There haven’t been many, but they do have a pattern.
The Cubs are five games ahead of the Cardinals in the National League Central as they begin their lone home stand at Wrigley Field in June tonight. With a 41-27 record, they’ve had an excellent start to the season, but diving into the series wins and losses a bit there is a pattern that is a bit worrying.
The Cubs have won 15 series this season and lost seven. They also split one four-game series with the Diamondbacks early in the season. Below are the seven series the Cubs have lost this season:
That’s right, the only series the Cubs have lost to date in 2025 are series against teams who have winning records. It’s also basically a list of teams the Cubs have to be hoping they can beat in a series in September or October.
Now, obviously there are some reasons for cautious optimism here. The Cubs have compiled their current record without Justin Steele or Shōta Imanaga in their rotation for a decent chunk of the season. While Steele is out for the year, the Cubs should get Imanaga back towards the end of the month. That will be a boost to their starting pitching depth.
Additionally, the trade deadline is still ahead of the team, which means they could fill in the very small gaps that have them falling just short against some of the best competitors in both leagues by looking outside of their system. For example, we’ve already seen them improve their bullpen considerably after some misses early in the season.
However, it’s worth considering as the Cubs head into a long homestand against the Pirates, Brewers and Mariners that while the good news is that they are keeping pace with the top of the league, the bad news is that when they have fallen short this season, it’s been against the teams they’d most like to beat in mid-October.