RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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WASHINGTON — It’s been more than a month since the big 250th-anniversary celebration in the nation’s capital.
But the Cubs and Nationals still provided plenty of fireworks in this week’s battle between the two highest-scoring teams in baseball.
Of course, the baseball gods hate a narrative, and after scoring 20 runs in back-to-back wins in the first two games of the series, the Cubs went quiet in Thursday’s 7-0 loss. It was the other end of the spectrum from a 12-run, four-homer output the night before, with Nationals right-hander Cade Cavalli taking a no-hit bid into the seventh inning.
The bloop hit off the bat of first baseman Michael Busch’s bat isn’t the kind of offensive highlight these Cubs have cooked up during a summer in which they’ve been one of the sport’s best teams, but it will be replayed as the knock that made sure Cole Hamels’ gem from 11 years ago is still the most recent no-no against the franchise.
Michael Busch breaks up Cade Cavalli's no-no in the seventh. There has not been a single-pitcher no-hitter in MLB since Blake Snell on August 2, 2024 pic.twitter.com/lgeLNTdasK
— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) August 13, 2026
The Nationals scored just one fewer run over the three days, with 19 that ensured the Cubs won’t catch their major league lead just yet. The two teams combined for 13 home runs in the series.
Even with Thursday’s outage, though, the Cubs still possess a potent lineup that seems primed to do damage come October, and they looked like it this week.
“It’s a really fun group to be around, super talented,” righty pitcher Kevin Gausman said. “The offense, the last two days, we’ve seen what they’re capable of.”
What they’re capable of is getting a big performance from any one of their hitters on any given night.
Wednesday, it was third baseman Alex Bregman with three home runs and seven RBIs , adding to his increasingly excellent second-half production that’s vaulted him into the group of Cubs hitters who can win big games by themselves, joining the likes of center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, right fielder Seiya Suzuki, left fielder Ian Happ and shortstop Dansby Swanson, among others.
“That’s why this is a good team, because we have a different guy who can do something like that any day,” manager Craig Counsell said Wednesday. “Dansby has done it. Pete’s certainly done it. Ian’s done it. Seiya’s done it. It’s pretty cool.”
“We’ve got a lot of good players,” Swanson said, “a lot of guys that have been successful in this league for a lot of time now, guys that are prepared and go about their business the right way, guys that take at-bats with the team in mind, going up there to compete. When you’ve got nine guys doing that, it makes it really tough.”
For a Cubs team questing for a championship at October’s end, this offense is more than just capable, it’s something that can tilt the scales in their favor, including against the type of top-of-the-line competition they’ll face in the postseason.
Cavalli might not be a big name like Paul Skenes or Tarik Skubal — the two reigning Cy Young winners who took losses against the Cubs in the last few weeks — but he’s having a mighty fine season, lowering his ERA to 3.36 with eight shutout innings Thursday.
But see the 22 runs the Cubs scored in a three-game sweep of the juggernaut Dodgers last week.
They’ve been good enough that Thursday’s shutout was just their fourth in their last 70 games. Even after getting blanked, they’re averaging 5.8 runs a game this month.
“We have a very complete batting order. We have a very complete bench. We don’t have any weak spots,” lefty pitcher Matthew Boyd said. “Our lineup is deep, and we have the ability to score runs, regardless of who the pitcher is. We are able to score in a variety of ways, which is really, really special, too. … There’s always trust in this offense that whether it’s two runs or six, we have the ability to come back.”
“It’s unbelievable,” lefty pitcher David Peterson said. “It feels like we’re never out of a game”
Unless, of course, they don’t get any hits at all, or just one pop up that drops in the right spot.
But hey, that’s the baseball gods for you.
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