​The Cubs closed the first portion of the 2026 schedule—excluding a few decimal points, the actual first 59.3 percent—on a strong note by taking four of six on a road swing through Baltimore and Cincinnati. That run leaves them with a 27-23 road record, one of the better road marks in MLB so far this season. With 66 games remaining, 35 will be at Wrigley Field, where the Cubs are 27-19. At the All-Star break I typically publish a Cubs mid-season grades feature, which will be posted here tomorrow. In the meantime, here’s a look at who was hot and who cooled for the Cubs over the past week.
Bregman produced six hits for the week, but two of them were timely home runs that helped the Cubs extend leads in wins over the Reds on Saturday and Sunday. His weekly OPS stood at .846, with nine RBIs, and even the outs he made on the trip were often hard-hit. A strong second half from Bregman would be a major boost to the offense. Here’s the home run from Saturday that ultimately decided the game [VIDEO].
PCA had two games on the six-game trip without a hit, yet still posted an impressive slash line of .273/.429/.591 thanks to six walks. He also belted two home runs, scored six runs, swiped a base, and continued to play stellar defense. This notable catch capped the fifth inning on Saturday in Cincinnati [VIDEO]. For most teams, that ball would have dropped in between three fielders and kept the inning alive. Instead, PCA made it look routine.
After the Cubs were swept by the Brewers at Wrigley Field in May, PCA was batting .225/.302/.357. Since then, in 46 games, he’s produced .358/.465/.710 (63-for-176) with 10 doubles, two triples, 16 home runs, 33 RBIs, 37 runs, 32 walks, and 12 stolen bases. He earned NL Player of the Month for June, and through the early July stretch (10 games) he’s posted .353/.500/.676 (12-for-34) with two doubles, three homers, seven RBIs, four steals, eight walks, and nine runs. If he keeps this up, another monthly award could be in reach. And his .386 season OBP currently ranks fifth in the National League, a stat that surely wasn’t on anyone’s bingo card for this year.
As you know, the Cubs’ rotation has been decimated by injuries. Yet over the six games on the road trip, Matthew Boyd, Shōta Imanaga, Colin Rea, Javier Assad, and David Peterson combined for a 3.03 ERA and a 1.286 WHIP across 32.2 innings, anchoring the team in most of the games. In one of the two losses on the trip, the bullpen let them down—a 3-2 defeat to the Orioles on Thursday—though Peterson delivered five solid innings and the Cubs held the lead into the eighth. There’s no doubt the rotation needs reinforcements. If they can sustain this level of pitching for an extended period, and if the bullpen can be fortified to hold late leads, another lengthy winning streak could be within reach.
At the end of April, Nico was hitting .291/.370/.449 with four home runs and seven stolen bases in 31 games. This is the latest snapshot of a season that has already shown notable progress and several surprising contributors.