado. On that day, Swanson had three hits and two homers and scored three times in an 11-7 win. In 99 games since. Swanson has scored three runs only once and had three hits only once. both in April of this season.
As the debate intensifies, some fans have started pointing toward Matt Shaw in the infield, at Swanson’s expense. In the clubhouse, though, Shaw said he didn’t see that kind of talk as a real issue.
“As far as in the clubhouse, I don’t think anybody feels that way,” Shaw said. “I know nobody feels that way.”
President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer has also pushed back earlier in the week on the idea of simply stepping away from Swanson as a solution. He said the Cubs “can’t just run away from our run prevention at times when we struggle offensively.”
That tension—between what the bat is producing and what the overall roster needs—is part of why the Cubs keep treating Swanson as more than a batting average. Even on the field, the questions follow him. Before the Cubs warmed up Friday. a writer stopped manager Craig Counsell and asked how good Swanson is when he isn’t “all fouled up.”.
“When he’s good?. I don’t know if I can answer that question,” Counsell said. “Because it’s really: What is the player?. He’s been a league-average hitter. and a league-average hitter at shortstop is good. if that makes sense. with his defense. It’s the whole player. The whole player is what matters, and that’s why he’s a really valuable player.”.
The contract only adds heat. Once upon a time. Theo Epstein signed pitcher Jon Lester to a six-year. $155 million contract. the best free-agent deal in Cubs history. Epstein also signed outfielder Jason Heyward for eight years and $184 million. with disappointing results. though Heyward did bring a clubhouse reputation and a World Series ring to end most arguments.
Now it’s Hoyer’s turn to carry those expectations—Swanson at $177 million and third baseman Alex Bregman on a five-year, $175 million deal—without anyone throwing bouquets.
“It’s just been the batter’s box, right?” Swanson said. “That’s the one thing that we all pay attention to. Those numbers and stats are in front of us at all times. But everything else with the game, or in [the clubhouse], has been unbelievable.”
Swanson insists his confidence hasn’t wavered.
“That stuff’s never wavered,” he said.
On Friday, his legs and hands showed up early, and for long stretches, his gloves did their job. But for the Cubs, the problem still isn’t whether he can play. It’s whether the bat will finally start to match what everyone already knows he’s capable of—one day at a time. until “today is the day the dam breaks” stops sounding like something he has to keep saying.
Dansby Swanson Chicago Cubs Wrigley Field Blue Jays Manny Machado Evan Carter Craig Counsell Jed Hoyer Matt Shaw Manny Machado batting average MLB hitting slump
Hopefully the bats show up soon.
He walked twice with the bases loaded and still they’re talking like it’s bad?? Like cmon. Maybe the headline is overstating it.
So Swanson is basically saying the dam breaks and then… didn’t? I don’t get baseball psychology. If he’s stealing and playing defense then the hitting should come automatically, right? Unless they’re cursed at Wrigley.
Wrigley was loud first inning and he dirtied up his uniform like that makes the whole team hit later. They won 16-2 and people still acting like the Cubs are hopeless? Sounds like they’re blaming him but the article literally said he had good defense too. Also who cares about a dam breaking like it’s a movie, go swing the bat.