Al Yellon created Bleed Cubbie Blue and has been its managing editor since 2005. His latest book about the Cubs is "Chicago Cubs Firsts." Find him on Bluesky at @bleedcubbieblue.bsky.social
The Cubs began a stretch of 21 games against teams with sub-.500 records by going 5-1 against the Marlins and White Sox at Wrigley Field.
With 15 games remaining in that stretch, they would need to go 10-5 to meet what I thought was a goal for a good team, going 15-6. I believe they can do that 10-5 mark over the next couple of weeks.
Of course, it's still way too early to clearly define who would be MVP candidates for 2025, but there were folks in the Wrigley bleachers starting a chant of "MVP! MVP!" for Pete Crow-Armstrong late in Sunday's game.
PCA did at least put himself in the conversation for NL Player of the Week, batting .458/.462/.917 (11-for-24) over the six games with a double, a triple, two home runs, 10 RBI and five runs scored.
He also flashed his usual defensive greatness Saturday [VIDEO].
For the season to date, PCA is batting .290/.325/.585 (53-for-183) with 12 doubles, three triples, 12 home runs and 14 stolen bases. Keep that up and yes, he'll be in the MVP conversation. Also:
And that doesn't include his double and triple on Sunday.
Swanson's eighth-inning single Sunday extended his on-base streak to 18 games. In the streak he's batting .387/.458/.710 (24-for-62) with two doubles, six home runs, 11 RBI and 16 runs scored.
His usual solid defense is being played, too [VIDEO].
Rea has been terrific all year and he did it again against the Marlins and White Sox. In 12 total innings he allowed 10 hits and four walks and basically held down the fort until the offense could score enough runs. For the season, Rea's 2.38 ERA and 1.200 WHIP in 41⅓ innings has resulted in 1.0 bWAR -- that'd be something like a 3.5 bWAR season if extrapolated to a full year. All that for just $4.25 million.
Honorable mention to the bullpen, who as a group allowed just three runs in 19⅔ innings (1.37 ERA) and allowed no runs at all in four of the six games.
For the week, the third-base triumvirate of Jon Berti, Nicky Lopez and Vidal Bruján batted .136/.136/.182 (3-for-22) with one double (Bruján, on Saturday) and five strikeouts.
Reportedly, help is on the way in the person of Matt Shaw.
Busch batted .211/.318/.211 (4-for-19) in the five games he played against the Marlins and White Sox. Fortunately, his overall numbers are still good (.255/.355/.463) with seven home runs) and he's playing solid defense at first base.
Merryweather had a bad outing against the Marlins last Tuesday, and good defense prevented him from another possible bad one Sunday against the White Sox. At least his velocity seems back up to its usual 97 miles per hour, shown in Sunday's game. Against the Marlins he was hitting only around 95. (Yes, that does make a difference). Hopefully Merryweather can figure things out soon.