3 Cubs Takeaways From Opening Series Loss
Pitching struggles persist while Alex Bregman and Miguel Amaya flash power. The Cubs face early-season challenges and emerging offensive bright spots.
Video Transcript
What is up, Cubs fans?
And welcome back to Cubs Roundtable.
I'm Joey Polizzi talking about all things Cubs.
And the first series is in the books for the Chicago Cubs, and it didn't go according to plan, losing two of three to the Washington Nationals.
What was supposed to be an easy series at home to open the season, the Cubs did not come ready to play.
The offense was inconsistent at times, the pitching wasn't necessarily great, and overall it was not a great series for the Cubs.
So here are my three takeaways from the opening series loss to the Washington Nationals.
Number one, Matthew Boyd and Shohei Imanaga continued to struggle, and both those pitchers had huge question marks surrounding them entering the season.
They both struggled in the second half last season.
How are they gonna look this year?
Well, the start, not great.
Boyd gave up six runs on opening day, and Imanaga gave up a three-run home run in that first inning.
The home run ball continues to be a problem for him.
Not great for both of them.
The whiffs were good on both pitchers.
The whiffs were up.
Strikeout numbers were good for both pitchers, but not great overall from those two.
The second one, a little more positive.
Alex Bregman, great impact already.
I know he struggled in the first two games going one for nine, but in that third game on Sunday against the Nationals had two home runs, and he has shown his impact at the top of the Cubs lineup.
He'll be a consistent force in the top of the order for the Cubs and should hit upward of 20 home runs in 2026.
And the third one is Miguel Amaya looked good in his one start this weekend.
He only drew one start here on Saturday, but went two for four with a home run.
Belted a nice home run there against Miles Mikolas on Saturday.
Him and Carson Kelly are likely going to split a lot of the catcher duties, but it'll be interesting to see if Amaya kind of pulls ahead here if he continue, continues to hit the ball well.
But let me know what you guys think about your takeaways from the first series.
And as always, guys, go Cubs go.
