The Cubs had a .500 week, but there were some good performances to note.
The Cubs began the week tied for first place and went 3-3.
That was good enough to end the week in a first-place tie, since the Brewers also went 3-3. Thanks, Marlins!
Here’s who was hot and not for the Cubs over the past week.
Three up
Matt Shaw, your table is ready
Shaw worked on tweaking his batting stance again over the All-Star break and wound up having a fantastic week. Over the six games against the Royals and White Sox, Shaw batted .400/.429/.950 (8-for-20) with two doubles, three home runs, eight RBI, two stolen bases and five runs scored. That’s a possible recipe for being named NL Player of the Week — we should find out later this afternoon.
Here’s his home run Saturday against the White Sox [VIDEO].
Shaw has been a hot hitter in all nine games since the All-Star break. Which raises the question: Should the Cubs still look into trading for Eugenio Suárez? Or focus on improving the starting rotation?
Matthew Boyd has gotten even better
Boyd threw seven shutout innings against the Royals last Tuesday, allowing four hits and striking out six. Then he was held back a day so he could start tonight against the Brewers.
Boyd is a legitimate Cy Young candidate. Here are the six K’s against the Royals [VIDEO].
Nico Hoerner showed off major smarts on Sunday
Nico dropped an infield-fly rule popup and completed a double play by throwing Lenyn Sosa out at third.
Later in the game, he got picked off first but helped engineer this play, in which Ian Happ wound up scoring a very important run [VIDEO].
Nico batted .304/.360/.304 (7-for-23) over the week with a double and a stolen base.
Three down
Seiya Suzuki, yikes
Suzuki went 2-for-22 (.091) over the week with nine strikeouts. His OPS peaked this month at .880 on July 5, and now sits at .831.
All hitters go through slumps, but it would be nice to see Seiya hitting again. I assume he’ll play the games in the Milwaukee series, as he’s always hit well there (.813 career OPS in 22 games), but perhaps a rest for a game in the Baltimore series this weekend might help him reset.
Kyle Tucker, also in a slump
Tucker missed one game of the Royals series after fouling a ball of his leg the previous day. He’s not been hitting for a while, either. He went just 3-for-17 (.176) over the past week, though with six walks that produced a .391 OBP. He’s hit just one home run this month.
Tucker has hit .421/.500/.684 (8-for-19) against the Brewers in the five games the Cubs have faced them so far this year, so hopefully that sort of hitting continues this week.
Ryan Pressly had a rough week
Pressly appeared in four games over the week, throwing 3⅔ innings. He allowed five hits, including two home runs, and walked a pair.
I have to wonder: If the Cubs can trade for a bullpen upgrade before the deadline, or if a trade for a starter pushes Colin Rea and/or Ben Brown to the pen, could the Cubs decide to pull the plug on Pressly?