Riding a two-game win streak after finally putting their 10-game skid behind them, the Cubs are heading into another NL Central division clash, this time with the Cardinals. Both teams are scuffling as the Cardinals are currently losers for four in a row and have a 3-7 record in their last 10 games, it would be nice for the Cubs to gain some games in the division while they're down. The Cubs offense had to wake up in the final two games of their four-game set with the Pirates, scoring 17 of their 19 runs of the series in those two games alone. The one major difference in two games was the Cubs extra base power, getting 6-extra base hits in the last two games. The Cubs had 9 collective extra base hits in their prior eight games. The Cubs also scored first in both games, something they failed to do in 8 of their prior 10 games before, despite leading the league in both walk rate (11.7) and runners left on base (459). The Cubs were creating scoring opportunities, they just weren't getting the big hits needed in those moments - their .677 OPS in RISP situations reflects that as well. May 28, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Chicago Cubs left fielder Ian Happ (8), center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong (middle), and right fielder Seiya Suzuki (27) celebrate in the outfield after defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images | Charles LeClaire-Imagn ImagesWhat makes this sustainable for the Cubs?While leading the league in runners left on base can sound like a bad thing, it's not always a clear sign your offense is bad. The Cubs are still a top-10 run scoring team at the moment, ranking 6th scoring 272 runs so far - only the Pirates have score more runs in the NL Central. Players like Ian Happ and Alex Bregman need to keep generating extra-base power for the Cubs, because they're putting runners on despite the lack of hits. One reason for the lack of pop from the Cubs lineup could be the historic amount of breaking pitches they're seeing, as Mike Petriello pointed out at MLB.com. According to Petriello's research, 37% of the pitches the Cubs have seen this May were breaking-balls - the highest breaking-ball rate in a month Cubs have seen in the pitch-tracking era. The Cubs currently have five of the top 10 hitters with the highest breaking-ball pitches seen with Seiya Suzuki (47.9%) and Dansby Swanson (47.8%) at the very top of the list. The birage of breaking-balls has clearly effected the Cubs seeing their Team OPS drop from .780 in March/April to .633 this May, but positive regression shoudl be coming for this group - there's no way Suzuki, Swanson, and even Alex Bregman continue to struggle this much against offspeed pitches. And it's been encouraging to see someone like Pete Crow-Armstrong with what would be a career-high 9.4% walk rate in a month where he's likely never more breaking-balls in his lifetime. The numbers still show the Cubs are a top offense in baseball, despite their horrible two-week affair with losing, but if they can generate more power they should remain a top offense and keep winning games. Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow