CHICAGO — The Chicago Cubs viewed this as a fresh start. The All-Star break allowed for a mental reset and a chance to recover physically. As bad as this season has looked at times, it’s not over yet. And any time Justin Steele steps onto the mound, his team expects to win.
A crowd of 40,691 fans showed up to Wrigley Field on Friday afternoon to enjoy the sunshine and scenery. Jon Lester, the three-time World Series champion, suited up for a trial run with Marquee Sports Network, stopping by the broadcast booth atop the Friendly Confines. An optimist could see the Arizona Diamondbacks as an example of what happens when a team gets hot at the right time.
Maybe Saturday. The Cubs didn’t exactly rev it back up after their midseason vacation. A 5-2 loss that looked all too familiar left them with a 47-52 record and only nine games remaining until the July 30 trade deadline.
“I look at the whole total number of games we have left,” said Cubs manager Craig Counsell, who has repeatedly described the deadline as more of a gray area, a chance to get more creative than simply buying or selling. “That’s what we have left to prove ourselves.
“The way we played the first 100-ish games of the season (has) left us with not very much room for error, so we’ve got to play really well to get back in this and put ourselves in position. I don’t think that it’s determined by the next 10 days.”
At a certain point, though, the math doesn’t work. The Cubs have largely wasted Steele’s strong follow-up to an All-Star, Cy Young Award-caliber season, going 5-10 in those 15 starts despite the lefty’s 3.07 ERA and Lester-esque competitiveness.
The Diamondbacks had a good plan of attack against Steele, getting nine hits and knocking him out of the game in the fifth inning. The Diamondbacks won two games Steele started last September, part of the late-season surge that pushed their 84-win team into the playoffs while the 83-win Cubs went home for the winter.
Justin Steele leaves the game with two outs in the fifth inning after allowing five earned runs. (Kamil Krzaczynski / USA Today)
“It’s a good lineup over there,” Steele said. “Obviously, they were in the World Series last year. I was kind of fighting my command with my four-seam and my sinker a little bit early on. I wasn’t quite getting the four-seam in on the righties like I was wanting to, leaving it a little bit over the plate, giving them the chance to do their job and put the barrel on the ball.”
Once again, the Cubs couldn’t get the big hit, falling behind 5-0 before their offense scored a run off Arizona starter Ryne Nelson. The Cubs loaded the bases twice in the eighth inning and scored only one run. They also got the potential tying run to the plate in the ninth inning, only to watch Diamondbacks closer Paul Sewald end the game with two consecutive swinging strikeouts against the top part of the lineup.
Sewald saves, #Dbacks win! 🎉 pic.twitter.com/oVQL6x4nH5
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) July 19, 2024
For reference, the Cubs lost their first series coming out of last year’s All-Star break and even dropped to seven games under .500 in the middle of July before becoming buyers at the trade deadline. The tone of the conversations will shift again over the next two days if the Cubs beat Zac Gallen and then Shota Imanaga blows away the Diamondbacks. Here are a few items to keep in mind:
• Cody Bellinger said his broken left middle finger is feeling much better, but Counsell sounded far more cautious as the former MVP resumed some activities: “We’re going to go slowly at this point. We’re still a ways away here.” It was never clear how much Bellinger’s name would be in play at the trade deadline because of his unique contract structure, declining power numbers and the general uncertainty around the buy-sell-or-hold decision. The looming big-picture conversation with Bellinger might be about whether he opts into $30 million guaranteed for next season.
• Seiya Suzuki spoke with reporters before Friday’s game without a familiar figure standing by his side at his locker. Counsell downplayed the move to dismiss Toy Matsushita, who had served as Suzuki’s interpreter since the Japanese outfielder began his major-league career in 2022: “We just made a decision moving forward that we can be in a good spot without Toy. We’ve built a pretty good support system around Seiya with some other people that can just move the situation forward. Nothing will really change.”
• Whatever happens at the deadline, the Cubs believe they have pitching in reserve to remain competitive. That collection of depth could open up different trade possibilities. Julian Merryweather (rib) was expected to throw for Triple-A Iowa on Friday night, which would give him four minor-league rehab appearances so far. If all goes well, Counsell said, the hard-throwing reliever will be activated by next weekend “at the latest.”
• It’s not clear what type of Cubs team they would eventually be returning to, but Ben Brown (neck) has been scheduled to throw off the mound in Arizona, and Adbert Alzolay (flexor) is beginning a rehab stint in the Arizona Complex League. As a procedural move, Jordan Wicks (oblique) was transferred to the 60-day injured list, but he’s eligible to be activated in mid-August. That’s right around when the Cubs could be beginning a softer spot in the schedule against post-deadline sellers.
“We really believe in the group we got,” Steele said. “It’s a lot of the same guys from last year, and we made some additions. I would say that we’re better on paper. We just got to put wins in the column.”
(Top photo of Christopher Morel: Nuccio DiNuzzo / Getty Images)
