Chicago Cubs get horrific reality check ahead of playoffs

The Chicago Cubs, barring some wildly unforeseeable set of circumstances over the last six games of the regular season, will make the playoffs. It’s still to be determined, however, where they’ll land in the NL Wild Card seeding.

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Currently tied for the No. 1 seed with the San Diego Padres and just one game ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies, the team’s fortunes could see them either host the Wild Card series or hit the road for that first round.

Whatever the case, though, the Cubs’ fortunes will seemingly rest on whether their pitching staff can hold up in postseason play.

Cubs postseason pitching concerns

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Currently boasting the top offense and defense in baseball, Chicago’s pitching staff ranks closer to the bottom of the barrel than the top of the heap.

In a recent piece for The Athletic, Stephen J. Nesbitt and Chad Jennings ranked the thirteen teams in postseason contention and placed the Cubs firmly in the No. 10 spot, ahead of only the Texas Rangers, Houston Astros, and Chicago White Sox.

Per Nesbitt and Jennings:

“Jed Hoyer’s summer acquisitions overhauled this Cubs pitching core quite a bit, with Clay Holmes and Kevin Gausman strengthening the playoff rotation, Ryan Zeferjahn beefing up the late-inning options, and David Peterson and Aaron Civale filling bulk relief roles.

The results leave much to be desired. Despite pitching in front of the best defense in the sport, the Cubs rank 16th in staff ERA this season, third-worst among the teams included in this list (only the Rangers and Astros were worse). The numbers have been better in recent weeks. It remains unclear in what order the Cubs’ leverage relievers will be deployed, but at least we know who they are. There are numerous interesting options to cover the middle innings, from Edward Cabrera to Caleb Thielbar, Aaron Civale, Colin Rea and Justin Steele, who hasn’t appeared in an MLB game since April 7, 2025.”

Some might argue that a No. 10 ranking is even being a bit generous.

Concerns and question marks

The Cubs have a lot of question marks throughout their pitching staff and a lot of potential holes that could become fatal flaws in the heat of playoff action.

The bullpen, of course, has been wildly inconsistent, bordering on downright awful at times.

Chicago’s late-inning, high-leverage arms—Jacob Webb and Daniel Palencia—have been unable to shut down opposing teams when it matters. Trade deadline acquisition Ryan Zeferjahn, picked up as a possible closer-type, has also struggled as a Cub. The relievers between the starters and the closers have been surprisingly solid for the most part, but none are going to blow anyone away.

The starting rotation, meanwhile, looks fragile, even with the trade deadline additions of Clay Holmes and Kevin Gausman—and David Peterson before that. The Cubs’ world would’ve been a lot easier if Cade Horton had not been lost for the season with an elbow injury and if Justin Steele had not suffered a setback in recovering from his own elbow injury. It also would’ve been really nice if Edward Cabrera had panned out in his first year with the team.

As things stand now, the Cubs will have a postseason rotation of Holmes, Gausman, Matthew Boyd, and Shota Imanaga and a bullpen full of hopes and wishes.

Could their offense and defense carry the Cubs through the postseason? Possibly, but maybe not likely.

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