The Cubs’ Playoff Hopes May Come Down To This One Question

The Chicago Cubs have the second best record in the National League entering play on Aug. 7; unfortunately, the only team with a better record also resides in the NL Central.

The Milwaukee Brewers, who have been playing at an incredibly high level for weeks, own the best record in baseball at 70-44. They are currently four games ahead of the Cubs in the standings.

If Chicago wants to catch their division rivals, they will need their pitching staff to step up and perform each and every night.

Right now, in the opinion of Jordan Bastian of MLB.com, the biggest question facing the Cubs down the stretch of the regular season is if their rotation will hold up.

And it is hard to argue against that being the biggest question to answer.

Chicago went into the trade deadline with their sights set on acquiring a front-line starting pitcher to add alongside Shota Imanaga and Matthew Boyd.

They fell woefully short of that goal, only acquiring Michael Soroka from the Washington Nationals.

A back-of-the-rotation innings eater, Soroka looked more like a replacement for Jameson Taillon, not Justin Steele.

Which Cubs pitcher will step up down the stretch?

Alas, that is a deal which is blowing up in the Cubs’ face at this point because he made it through only two innings of his debut before exiting with shoulder discomfort and subsequently being placed on the injured list.

There is a ton of pressure on Imanaga and Boyd to continuing carrying the load, but they have had some injury concerns of their own.

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A more direct question for Chicago to answer is whether Cade Horton can keep up this level of production and stay healthy for the final two months of the season to lead a charge into the postseason.

The team’s top pitching prospect coming into 2025, he has been magnificent recently, upping his performance as he adjusts to life as a Major Leaguer. But concerns about how he will hold up are legitimate because he has already thrown more innings this year than he has in any single season while in college or as a professional.

Should Horton remain in the starting rotation in the same role he currently holds, he will have more innings thrown in 2025 before the postseason starts than he has thrown in the last two years combined.

It will be interesting to see how manager Craig Counsell navigates that, because Boyd has also surpassed his innings total from 2024 and it is only the first week of August.

Getting Taillon and Javier Assad back into the mix at some point this month will certainly help, but Chicago can illafford anymore setbacks with its starting rotation moving forward.

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