The Chicago Cubs are playing great baseball as they’re 7-3 in their last ten games and outscoring their opponents 70 to 40.
The Cubs’ offensive successes can be attributed to their rightfielder Kyle Tucker who has been on a tear to start the season and won the National Leagues Player of the Week award for how great he has played.
The Cubs have also gotten great productions from both catchers Carson Kelly and Miguel Amaya, who have also been hot and are helping to generate the Cub’s runs.
The Cubs have also gotten solid outings from their starting pitchers, which has helped them maintain leads late into games and shut down opposing teams early, so the bullpen doesn’t struggle too much.
The Cubs got another strong outing from another one of their starters last night, as Justin Steele had a perfect outing against the first-place in the American League West Texas Rangers.
Chicago Cubs lefty dominates the Rangers
The Cubs are coming off another great win where they’ve proven yet again they’re capable of playing with the big boys, shutting out the Rangers 7-0.
The Cub’s top four in the lineup came through to produce six of the Cubs’ seven runs, with Ian Happ having three RBIs of his own, going 1-5 at the dish.
The lead set by the Cubs was maintained by Steele’s great outing, where he went 7.0 innings, gave up three hits, two walks, and struck out eight. Steele’s strong outing helped to halt the Ranger’s five-game winning streak.
“Justin Steele twirls seven shutout frames, @Cubs snap Rangers’ 5-game win streak.”
Justin Steele twirls seven shutout frames, @Cubs snap Rangers' 5-game win streak. pic.twitter.com/JiH1dUy4VS
— MLB (@MLB) April 8, 2025
Steele’s third outing of the season is far better than his previous two starts, where he allowed seven earned runs in 11.2 innings and struggled with his command.
Steele has shown early signs of success, with his fastball run value ranking in the 89th percentile and ranks in the 81st percentile for chase percentage.
That tracks as his out-of-zone swing percentage is up 5.6% from last season, going from 29.2% to 34.8%.
Maintaining this success
The Cubs need to maintain this level of success from their starters to keep up this run of good baseball they’re playing.
The Cubs will especially need Steele to look like the guy they saw last night to do so, as they’re counting on him and Shota Imanaga to be the anchors of this rotation.
The Cubs are back at it today against the Rangers as right-hander Jameson Taillon will toe the slab for the Cubs and square off against the Ranger’s left-hander Patrick Corbin, who is making his season debut.
Chicago Cubs would be wise to fix leaky bullpen with one of these late pickups
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