PHILADELPHIA – The Cubs dropped below the Cardinals in the National League Central standings Sunday, ending a 10-day road trip with a sputter.
“Realistically, we’ve just got to be better,” shortstop Dansby Swanson said after the Cubs’ 2-1 loss to the Phillies. “If you want to compete in this league consistently, you’ve got to play well, and you’ve got to prepare well, you’ve got to go out there and take the field every day and give it your best effort, no matter whether you’re feeling good or bad or indifferent.”
Early in the Cubs’ slide, they could at least take solace in the fact that no none of their division rivals were surging. But after going 2-7 on a three-city trip to Minnesota, Houston and Philadelphia, the Cubs (20-26) head back home as the fourth-place team in the division, just one game ahead of the last-place Reds (19-27).
The Cardinals, on the other hand, have won 11 of their last 14 games, including a series win against the Cubs at Wrigley Field, reversing the team’s trajectory.
“Get home, reset, off day tomorrow,” manager David Ross said Sunday. “We’ve got to just continue to support each other and figure out ways to win ballgames. And it’s not for lack of effort or work right now.”
The road trip – which pitted the Cubs against the American League Central leader, the 2022 World Series winner and the runner up – included drastic swings from one side of the spectrum to the other.
“A good litmus test [against] teams that play championship baseball and were in the biggest game, in the World Series, last year,” Ross said. “I don’t feel like we’re far off from that, but we’ve definitely got to be better.”
The Cubs started their road swing with one of their best games of the year, a 6-2 win against the Twins that featured staunch pitching and a determined offense that ground out a run against Sonny Gray, who has the best ERA in MLB (1.64), and piled on against the Minnesota bullpen.
The trip also featured the Cubs’ worst loss of the season, as they blew a six-run lead in a 7-6 walk-off loss to the Astros.
Then, the Cubs opened the Phillies series with a nine-run win and lost by nine runs the very next day.
By the end, the scales had tipped definitively to the negative.
The Cubs had a -27 run differential over the nine games. They went 13-for-64 (.203) with runners in scoring position and posted a 7.51 ERA. The rotation, bullpen and offense took turns bearing the bulk of the responsibility for losses.
“The three teams that we played are all really good teams,” Swanson said. “And I think it showed us that, ‘Hey, we’ve got to consistently strive to get better and play with the right attitude each and every day to give ourselves the best chance to be successful.’”
A few factors are bound to even out, both to the Cubs’ advantage and detriment. The trip included uncharacteristically poor outings from starters Marcus Stroman and Hayden Wesneksi in Minnesota. Stroman bounced back with a quality start in Philly, and Wersneksi headed to Triple-A to get back on track.
The Cubs benefited from a power surge, launching 13 home runs. Christopher Morel (seven) and Seiya Suzuki (four) were responsible for 11 of those, an unsustainable pace.
Next, the Cubs have a nine-game homestand against the Mets (24-23), Reds and Rays (34-14.
“We’ve all had long road trips, and this was definitely a long road trip,” Swanson said. “But it’s nice to be able to go back home and get a day to rest, recover and see loved ones. That can do a lot for the psyche. And obviously coming back and be able to play in front of our fans is always a big deal.”
