Chicago Cubs fandom
By the numbers, the Cubs have one of the most productive lineups in baseball. It’s deep, it’s balanced, and it’s the primary reason the team is winning games. That’s the good news.
The other news is that the bullpen continues to operate in a state of “constant churn,” as one report put it. The latest turn of the screw is a truly strange one: veteran lefty Matthew Boyd is now out for an estimated six weeks after what manager Craig Counsell called an “unexplainable,” fluke knee injury that happened at home. One minute he was healthy, the next he was headed for surgery.
This is how the bullpen trust tax gets compounded. It’s not just about performance; it’s about availability. For every run the potent offense scores, we have to discount it against the probability of another key reliever vanishing from the depth chart. The front office has been active in bringing in new arms, but it’s hard to build trust on a foundation of constant turnover and bizarre setbacks.
So, the trust question of the week is simple: how long can the best lineup in baseball carry a bullpen that can’t seem to stay healthy?
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