CHICAGO — We went down for construction on April 7th with the Cubs sitting at 5-6, the season still very much unsettled. A lot has happened since then. Almost all of it good. Here's your complete catch-up.
The Record: 29-17, First in the NL Central
That's the headline. The Cubs are 29-17, sitting atop the NL Central, and they own one of the best records in the National League. This team has been as good as advertised — and in stretches, better than anyone had a right to expect this early in the season.
Two 10-Game Win Streaks — Historic Company
The story of this Cubs stretch is what they did not once, but twice. After clawing back from that 7-9 hole, Chicago rattled off their first 10-game win streak of the season — April 14 through April 24 — sweeping through a brutal stretch of games and suddenly looking like genuine contenders. Then, after dropping three straight, they did it again, winning ten in a row from April 28 through May 8. Two 10-game win streaks within the first 40 games of a season — the Cubs are just the third team in the modern era to pull that off, and the first since the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers.
At their peak, the Cubs stood at 27-12 with the best record in baseball, having done it against the second-toughest schedule in all of MLB. The run differential was a staggering plus-56. This wasn't smoke and mirrors — it was a team playing its best baseball.
The Offense Has Been a Force
Ian Happ has been steady and dangerous in the lineup, slashing .235/.374 with an .843 OPS, 10 home runs and 20 RBI. His average is down but his walk rate and power are carrying the load — he's one of just four players in baseball this season with 10 home runs and 30-plus walks. He's been exactly what this lineup needs — a professional at-bat, game in and game out. Nico Hoerner continues to look like a future All-Star from the leadoff spot, and Carson Kelly has been quietly excellent behind the plate, hitting .333 through his first 15 games before cooling slightly.
Seiya Suzuki has been one of the more interesting storylines. He missed the start of the season with a knee injury sustained in the World Baseball Classic, but when he returned, he was on fire — posting a .321 average with a wRC+ that put him among the seven best hitters in baseball at his peak. He's hit a rough patch lately and now sits at .274 with 7 home runs, but the talent is undeniable. Getting Suzuki right is one of the more important items on Craig Counsell's to-do list.
Alex Bregman has been exactly who the Cubs signed him to be, even if the bat has taken time to wake up. The five-year, $175 million addition has played in every single game since Opening Day — never too high, never too low, by his own description. The league has been pounding him with breaking balls, and he's been working through it. His last four games, though? Six hits, some loud contact, and exit velocities pushing triple digits. When Bregman locks in, this lineup gets genuinely scary.
A Pitching Staff Held Together With Duct Tape
Here's the part that doesn't get enough credit: the Cubs have been doing all of this while cycling through an absurd number of pitching injuries. Back in March, we predicted that the Cubs' rotation depth would be their greatest weapon — that Counsell's plan was never to have five guys throw 200 innings, but to run eight or nine arms and arrive in October fresher than anyone else. That prediction has been stress-tested hard. At one point, the Cubs had 12 pitchers on the injured list simultaneously. Porter Hodge is done for the year after undergoing UCL surgery. Riley Martin, who made an impressive MLB debut in April and quickly became one of Craig Counsell's most trusted relievers, is also currently sidelined. Matthew Boyd made it back from the IL but his durability remains a question mark.
Through all of it, the rotation and bullpen have held. Shota Imanaga has been the biggest story on the pitching staff — after a rough second half and playoff run in 2025, he came back with his fastball velocity up and opposing hitters batting just .171 against him. Colin Rea has been a quiet workhorse, and Ben Brown leads the staff in ERA. Counsell and pitching coach Tommy Hottovy deserve significant credit for keeping this thing afloat.
One Bump in the Road
Nothing is perfect. The Cubs dropped four straight from May 10-13 — getting shut out twice by the Rangers before dropping the first two games of a series in Atlanta against the Braves. It was their longest losing streak of the season. Thursday's series finale ended it: a 2-0 shutout win over Atlanta, with Ben Brown brilliant in four scoreless innings and Ian Happ providing the dagger — a 424-foot no-doubter off the Braves bullpen in the eighth. A blip, not a trend.
Crosstown Classic: Split Series
And then they came home for Rivalry Weekend. Friday night at Rate Field drew 38,723 fans for the first Crosstown Classic of 2026, with the White Sox on a five-game winning streak and playing some of the best baseball of their young season. Carson Kelly had other ideas — a tiebreaking single in the seventh inning and four RBI on the night as the Cubs won 10-5 to take Game 1.
Game 2 went the other way. The White Sox took it 8-3 to split the series, giving Chicago's south side team a measure of revenge and showing that this Sox squad isn't just playing out the string. The Crosstown Classic continues — we'll have more on that White Sox story in a separate piece publishing today.
The Bottom Line
We missed six weeks of Cubs baseball. In that time, this team went from a middling 5-6 to one of the best records in the National League, reeled off not one but two 10-game win streaks, and made a compelling case that they're not just a division contender — they're a World Series contender. The pitching injuries are real, the Bregman and Suzuki questions are real, but so is the 29-17 record.
It's good to be back. The Cubs gave us plenty to talk about.