{"id":65203,"date":"2025-06-30T21:51:03","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T21:51:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=65203"},"modified":"2025-06-30T21:51:03","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T21:51:03","slug":"should-cubs-be-concerned-about-struggles-against-teams-with-winning-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=65203","title":{"rendered":"Should Cubs Be Concerned About Struggles Against Teams with Winning Records?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The Chicago Cubs dropped their series over the weekend against the Houston Astros with a shutout defeat on Sunday that wound up narrowing their lead in the division to just two games.<\/p>\n

Make no mistake, this has been a very special season in Chicago, and the Cubs still should be just a couple of strong trade deadline moves away from affirming their status as a contender in the loaded National League.<\/p>\n

More News: <\/strong>Chicago Cubs\u2019 Potential Pursuit of Low-Risk Trade Option May be Doomed<\/p>\n

With that being said though, this team’s track record against quality opponents over the last couple of months is a little bit of a concern.<\/p>\n

Chicago faced a ridiculously tough schedule in the first part of the season and excelled against it, continuing that level of domination once the schedule started to soften up as well.<\/p>\n

Baseball insider Bruce Levine provided some context as to just how much this team is struggling against quality opponents right now.<\/p>\n

More News: <\/strong>Has Key Chicago Cubs Veteran Pitcher Suddenly Regressed to His Old Self?<\/p>\n

It has not been a complete freefall by any means since then, but after the series loss to Houston, the Cubs have now gone since a late April two-game sweep over the Los Angeles Dodgers without taking a series from a team that had a record above .500 when the matchup occurred.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, Chicago has been able to remain at the top of the standings due to the fact that they are absolutely lethal against teams below .500; however, when October rolls around, it’s not going to be poor competition they face.<\/p>\n

With the likes of the Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, San Diego Padres, New York Mets and more all putting themselves in a spot to contend for an elusive National League pennant, the Cubs are inevitably going to face some extremely tough matchups to get where they want to be.<\/p>\n

More News: <\/strong>Chicago Cubs Land Two Marlins Starting Pitchers in Blockbuster Trade Proposal<\/p>\n

In terms of getting to the playoffs, a track record of immense success against weak teams on your schedule and going roughly .500 against the strong teams is a recipe to win over 90 games, but eventually, Chicago is gonna have to rise to the occasion.<\/p>\n

When the Cubs are at their best, they are capable of beating any opponent they face. Relying on bats to stay hot for a seven-game series against a World Series-quality team though, and simply hoping to play good enough to advance is not going to cut it.<\/p>\n

More News: <\/strong>Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates in \u2018Serious Trade Talks\u2019 on Mitch Keller<\/p>\n

This is a team that has championship aspirations; however, if they want to come anywhere close to achieving them, rather than flaming out in October, they must raise their level of play when it’s a strong opponent in the other dugout.<\/p>\n

For more Cubs news, head over to <\/strong><\/em>Cubs On SI.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Chicago Cubs dropped their series over the weekend against the Houston Astros with a shutout defeat on Sunday that wound up narrowing their lead in the divi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":65204,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nShould Cubs Be Concerned About Struggles Against Teams with Winning Records? - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=65203\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Should Cubs Be Concerned About Struggles Against Teams with Winning Records? - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Chicago Cubs dropped their series over the weekend against the Houston Astros with a shutout defeat on Sunday that wound up narrowing their lead in the divi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=65203\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-30T21:51:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/avtvip-2025-07-01T044956.766.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=65203\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=65203\",\"name\":\"Should Cubs Be Concerned About Struggles Against Teams with Winning Records? - NEWS USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=65203#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=65203#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/avtvip-2025-07-01T044956.766.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-30T21:51:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-30T21:51:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/850fd1b8bcb1d322b7f0a04b3d2f18ec\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=65203#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=65203\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=65203#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/avtvip-2025-07-01T044956.766.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/avtvip-2025-07-01T044956.766.jpg\",\"width\":900,\"height\":900},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=65203#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Should Cubs Be Concerned About Struggles Against Teams with Winning Records?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"NEWS USA\",\"description\":\"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/850fd1b8bcb1d322b7f0a04b3d2f18ec\",\"name\":\"MrThanh\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c8f2d90ff2a21a61a5e6bc0619622a5021fc65353885d9d7b3db1c8c7c1ca8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c8f2d90ff2a21a61a5e6bc0619622a5021fc65353885d9d7b3db1c8c7c1ca8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MrThanh\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?author=6\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Should Cubs Be Concerned About Struggles Against Teams with Winning Records? - NEWS USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=65203","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Should Cubs Be Concerned About Struggles Against Teams with Winning Records? - NEWS USA","og_description":"The Chicago Cubs dropped their series over the weekend against the Houston Astros with a shutout defeat on Sunday that wound up narrowing their lead in the divi","og_url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=65203","og_site_name":"NEWS USA","article_published_time":"2025-06-30T21:51:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/avtvip-2025-07-01T044956.766.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"MrThanh","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MrThanh","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=65203","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=65203","name":"Should Cubs Be Concerned About Struggles Against Teams with Winning Records? - NEWS USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=65203#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=65203#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/avtvip-2025-07-01T044956.766.jpg","datePublished":"2025-06-30T21:51:03+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-30T21:51:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/850fd1b8bcb1d322b7f0a04b3d2f18ec"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=65203#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=65203"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=65203#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/avtvip-2025-07-01T044956.766.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/avtvip-2025-07-01T044956.766.jpg","width":900,"height":900},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=65203#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Should Cubs Be Concerned About Struggles Against Teams with Winning Records?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/","name":"NEWS USA","description":"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/850fd1b8bcb1d322b7f0a04b3d2f18ec","name":"MrThanh","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c8f2d90ff2a21a61a5e6bc0619622a5021fc65353885d9d7b3db1c8c7c1ca8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c8f2d90ff2a21a61a5e6bc0619622a5021fc65353885d9d7b3db1c8c7c1ca8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"MrThanh"},"url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?author=6"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=65203"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65205,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65203\/revisions\/65205"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/65204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=65203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=65203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=65203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}