Chicago Cubs Star's Recent Outings Gives Team Major Hope

Justin Steele has had a rollercoaster of a season, but the Chicago Cubs star's recent outings provides major hope.

Sep 26, 2023; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Justin Steele (35) throws against the Atlanta Braves in the second inning at Truist Park. | Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Coming into the 2024 MLB season, the Chicago Cubs were excited about the presence of star starting pitcher Justin Steele. After an impressive 2023 campaign, he was expected to once again compete for the NL Cy Young Award.

Unfortunately, in the season opener, he went down with a hamstring injury against the Texas Rangers.

That injury forced him to miss a lot of time.

Since he has returned, things have gone well, but the team has struggled mightily.

The Cubs are hoping to turn that around, but in order to do that they will need players to perform up to their potential.

Over his last three games prior to his start on Thursday, Steele has been doing just that.

As shared by Marquee Sports Network on X, the 28-year-old left-hander had been dominating opponents in his last three outings.

Justin Steele has been SHOVING in his last 3 starts 💪 pic.twitter.com/uBh9QCOkrJ

— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) June 13, 2024

Entering their game on Thursday, they were looking to beat the Tampa Bay Rays in a series and had their star left-hander on the mound in hopes they could get this done.

He was remarkable again, throwing six scorless innings where he only gave up three hits and struck out five.

Unfortunately, Chicago couldn't come through for him as they blew a 2-0 lead they build in the fifth inning.

Still, the positive to take from this is that the Cubs and manager Craig Counsell are seeing the star of their rotation return to form. A dominant one-two punch of Steele and Shota Imanaga is going to be fun to watch, assuming both players keep up their recent pace.

Now, the team as a whole needs to figure out how to get back to winning.

They have the talent to win games, as they showed earlier this season, but they have to figure out how to do it consistently.

All of that being said, these numbers for Steele certainly offer hope for Chicago.

If he can keep his current production up, they will have a much better shot of competing for a spot in the playoffs.