Cubs are suddenly in danger of wasting their incredible start to the season originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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For nearly two months, the Chicago Cubs looked like one of baseball’s most complete teams. Two separate 10-game winning streaks had them threatening to run away with the NL Central and positioned them as a legitimate National League contender early in the 2026 season.
Now, the conversation around the Cubs has changed dramatically. Chicago’s 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday extended the club’s losing streak to nine games, continuing one of the most stunning collapses in baseball this season. The Cubs have now dropped 13 of their last 15 games, falling from division frontrunner to third place in an NL Central where every team entered Memorial Day above .500.
What makes the skid even more alarming is the historical company Chicago has joined. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Cubs became just the second team in the expansion era to record multiple 10-game winning streaks and a separate nine-game losing streak in the same season, joining the 2017 Los Angeles Dodgers.
That statistic alone captures how wildly inconsistent Craig Counsell’s team has become over the last several weeks.
The Cubs offense has completely disappeared at the worst possible time
The biggest issue during Chicago’s collapse has been an offense that suddenly looks nothing like the explosive lineup that dominated earlier in the season.
The Cubs have scored two runs or fewer in nine of their last 15 games, including Monday’s loss at PNC Park. Michael Busch provided Chicago’s only offense with a solo home run in the fifth inning, while the rest of the lineup once again struggled to deliver in key moments. Chicago finished with just six hits, went 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position and stranded seven runners on base.
Even more concerning was how lifeless the offense looked late against Pittsburgh’s bullpen. Pirates rookie Wilber Dotel and closer Gregory Soto retired the final 10 Cubs hitters in order to close out the game. Counsell did everything he could in the ninth inning, sending right-handed hitters Nico Hoerner, Seiya Suzuki and Carson Kelly up against the hard-throwing left-handed Soto. It did not matter.
Hoerner grounded out. Suzuki struck out looking on a borderline full-count slider that clipped the bottom of the zone after review. Kelly grounded out to second to officially seal Chicago’s ninth straight defeat. After the game, Counsell did not sugarcoat the situation.
“We’ve got to swing the bats better,” Counsell said. “We’ve got to pitch better. We need more guys contributing to good stuff.”
Ben Brown deserved a better outcome again
One of the more frustrating parts of Chicago’s losing streak is that the pitching has not completely fallen apart. Ben Brown was excellent once again Monday, allowing just one run on four hits across six innings while striking out seven. His ERA dropped to an impressive 2.01, but the Cubs still found a way to lose.
Instead, the turning point came in the seventh inning when Pirates catcher Henry Davis crushed a Trent Thornton cutter 427 feet over the left-field wall for the go-ahead homer. That was enough because Chicago’s offense never responded.
The Cubs also wasted several strong defensive moments from Pittsburgh first baseman Spencer Horwitz, who repeatedly robbed Pete Crow-Armstrong of hard-hit balls throughout the afternoon.
Meanwhile, Pittsburgh continues gaining confidence behind young contributors like Dotel, who earned the first win of his MLB career with three scoreless innings out of the bullpen. The rookie attacked Chicago hitters with a fearless approach that Pirates catcher Henry Davis praised after the game. For the Cubs, though, the focus is entirely on stopping a spiral that is beginning to define their season.
MORE: Paul Skenes suddenly looks human again as Pirates’ problems keep growing
What once looked like a runaway division title is becoming a fight just to survive
Just a few weeks ago, the Cubs looked capable of creating separation in the NL Central. Now they are only four games ahead of the last-place Pirates and suddenly look vulnerable in one of baseball’s deepest divisions.
The timing could not be worse. Chicago just finished a disastrous homestand where it was swept by the Milwaukee Brewers and lost three more games to the Houston Astros before heading to Pittsburgh and continuing the slide.
The Cubs are still above .500 at 29-25, so this is not a season-ending collapse yet. But the longer the losing streak continues, the harder it becomes to ignore the mounting pressure around a team that entered the season expecting to contend.
The most alarming part is that there does not appear to be one simple fix. The offense is inconsistent. Key hitters are slumping. Good pitching performances are being wasted. And a team that once played with swagger now looks tight late in games.
That is how promising seasons suddenly unravel in baseball.
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