Cubs Facing Unforeseen Challenge

The Cubs begin their upcoming nine-game road trip against the Nationals and what seemed like a fairly easy series a few weeks ago now looks more and more like an unforeseen challenge. While the Nationals remain below .500, the NL East squad has won 11 of their last 16 games dating back to May 14.

Washington's recent resurgence has been spearheaded by the offense. The Nationals have scored the fifth-most runs in MLB during the past 2.5 weeks, pulling their record from 17-26 to 28-31. Young phenom James Wood has been one of the best players in baseball all season long, posting a .952 OPS with 16 home runs and 163 wRC+ in 59 games.

Wood's 163 wRC+ is currently fifth-best in the NL and ninth overall in MLB among qualified hitters.

Nationals' shortstop CJ Abrams has a 133 wRC+ in 2025. Meanwhile, Josh Bell, Luis Garcia Jr. and Jose Tena have all been hot at the plate for Washington during their 11-5 stretch. So, the Nationals won't exactly be a cakewalk for the Cubs.

On the other side, the Cubs' offense has been amazing away from Wrigley Field to begin the 2025 season and the Nationals have not had sustained success from their starting rotation besides MacKenzie Gore. Unfortunately for the Cubs, Gore is scheduled to start against the Cubs on Wednesday.

Gore, 26, leads MLB with 101 strikeouts, averaging 13 strikeouts per nine innings. The only downside to Gore's high strikeout rate is that his pitch count has limited his total innings. Gore has only pitched beyond the sixth inning once this season. Still, he's going to be a tough matchup for the Cubs, who did face him in September 2024, when Gore allowed one run in seven innings of work. Gore leads the Nationals' rotation with a 3.16 ERA in 12 starts.

Following this three-game series against the Nationals, the Cubs will finish their unofficial first half of the 2025 season by playing 31 of 35 games against teams who are currently above .500. The only opponent who has a current losing record on the Cubs' schedule heading to the All-Star break are the Pirates.

Not only does the schedule get tougher for the Cubs this week, but they're also going to begin a stretch of playing 26 games in 27 days. After having several Thursdays off through the first couple months of the regular season the Cubs will now have to power through with limited rest going into July.

You mainly worry how the pitching staff will hold up. The Cubs have already turned to using an opener for Ben Brown starts and they may do the same on Thursday in the series finale against the Nationals. Veteran Colin Rea has struggled in his last two starts, so we might see a lefty reliever as the listed "starter" before Rea enters the game.

Cubs' ace Shōta Imanaga is nearing his return from the injured list, but it wouldn't be surprising if he was on a pitch count once he comes back after making his last start on May 4. So, essentially the bullpen might get added pressure if the Cubs' starting rotation doesn't give the team length in June.

The Cubs were able to grind through the toughest portion of their schedule to start the 2025 season, going 17-12 through April 27. Thanks to the soft spot on their slate, the Cubs have won 14 of their last 18 games and are now tied with the Mets for the best record in the NL.

We'll see how the Cubs respond to their next challenge as they face a hot Nationals team, followed by tough series against the Tigers and Phillies. Even teams who struggled early on now look more formidable like the Cardinals, Brewers and Twins, who will all play the Cubs leading up to the All-Star Game.