(670 The Score) The NL Central-leading Cubs have a 10-10 record in June, underscoring their recent inconsistent play. Their lead in the division was trimmed to 3.5 games with their 8-2 loss to the Cardinals on Monday.
This has been a challenging stretch for the Cubs, but there’s no panic for the team, as second baseman Nico Hoerner told the Spiegel & Holmes Show on Tuesday.
“We haven’t played as well lately,” Hoerner said. “There’s been kind of some opportunities missed on offense. It’s hard to even evaluate the pitching so much after the conditions those guys threw in this past weekend. Yeah, it hasn’t been as synced up. But you look at the month as a whole — .500 on the month. Obviously, that isn’t quite what you set out to do.
“There’s going to be challenging stretches, parts of every year that don’t go as well. I think this group has the capacity to obviously go on crazy hot streaks, but also I think our floor is really high – just with the variety of things we do really well. It’s never what you set out to do, but also acknowledging there are going to be hard parts of every year and responding as best you can.”
Cubs left fielder Ian Happ offered a similar sentiment earlier in the day, telling the Rahimi & Harris Show on Tuesday that nobody is pressing in his team’s clubhouse.
"It’s a long season,” Happ said. “We’re in first place right now. There’s no panic in the clubhouse. We’re all really confident in what this team can do. We’re all really confident in the offense."
The Cubs and Cardinals play the second game of their four-game series at 6:45 p.m. on Tuesday in St. Louis. The game can be heard on 670 The Score and the Audacy app. Pregame coverage starts at 6:10 p.m.