{"id":73629,"date":"2025-07-18T21:07:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T21:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/73629\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T21:07:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T21:07:13","slug":"why-dansby-swanson-is-confident-the-first-place-cubs-will-be-a-second-half-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/73629\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Dansby Swanson is confident the first-place Cubs will be a second-half team"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Chicago Cubs opened spring training on Super Bowl Sunday with pitchers and catchers reporting early to Arizona to prepare for the Tokyo Series. Upon returning from Japan, the itinerary included two West Coast trips and two visits to New York. After the All-Star break, they still have 66 games remaining and have an expectation to play through October. That\u2019s a lot of time, in close quarters, with a sizable group of co-workers and all of their mood swings and quirks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis group is very involved with one another,\u201d Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson said last weekend, sitting at his locker in Yankee Stadium\u2019s visiting clubhouse. \u201cHere, at the hotel, doing things together in Chicago, this group enjoys being together.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a season this long, team chemistry matters \u2013 as long as the players are good enough. The Cubs amassed enough talent throughout their organization to put together the second-best record in the National League so far, positioning themselves as aggressive buyers at the July 31 trade deadline. Wrigleyville should be rocking this weekend with three games against the Boston Red Sox, an event being framed as a potential World Series preview<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Swanson understands the expectations, and he knows what it takes after winning the 2021 World Series with the Atlanta Braves and later signing a seven-year, $177 million contract to help lead \u201cThe Next Great Cubs Team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Signaling that arrival, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Kyle Tucker and Matthew Boyd represented the Cubs at the All-Star Game. Meanwhile, Seiya Suzuki, Michael Busch, Nico Hoerner and Carson Kelly also deserved serious consideration for the showcase event in Atlanta. When healthy, Shota Imanaga has pitched at an All-Star level. The bullpen on a budget came together so nicely \u2013 Daniel Palencia, Drew Pomeranz, Brad Keller, Chris Flexen, Caleb Thielbar \u2013 that it\u2019s hard to pick out just one reliever.<\/p>\n

The smaller additions to the roster highlight the synergy between Jed Hoyer\u2019s front office and Craig Counsell\u2019s coaching staff, creating more optimism that the Cubs will creatively add impact talent this summer. Every move that incrementally improves the club doesn\u2019t have to involve a big name.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Within the Cubs clubhouse, players believe they haven\u2019t played their best baseball yet. (Kevin C. Cox \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cJust think about the reconstruction of some of the pitching staff,\u201d Swanson said. \u201cThey\u2019ve really done a good job of being able to identify guys that have a lot left in the tank. Credit to the players themselves for buying in and being coachable. It\u2019s been a really good (setup for everyone). They\u2019ve done really incredible things for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cubs have the star power, complementary players and pleasant surprises that comprise every playoff contender. The intangibles are impossible to measure, but it\u2019s telling when young players such as Crow-Armstrong and Palencia receive encouragement from teammates and grow from their individual struggles. The work environment is such that the Cubs have contained their longest losing streak this season to three games, a marked improvement from the spirals that sabotaged the last two seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter if things are on the up or on the down, you just got to last the marathon,\u201d Swanson said. \u201cThis group definitely has that personality trait. We\u2019ve really just leaned into one another, which is another really important thing. This personality of this group is always together, giving each other a hard time, picking each other up, just treating one another like family.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the ability to converse with one another, to pick each other\u2019s brains. Everyone always says \u2018holding each other accountable.\u2019 There are very nice ways to do it: \u2018Man, what did you think about this at-bat?\u2019 It\u2019s being able to give an honest opinion: \u2018Well, I think this would be the right way to go about it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

While the Cubs had some ugly losses in June and July \u2013 a time when the Milwaukee Brewers were gaining ground in the NL Central and cutting the division lead to one game \u2013 they consistently found ways to salvage a series, stay on track and avoid any sense of panic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a team as good as ours is playing .500ish ball, everyone thinks something\u2019s wrong,\u201d Swanson said. \u201cIt just happens. If we could go 20-6 every month, we\u2019d be the best team of all time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within the clubhouse, players believe they haven\u2019t played their best baseball yet. They weathered injuries to starting pitchers Imanaga, Justin Steele, Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad while otherwise staying remarkably healthy. They play exceptional defense, run the bases aggressively and follow the details within each game plan. They look forward to reaching another gear.<\/p>\n

\u201cA season can be so up and down,\u201d Swanson said. \u201cEarly in the year, when everything seemed to be clicking on all cylinders as a group, that can be everyone\u2019s perception of what this group should be 24\/7. The reality is, that\u2019s what we\u2019d like to be, but by the same token, that\u2019s a challenge. The break comes at a good time when guys can get some rest and a little reset.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith deadline stuff and all that approaching, too, it\u2019s always a fun time for reinforcements and things of that nature to keep the vibes going.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Top photo of Dansby Swanson: David Berding \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chicago Cubs opened spring training on Super Bowl Sunday with pitchers and catchers reporting early to Arizona…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":73630,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[1271,1266,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-73629","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-chicago-cubs","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114876281512274652","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}