Checking in on the Chicago Cubs' pitching: Can they weather the storm of injuries to Matthew Boyd, Cade Horton, Edward Cabrera and others?

Sitting in the visitors dugout at PNC Park last week, with his team at the tail end of a 10-game losing streak, Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer did not shy away from the hard truth when assessing the fragile state of Chicago’s rotation.

>“We went into the season thinking we were 10 or 11 deep in starting pitching,” he said. “And that sort of has been pushed to its limits.”

>That it has.

>The Cubs’ starting staff to begin the season — Matthew Boyd, Cade Horton, Shota Imanaga, Edward Cabrera and Jameson Taillon — made just one turn through the rotation before trouble surfaced. Horton, a talented 24-year-old looking to build on a standout rookie campaign, left his second start on April 3 due to an elbow injury that necessitated season-ending surgery.

>Opening Day starter Boyd lasted just two starts before landing on the injured list on April 6 due to a biceps strain, and upon his return, he provided only three more outings before being sidelined again on May 6, this time due to a left knee injury suffered at home under bizarre circumstances. Cabrera, an exciting offseason addition with major durability questions, made 10 erratic starts before landing on the injured list for the sixth consecutive season and for the third time due to a blister on his right middle finger.

>Just Imanaga and Taillon have taken the ball without interruption thus far, as this slew of injuries has derailed and diminished the Cubs’ capabilities on the mound. Of course, no team nowadays expects to make it through the marathon of the major-league season with five starters. But for the most part, that depth Chicago was counting on — that next half-dozen or so arms Hoyer had in mind entering the year — has not yet materialized.

>Consider Justin Steele. The All-Star left-hander underwent Tommy John surgery in April 2025, giving him a rehab timeline that put him on track to rejoin the Cubs’ rotation before this year’s All-Star break. But Steele suffered a flexor strain in April and has yet to resume throwing since that setback, putting the timing of his highly anticipated return in question, if not entirely in jeopardy.

>“We’re just hopeful to get him back,” Hoyer said last week. “Obviously, there comes a point where you run out of days, but I don’t think we’re there yet.”

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Then there’s Jaxon Wiggins, Chicago’s top pitching prospect who reached Triple-A in September. Wiggins looked like a candidate to make an impact in the majors by midsummer 2026, similar to how Horton surfaced a year ago. But the 24-year-old made just two starts with Iowa before going on the injured list due to right elbow inflammation. He has only recently resumed throwing bullpen sessions as he builds back up to returning to game action, making it difficult to forecast his viability as an option for the big-league club anytime soon.

>Beyond Steele and Wiggins, several other rotation backup plans have provided mixed results when called upon. Veteran Colin Rea has been perfectly adequate but hardly a salve. Javier Assad — a valuable and reliable swingman in recent seasons — has yo-yo’d between the rotation and bullpen, and also the majors and minors, and is currently in Triple-A after posting a 5.88 ERA in 26 big-league innings. Former first-round pick Jordan Wicks was called up for two starts and allowed 11 runs across 6 ⅓ innings before he was demoted earlier this week.

>All the while, Imanaga and Taillon have trended in the wrong direction, despite their admirable availability. The duo have been particularly and problematically homer-prone, with Taillon leading the majors in long balls allowed with 20 and Imanaga surrendering eight over his past three outings, a discouraging pattern after he let just five balls leave the yard in his first nine starts of the season.

>The lone bright spot for the Cubs’ pitching has been 26-year-old right-hander Ben Brown. After struggling to establish himself in the majors in his first two seasons, Brown began this year thriving in a multi-inning relief role and has continued to excel since moving into the depleted rotation in mid-May. He has a 1.73 ERA in 26 innings across his first five starts and is tied for fourth in MLB in fWAR over that span, behind only Jacob Misiorowski, Cristopher Sánchez and Kyle Harrison. The key to Brown’s effectiveness has been a rare blend of ground balls andwhiffs. Only six pitchers (min. 50 innings) have a groundball rate higher than Brown’s 51.7%, and of those six, only Sanchez and Shohei Ohtani have a higher strikeout rate than Brown’s 26.4%.

>Initially, Chicago was able to weather all these absences because of how well the rest of the team was functioning. Even with their rotation in shambles from the get-go, the Cubs rattled off multiple 10-game winning streaks, including a 15-game heater at home, their longest such streak since 1935. They climbed to 27-12, building a 3.5-game lead atop the NL Central. Vibes were good.

>But since the end of the second lengthy winning streak on May 9, the Cubs have plummeted in the standings, in large part due to their thinned out and undermanned rotation. Over that span, the Cubs’ 6.33 rotation ERA ranks 29th in MLB, ahead of only Colorado — an enormous drop-off from the 3.70 ERA posted prior to that point, which ranked seventh.

>Oddly enough, the Cubs’ bullpen — totally overhauled in the offseason, with an unheralded collection of veterans around closer Daniel Palencia — has proven dependable so far, ranking ninth in bullpen ERA (3.42) and seventh in WHIP (1.23). But that unit is far from unflappable, as evidenced by it coughing up a trio of late runs Wednesday en route to a 5-4 loss to the A’s in 10 innings. That marked the Cubs’ eighth consecutive loss at Wrigley Field, an unthinkable skid after the seemingly nonstop success at home earlier this season.

Can Shota Imanaga, Ben Brown and Jameson Taillon stabilize the bullpen while the Cubs wait for other arms to get healthy?Hayden Hodge/Yahoo SportsOf course, the starting staff is not the only culprit behind the team’s recent struggles. Wednesday’s deflating defeat, in which the Cubs’ bats scored four runs across the first four innings before going silent the rest of the way, exemplified the team’s recent collective cold spell at the plate. Over the past 23 games, the Cubs’ .613 OPS ranks last in MLB, a staggering statistic considering the personnel involved.

>Still, the lineup’s track record — this same group of hitters ranked third in OPS through the first 39 games, behind only the Braves and Dodgers — suggests that this recent offensive funk is more of a blip than a genuine weakness that will be a shortcoming for the long haul. There are simply too many impactful position players scattered around the diamond to think the Cubs have one of the worst lineups in the league; some positive regression is most likely in store.

>On the mound, however, questions will need to be answered if the Cubs are going to reassert themselves in a crowded National League postseason race. We won’t see Horton until 2027. Cabrera and Boyd are both on track to return soon; Cabrera is expected to be activated and start Saturday against San Francisco, while Boyd is scheduled to make one more rehab outing this weekend before returning to the Cubs. Their returns, in tandem with Brown’s emergence, should stabilize the rotation for the time being.

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>But if the lack of depth behind Cabrera and Boyd — not to mention the inconsistencies from Taillon and Imanaga — is any indication, the Cubs likely need to look outside the organization for reinforcements. That said, trade activity rarely picks up in June, meaning Chicago’s current group of pitchers will need to find a way to calm the waters enough to ensure the team is in position to add as the Aug. 3 deadline draws nearer.

>“We're going to need those guys,” Hoyer said. “That's the bottom line. I know there's always the focus on external transactions.

>“You try those things, but ultimately, you're going to have to rely on your own guys for quite a while.”