Column: Chicago Cubs beat the hapless Colorado Rockies 3-1 to
The Chicago Cubs satisfied the most recent “worst group in baseball history” Monday at Wrigley Field, and not surprisingly, it turned out to be a good day to play the Colorado Rockies.
In spite of managing just four hits, the Cubs beat the Rockies 3-1 before a Memorial Day crowd of 40,171, riding the arm of starter Jameson Taillon and the bullpen on an unseasonably cool but warm afternoon.
“We’re finding a way to win different types of games,” Taillon stated. “We can win the slugfest, we can win the little ball game … It’s great right now. Certainly a lot of year ahead, but it’s a good mix. We can win in a great deal of different methods, which is very important.”
Taillon (4-3) allowed one run over 6 1/3 innings, and 4 reducers completed it off, with Daniel Palencia registering his third save.
This is a must-win series for the Cubs, though just due to the fact that the Rockies have yet to win a series in their very first 17 efforts, and it would be somewhat embarrassing to be their first victim. The Rockies are 9-45 after Monday’s loss, leaving them on pace to end up 27-135, which would eliminate the 2024 White Sox’s record of 121 losses– one more than the 1962 New York Mets.
The Rockies are now 2-16 in series openers, 0-6 on Mondays and have lost 25 of their last 28 games. They can lose in any sort of weather condition, and at any altitude.
The Cubs, on the other hand, have gone in the opposite instructions, which recommends a series sweep should be the genuine objective. They’re 10-3 in their 21-game stretch of facing sub -.500 groups, doing what excellent groups do.
Memorial Day is the first genuine milepost of the six-month regular season, and in Chicago it likewise serves as the unofficial start of traveler season at Wrigley Field. Jason Bateman, Austin Butler, Jeremy Allen White and David Harbour were amongst the tourists on hand Monday, though White has most likely made honorary Chicagoan status by now from “Shameless” and “The Bear.”
< img src="https://i0.wp.com/www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/CTC-L-cubs-rockies002_229668432.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1" alt ="A U.S. flag is shown on the field to honor Memorial Day prior to a game in between the Chicago Cubs and the Colorado Rockies at Wrigley Field in Chicago on Might 26, 2025. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
“width =” 5843 “data-src =”https://i0.wp.com/www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/CTC-L-cubs-rockies002_229668432.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1″/ > A U.S. flag is displayed on the field to honor Memorial Day prior to a game in between the Chicago Cubs and the Colorado Rockies at Wrigley Field in Chicago on May 26, 2025.(Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)Thanks to fans who just want to go to Wrigley, a mediocre Cubs group can draw well any summer season. However a very good Cubs team will see packed homes every game from Memorial Day through September, and
this group is trending towards the latter, with a 33-21 record and one of the game’s leading offenses so far. Think of if the wind starts burning out from time to time, which it generally performs in the summer season. It was blowing in at Wrigley on Monday for the 16th time in 24 games, and has burnt out on just 4 celebrations. The Cubs are 4-0 in those games.
“When you’ve got a great deal of guys producing at an actually good level, it’s tough to get through parts of our lineup for sure,” supervisor Craig Counsell said. “And we’re making it tough in a great deal of innings for groups, and you’re going to get outcomes eventually by that. And you see that by lack of strikeouts, of runners on base, etc”
While the Cubs came in averaging over 6 runs per game and dealt with a pitcher in Carson Palmquist with an 11.88 AGE, a stiff in-blowing wind on a cool, 56-degree afternoon turned out to be the equalizer.
The Cubs scratched throughout a first-inning work on Dansby Swanson’s RBI groundout, and Taillon held the Rockies without a baserunner up until 2 outs in the 5th, when Mickey Moniak hit a game-tying, 399-foot home run to right. In the bottom of the 4th, Pete Crow-Armstrong hit a comparable shot, but it was a tad too high and was held in by the wind, landing in the glove of Moniak for a routine out.
Chicago Cubs outfielder Kyle Tucker drives in a run on a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning of a game versus the Colorado Rockies at Wrigley Field in Chicago on May 26, 2025.(Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)However Kyle Tucker’s run-scoring single in the 5th put the Cubs ahead once again, and Taillon left a jam in the sixth, helped by Nico Hoerner nailing a runner at the plate on a fielder’s option grounder. Counsell removed Taillon with one out in the seventh after only 82 pitches, and turned it over to his bullpen, which had a 1.25 period over its previous 10 games, seeming to fix the group’s most glaring weak point. Caleb Thielbar, Ryan Pressly and Drew Pomeranz– the thirtysomething trio of middle reducers– have assisted Counsell’s blood pressure of late. Palencia, who has a more detailed’s mentality and a 101 mph fastball, appears like an authentic homegrown stopper, something the Cubs haven’t had in years, other than for a couple of months of Adbert Alzolay closing in ’23.
Tucker included a sacrifice fly in the seventh on a hit to left fielder Jordan Beck, initially ruled a dropped ball that became a double play. However the umpires converged and decided Beck had actually captured the ball and dropped it while moving it out of the glove, negating the double play and making it 3-1.
“It’s not a one-man program,” Taillon stated of Tucker. “However it definitely helps to have that guy.”
Pictures: Chicago Cubs beat the Colorado Rockies 3-1 at Wrigley Field on Memorial Day
The Rockies play 2 more games against the Cubs this series on their road to nowhere. Entering Monday’s game, the winning percentage variation in between the Cubs (.611) and Rockies (.167) was minus -.444. Admittedly, I’ve never ever become aware of a stat called winning portion disparity before. But it ends up the Rockies’ win over the New York Yankees on Friday connected for the second-largest winning portion disparity (minus -.452) for a group a minimum of 50 games into a season in the expansion age. Beating the Cubs would be close to that huge accomplishment.
Those of us who haven’t blotted the ’24 Sox out of our membranes can attest that the Rockies are substantially even worse for one big factor– there is no Garrett Crochet on the staff to conserve them every 5th day. However before the ’25 Rockies can formally clean the ’24 Sox out of the record books, they still have to play the games.
This distinct baseball record must be earned on the field, as the Sox did so competently last year. The Rockies look like they have it in them to do it, but some misfortune certainly is required, as the ’24 Sox proved. Trading their finest player, shortstop Ezequiel Tovar, might be the one move that puts the Rockies over the top.
But no matter how the season unfolds, the Cubs and Rockies will be back Tuesday night, where Cubs rookie Cade Horton will be seeking his 3rd win.
The Rockies are 0-6 on Tuesdays … simply in case you were questioning.