Is Cubs' Brutal Slump Cause for Concern Before Opening Day?

The Chicago Cubs sputtered to the end of spring training after a hot start.

Mar 19, 2025; Bunkyo, Tokyo, JPN; Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong (4) during the fourth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the Tokyo Series at Tokyo Dome. | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

The Chicago Cubs haven't been playing good baseball lately.

It's been a rough couple of weeks for the Cubs, who have seemingly lost the momentum from their sizzling start to spring training.

Chicago opened spring training with an impressive 11-game unbeaten streak, going 8-0-3 to start the preseason. The Cubs went 4-9 in spring play after that, ending training camp on a down note.

Including its two Tokyo Series losses to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago has lost seven of its last eight games, getting outscored by 30 runs during that stretch.

Going to Japan in the middle of the month appeared to derail the Cubs, who have been struggling on the mound and at the plate. They were 11-5-3 before the trip but went just 1-4 after returning, including ugly losses to the Colorado Rockies (7-3), Athletics (8-1) and Atlanta Braves (13-4).

Since Japan:

*5-1 Loss vs Padres (for context: no regulars from Japan played)
*7-3 Loss vs Rockies
*8-1 Loss vs A’s
*Currently losing 11-2 vs Braves in 6th inning

Can’t say I’m not a little disturbed by this

— The Setup Man - Chicago Cubs YT Channel (@SetupManKyle) March 24, 2025

The main issue for Chicago is that its bats went cold. After managing just four runs and 11 hits in their two games against the defending World Series champs, the Cubs scored only 13 runs over their final five spring training games.

Include the two Dodgers games, and Chicago is averaging just 2.4 runs per game over its last seven.

Granted, it's a small sample size and spring training stats don't mean much. Pitchers also tend to be ahead of hitters at this stage of the season.

The Cubs did salvage their preseason a bit with a 4-2 win over the Braves in Tuesday's spring training finale, giving Chicago something to feel good about heading into Thursday's Opening Day matchup against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Still, it's concerning that the Cubs don't appear to be in top form just as real games are about to start. Their bats need to wake up, especially against a potent Diamondbacks offense that led MLB in runs last year.

Chicago is 0-2 in the standings, so it already has some ground to make up. Hopefully the Cubs don't make that hole even deeper by getting off to a slow start.