This story was excerpted from Jordan Bastian’s Cubs Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CHICAGO -- The Cubs spent the first couple weeks of the season trying to find their rhythm on multiple fronts. There were outages throughout the lineup, injuries piling up and testing the depth of the roster, and a repeated refrain that things would turn around. Eight consecutive wins later, the

CHICAGO -- Shota Imanaga overpowered the Phillies in his previous start, piling up strikeouts and missing bats at a rapid rate. The Cubs' lefty was tasked with facing the same lineup on Tuesday night, but he quickly felt that his signature splitter was not operating as sharply as usual. Imanaga

CHICAGO -- Phil Maton took the mound on Tuesday afternoon at Wrigley Field as a rainstorm was arriving on the North Side. It was an important pregame workout in the Cubs reliever’s comeback from a right knee issue, and Maton was able to finish the throwing session just in time.

CHICAGO -- After Cubs manager Craig Counsell took the ball out of Colin Rea’s hand on Monday night, the Wrigley Field faithful collectively rose to their feet and raised the decibel level in the old ballpark. The ovation for the veteran right-hander recognized a great outing, but might as well

This story was excerpted from Jordan Bastian’s Cubs Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CHICAGO -- Pete Crow-Armstrong sprinted through home plate and continued into foul territory on Sunday afternoon. The Cubs center fielder hopped onto the short brick wall and began celebrating face-to-face with fans before jumping back down to join his partying teammates on the infield. “He’s a madman,” Cubs second baseman

CHICAGO -- Cubs manager Craig Counsell was asked prior to Saturday’s game about an aspect of his aggressive mid-game decisions involving pinch-hitters. At times, it has been to replace rookie Moisés Ballesteros, a gifted hitter still developing at the Major League level. “This is a team,” Counsell said. “This is

CHICAGO – With less than a half-hour until the first pitch of their game against the Mets on Friday afternoon, the Cubs revealed the latest blow to their embattled bullpen. Closer Daniel Palencia was placed on the 15-day injured list due to a left oblique strain, removing one of Chicago’s

CHICAGO -- The Cubs spent the first couple weeks of this season searching for consistency within their offense. From manager Craig Counsell to the players, there was a repeated mantra that things were bound to turn around soon, given the list of notable names throughout Chicago’s lineup. Over the past

CHICAGO – While the Cubs have experienced a rash of injury setbacks throughout their pitching staff of late, the team is also preparing to have an important arm back in the mix soon. Lefty Matthew Boyd is on track to start against the Phillies on Wednesday at Wrigley Field. On

CHICAGO -- The Cubs already understood that budding ace Cade Horton was going to be sidelined the rest of this season due to an elbow injury. Both the ballclub and the pitcher now have more clarity about the road ahead. On Friday, Cubs manager Craig Counsell announced that Horton underwent

PHILADELPHIA -- From his position at second base on the Citizens Bank Park infield, Nico Hoerner had a great view of Shota Imanaga's pitches on Wednesday night. He was in awe of how Imanaga and Cubs catcher Miguel Amaya were carving through the Phillies’ lineup. “It was amazing,” Hoerner said.

PHILADELPHIA -- The change that Nico Hoerner has focused on making with his swing over the past year is a subtle one. What is not difficult to see is the result, as the Phillies can attest after two straight nights of hits sprayed all over Citizens Bank Park off the

PHILADELPHIA -- The Cubs’ pitching staff -- both in the rotation and the bullpen -- has been hit with a steady stream of injuries in the first few weeks of this season. And now, another potential depth option for the embattled relief corps has been lost until next year. On

PHILADELPHIA -- The Cubs came into this year with the hope that top prospect Jaxon Wiggins could impact their pitching staff at some point this summer. That may still be the case, but the ballclub is pushing pause on the right-hander’s throwing at the moment. On Wednesday, Cubs manager Craig

PHILADELPHIA -- Nico Hoerner offers the type of offensive profile that creates trouble for opposing pitchers with runners on base. The Cubs second baseman is one of the toughest batters to strike out in baseball and makes contact at an elite rate. Those traits made Hoerner one of the game’s

PHILADELPHIA -- As Ethan Roberts examined the damage to the middle finger on his right hand ahead of Monday’s game against the Phillies, the Cubs reliever had one prevailing thought immediately following a freak accident during a routine workout. “Of course it happens to us,” Roberts said. “Because everything is

PHILADELPHIA -- There are games throughout a long, marathon season during which it is critical to begin considering the days ahead. As things began to spiral out of hand for the Cubs on Monday, manager Craig Counsell did just that by sticking with starter Javier Assad. As Chicago’s bats struggled

This story was excerpted from Jordan Bastian’s Cubs Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CHICAGO – Maybe deeper into the season, when the statistical noise is greater and the sample sizes are much larger, a drought like the one Michael Busch is currently experiencing would not be as glaring. The skewed numbers posted for all to see on the video board in April, however,

CHICAGO -- Cubs manager Craig Counsell is quick to remind that the makeup of the bullpen when the team that reached the playoffs last season looked much different than the Opening Day cast. It is a volatile part of the roster, but Chicago took steps in the offseason to try

CHICAGO -- Inside the interview room in the Cubs’ clubhouse at Wrigley Field, manager Craig Counsell expressed confidence that his team’s struggling offense would find its footing here before too long. “Look, it’s going to turn,” Counsell said. “It’s going to happen.”

CHICAGO – Shota Imanaga’s last pitch on Friday afternoon was a fastball at the bottom edge of the strike zone. The heater popped into the mitt of Cubs catcher Carson Kelly, Pirates third baseman Nick Yorke did not offer a swing and Imanaga gave a confident nod of his head

CHICAGO -- The Cubs will spend time working backwards from Cade Horton’s latest injury, going over their handling of the young pitcher and exploring if anything could or should be altered in the name of prevention going forward. For now, the ballclub is not sure what else it could have