Cubs Chasing 2023 Rangers-Style Revival
Baseball seasons don’t move in straight lines. They bend, stall, collapse, and revive in ways that numbers can’t always explain. The Rangers learned that in 2023, and the Cubs are living it now.
The Rangers looked like a runaway freight train in the first half that year, holding the top spot in the AL for a majority of the season. Corey Seager was hitting consistently, and Marcus Semien set the tone at the top of the order. By mid-August, they were 72–48 and seemingly cruising to a division title. Then the bottom fell out as an eight-game losing streak kicked off a 4–16 spiral. Jacob deGrom was out. Nathan Eovaldi hit the IL. The bullpen was a nightly adventure. Texas stumbled so badly that they nearly missed the playoffs.
Nearly.
But then, something clicked, perhaps as a result of playing Creed music in the clubhouse. The Rangers dug deep and went 14–8 down the stretch to claw their way into the postseason as a Wild Card team. What followed was historic: sweeping Tampa Bay, sweeping Baltimore, dethroning Houston, and finally taking down Arizona to win the first World Series title in franchise history. Their collapse didn’t define them. Their recovery did.
Now, the Cubs sit here in mid-August 2025, riding an almost identical roller coaster.
Chicago looked like the team to beat through May and June, even after losing ace Justin Steele to an elbow injury on April 7. The rotation found ways to patch the hole while the lineup carried the weight. Kyle Tucker, brought in to replace Cody Bellinger, gave the Cubs a new left-handed anchor. Seiya Suzuki provided bursts of power and consistency as Pete Crow-Armstrong was making his case for NL MVP.
But baseball has a way of testing even the strongest starts.
The bats cooled. Injuries shuffled the rotation and exposed the bullpen. Close games that once went Chicago’s way started slipping into the loss column. And as the dog days of August rolled on, the Cubs suddenly look vulnerable, their once-promising division lead shrinking by the week.
Sound familiar?
The parallel to the Rangers is obvious — a team that soared early, crashed late, but found itself when the lights were brightest. The Cubs don’t need to look far for a blueprint. The lesson is simple: survive; stay upright; just get in.
October was the restart button for the Rangers, as talent took over once they made it into the postseason. Corey Seager turned into a one-man wrecking crew and Nathan Eovaldi delivered every time his team needed him. They stumbled, but they finished, and then took it higher with the help of a little Creed blasting in the background.
The next six weeks will decide whether 2025 is remembered as a collapse or a prelude for the Cubs. Right now, they look like the Rangers at their lowest point in 2023 — stuck in the middle of a slump, searching for momentum, and trying to remember that a season isn’t defined in August.
Their series against the Brewers felt like a potential turning point of the season, especially with rookies Matt Shaw and Owen Caissie providing a spark. Shaw has been on fire since the All-Star Game, hitting .292 with nine home runs, 18 RBI, and 17 runs scored in 32 games. Caissie announced himself by belting his first career home run and driving in four runs in the statement series. The energy wasn’t just on the field — the Wrigley crowd roared as though the playoffs were already underway.
Lefties Matthew Boyd and Shōta Imanaga have continued to hold it down on the mound all year. Cade Horton has been nearly unhittable since July 20, posting a 4–1 record with a 0.58 ERA and 27 strikeouts in six appearances. Performances like his, combined with the fans’ electricity and the rookie sparks, can jolt a clubhouse awake with the kind of energy that shifts momentum in a pennant race.
The Rangers taught us that a bad month doesn’t wash a great season, and great teams will always prevail.
Now the Cubs have to prove they can write the same ending — and that starts with everyone contributing. It’s incumbent upon those hitters in the middle of the batting order to find their old selves if Chicago is going to make a real late-season push. Tucker and Crow-Armstrong hitting their first homers of August in a win over the Angels Friday night is a good start.
It helps that the Cubs’ remaining opponents have an aggregate .479 winning percentage, giving them the weakest remaining schedule in the National League Central and one of the easiest in all of baseball. No excuses left, just find ways to win. That’s it.
