Cubs bullpen has emerged as trusted unit with surprise contributions

New York Times

a day ago

CHICAGO — After seemingly being on the verge of losing his spot in the rotation, Ben Brown had a statement outing Saturday, pitching six brilliant shutout innings in the Cubs' 2-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
'Ben pitched great,' manager Craig Counsell said. 'Absolutely his best start of the year. On the attack, aggressive, in the strike zone a whole bunch, controlling counts a whole bunch. It was an outstanding performance.'
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Counsell misspoke when calling it a 'start' since he used Drew Pomeranz as an opener to try and combat Brown's recent first-inning struggles, allowing the young righty to avoid the top of the Reds lineup. Brown struck out nine and walked just one with one hit allowed in the outing, looking as dominant as he ever has.
Brown spoke eloquently about how he's leaned on the mental skills team to try and get himself focused and properly prepared for the start of the game. This was the type of outing that could help catapult him to a successful season, one the Cubs desperately need as they wait for Shota Imanaga to get healthy and possible reinforcements to the rotation to come at the trade deadline.
And as that time approaches, the Cubs' needs are getting clearer. Starting pitching is at the top of the list with little doubt. Yes, all contending teams look to bolster their bullpen at the deadline, and the Cubs will, too.
But the reality is the unit is not in nearly as bad shape as some would suggest. Since April 19, the Cubs' bullpen has a 2.44 ERA, best in baseball. It's also tied for the third-fewest blown saves over that time with just three. The group is merely average at both strikeouts and walks during that time, though, so finding help at the deadline makes sense, especially a veteran with high-leverage experience.
What many once perceived as a big weakness is no longer the case. Five games into a six-game homestand, the Cubs are 4-1 despite scoring a combined 13 runs. While the starters have largely been strong, the bullpen deserves much of the credit for those wins. The group has allowed zero earned runs this week in 22 innings. Even if one were to treat Brown's outing as a start and remove those six innings (and add in Pomeranz's one), that's still remarkably effective and efficient.
101 MPH para cerrar el juego. ⛽️ pic.twitter.com/n72zieWxGy
— Cachorros de Chicago (@cachorros) May 31, 2025
Brad Keller worked a perfect eighth and lowered his ERA to 2.22. After a 1-2-3 first, Pomeranz still hasn't allowed a run on the season in 13 2/3 innings. Daniel Palencia has been lights out closing games since blowing his first opportunity of the season nearly two weeks ago. In March, no one would have predicted that trio to be the key to the bullpen's success, let alone dominating for the Cubs.
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'Look, Brad Keller's pitching wonderfully,' Counsell said. 'He's doing a heck of a job and that was a great addition. Drew's been awesome, and Drew's handled the role of whatever we've asked of him. He's done a great job of it. We're pitching really well, particularly in the bullpen.'
One name expected to emerge as a key part this season was Porter Hodge. Hodge was strong at times before heading to the injured list on May 20 with an oblique issue. While Hodge is doing better, Counsell announced that he's dealing with a separate problem that's keeping him sidelined.
'Porter's doing well,' Counsell said. 'The oblique is kind of resolved. It's his left hip that's bothering him right now. That's, frankly, slowed him down. So we're trying to get through that right now. Making progress and hope to be at the bullpen stage next week. But because of the time he missed, he'll definitely require some rehab outings. We're looking at a couple of weeks still.'
Imaging showed what Counsell described as an impingement. Adding a healthy and effective Hodge to the group would be big. It would give them one more high-leverage arm who has closing experience.
Ryan Pressly was expected to be the closer but has had his ups and downs this year. But he has also bounced back after his historically bad appearance in extra innings against the San Francisco Giants on May 6. Pressly hasn't allowed a run in eight appearances (7 IP) since. His strikeouts are still not high enough (17.2 percent), and he's walking 10.3 percent of batters over that span, but he's getting outs and keeping runs off the board. A good sign that he can continue to handle high-leverage innings, even if it's not closing games out.
'Just get big outs,' Counsell said. 'We gotta get outs in the seventh, we gotta get outs in the eighth, they're all big outs. I think the ninth inning is more difficult because the other team empties the tank in terms of strategy and players.'
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Bullpens are volatile. That's what makes them so maddening. It's easy to react quickly to what's happening and want to make dramatic changes. After seven outings, Caleb Thielbar had a 6.35 ERA and a 20 percent walk rate. Since then, he's allowed one run in 14 innings while striking out 26.4 percent and walking 9.4 percent. He and Pomeranz have combined to be one of the better left-handed relief duos in baseball.
The same can be said of Palencia. The Cubs have made mistakes in the past by giving up on guys with good stuff. Jeremiah Estrada stands out with San Diego, and Manuel Rodríguez seems to have figured things out in Tampa Bay. Sticking with Palencia, who entered this season with a 5.02 ERA and 13.8 percent walk rate, was clearly the right call. The power-armed righty now has a 1.74 ERA with a 28.2 percent strikeout rate and 9 percent walk rate.
'Just always having options,' Counsell said about having a good bullpen. 'By that, I mean it's a hard job and there tends to be some performance variance. I think Daniel is a great example of this. It didn't go great for him last year. But there's every reason to be excited about what he could provide. A lot of times that's how you have to look at those guys. You just want to have as many of them as you can. Our job is to get them to the place that he's in right now and keep him there for as long as we can.'
Bullpen arms can seemingly come from anywhere. Whether it's a small trade to acquire Pomeranz, a non-roster invitee like Keller or a talented arm who took some time to figure it out like Palencia, it's not rare to see great relievers emerge in unexpected ways.
The Cubs' work isn't finished. They haven't solved all their bullpen issues. An injury or a run of poor performance can easily derail it all. But two months into the season, the bullpen has rapidly gone from a major concern to an area that's helped carry them to victory.
(Photo of Daniel Palencia: Matt Marton / Imagn Images)