Are the Cubs struggling against left-handed starters?

While the overall numbers against lefties are good, recent results may be pointing to the need for a roster tweak. But is a roster move to adding hitting against lefties even feasible?

When looking at the batting splits for the season, the Cubs have done just fine against left-handed pitching, with a .767 OPS against lefties versus a .785 against righties. And against starters, it’s even better, with a .795 OPS against lefties, and a .775 against righties. But let’s drill into the last 10 outings against left-handed starters.

Pitching	Date	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	Pit
MacKenzie Gore, W	6/4	7	3	0	0	1	7	0	94
Nick Lodolo, ND (L)	5/31	6	5	0	0	2	5	0	94
Andrew Abbott, W	5/30	7	1	0	0	1	8	0	93
Carson Palmquist, L	5/26	5	3	2	2	3	4	0	92
Nick Lodolo, ND (L)	5/25	5	6	3	3	2	6	1	91
Andrew Abbott, W	5/24	5.2	6	1	1	2	2	1	83
Ryan Weathers, ND (L)	5/20	5	5	1	1	0	4	1	80
Ryan Weathers, W	5/14	5	2	1	1	1	5	1	76
Robbie Ray, W	5/7	6	3	1	1	2	5	0	98
Jose Quintana, L	5/3	5	7	6	6	1	6	3	91
TOTALS		56.2	41	15	15	15	52	7

Cubs record: 5-5
Opponents’ pitching numbers: ERA 2.38, WHIP 0.99, K/BB 3.47

So, those are not great numbers. And even worse if you drop the Quintana start to just measure the last 9. To be fair, they have had some schedule quirks that had them face the same 3 pitchers in 6 of those starts. But you’d think facing the same guy twice in a short timeframe would actually be an advantage. Some good games against Jeffrey Springs, Patrick Corbin and Andrew Heaney helped drive some of their earlier numbers against lefties.

The Cubs have seen great numbers from Suzuki and Tucker. And good numbers from Shaw, Kelly, PCA and Hoerner. Swanson and Happ have not been very good. Then you have the first base platoon of Busch and Turner.

Busch has been horrible against lefties, with a /148/.281/.185 slash line. Meanwhile, Justin Turner is at .250/.306/.341. This has to get better, as first base is a position that should be providing offense. The Cubs have a few options:

1. Keep sending Turner out there and hope he gets better. In 2024 his splits versus lefties was .252/.355/.403, which would be a big improvement over this year. He also hit much better in the 2nd half (.817 OPS) versus the 1st half (.678 OPS).

2. Give Busch more ABs against lefties to see if he can improve

3. Find another player who can play 1st and hit lefties.

At this point, I’d expect the Cubs to stick with option 1, and give Turner more time to come around. In the middle of a season may not be the best time to see if Busch can start hitting lefties, but this could be an option if Turner continues to struggle, and they are not ready to make a move.

As far as putting a different guy at first against lefties, they do have one internal candidate in Jon Berti. However, he’s played first sparingly — basically, just in the World Series for the Yankees last season. Also, he’s only 4-21 (all singles and no walks) against left handers this season, with a career slash line of .247/.320/.372.

Another internal candidate is Jonathon Long, who is absolutely raking in AAA. Unfortunately, he’s done most of his damage against right handed pitching
vs RHP: .415/.472/.627
vs LHP: .211/.338/.404
So, the Cubs might not be willing to bring him up as a platoon player, which could limit his at bats and require a roster move to clear a spot.

Finding a guy who would be willing to platoon and come off the bench should not be that expensive, but I’m guessing it would happen more near the trade deadline. However, in doing a deep dive on Right handed 1st basemen against lefties with at east 20 ABs, the good ones are on contending teams and will not be traded (Goldschmidt, Torkelson, Guerrero Jr., Alonso, Hoskins, Contreras). Jake Burger of the Rangers is out there, but they are still currently in the playoff hunt.

Ultimately, improvement from Happ, Swanson and Turner against left-handed starters might be needed, as I’m not seeing a clear path to improving production that is not available in the current lineup.