Do the Cubs Struggle against lefties (revisited)

About a month ago, I wrote a post trying to determine if the Cubs were struggling against left-handed pitchers, specifically starters. Based on recent performances, I thought it might be time to revisit that discussion.

Here is the post from June 6: https://cubsin7.blog/2025/06/06/are-the-cubs-struggling-against-left-handed-starters/

Here is a comparison of OPS versus left or right-handed pitchers:

	OPS on 6/6	OPS on 7/2
vs RHP	.775	.782
vs LHP	.795	.745

There has been a drastic decrease in the last month, and I’d argue that it really was bad in both May and June after a really strong April.

Here is a game log against lefty starters in that timeframe:

Pitching	Date	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	Pit
Tarik Skubal, W	6/6	7.2	8	1	1	0	6	0	94
*Tyler Holten, L	6/7	1.1	1	1	1	0	2	1	21
Jesus Luzardo, W	6/11	6	5	1	1	0	10	0	99
Andrew Heaney, L	6/12	6	4	3	3	0	7	2	76
Matthew Liberatore, W	6/23	7	6	2	2	1	5	0	85
Brandon Walter, W	6/27	6	5	1	1	0	5	1	85
Framber Valdez, W	6/29	6	5	0	0	2	6	0	92
TOTALS		39.1	34	9	9	3	41	4

*Opener

So, the Cubs went 2-5 against lefty starters since June 6th, and one of the wins was against an opener. The overall numbers are not good: 2.06 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, and a whopping 13.66 SO/BB ratio for lefty starters against the Cubs. And only 4 home runs over almost 40 innings. If you add the McKenzie Gore start that was included in my previous post, the record goes to 2-6, and the numbers do not look any better.

Certainly, a couple of the opposing starters were really good – Tarik Skubal and Framber Valdez. But Luzardo had been rocked his two starts before facing the Cubs. And Liberatore and Walter are not pitchers that teams would normally fear.

So what can the Cubs do to get over this issue that seems to have only gotten worse?

• My first thought was that they need to be more patient against left-handed starters. Only 3 walks over 39 1/3 innings is insane.
• They need Justin Turner to pick up his production, or need to find a replacement. He slashed .208/.259/.250 in June. Everyone seems to want Michal Busch to start more, but he’s at .105/.209/.132 versus lefties this season, with a lifetime ops of .588 (versus .832 against righties).
• Dansby Swanson and Ian Happ need to pick things up versus lefty starters, as Swanson is slashing only .187/.235/.352 when a lefty starts and Happ is slashing a measly .172/.267/.215 (note: Baseball reference only has the splits for the entire game when a lefty starts, not just that starter, so these numbers also include the relievers for those games, left or right handed). I’m not sure Counsell would even consider dropping these two in the batting order, or even giving Happ a day off against tough lefty in favor of Suzuki in left field, and someone else at DH. Perhaps he’d consider it if he had a decent option off the bench.
• Also try to avoid facing some of the best pitchers in the league (joking, of course)

So, in addition to a starter or two, and possibly a reliever, I would really love the Cubs to pick up someone who can hit the ball well against lefties at the trade deadline – especially someone who can play first base.