Following a tough stretch in May, the Chicago Cubs have roared to life. They currently sit at 49-38 after crushing the San Diego Padres on a historical afternoon.
Much of the damage of late has come off the bat of shortstop Dansby Swanson. The 31-year-old started the year on a horrific slump, as he was batting .175 with a .587 OPS through June 16.
Since then, Swanson has gone on a historic run. In his last 13 games, he’s slashing .365/.393/.981 at the plate and driven in a staggering 29 runs. He’s collected 19 hits, with nine of them leaving the ballpark.
During that time, Swanson’s season-long wRC+ has risen from 68 to 102. In a matter of two weeks, he’s gone from one of the worst hitters in baseball to a league-average hitter.
Swanson’s hot streak has also propelled the Cubs in the standings. Chicago has won 11 of their last 13 games. They still sit five games back of first place in the National League Central, a lead that isn’t necessarily insurmountable.
Dansby Swanson’s Best Stretch at the Plate
Dansby Swanson’s offense has been a talking point in the Cubs space for quite a while. First, it was the lack of offense. Now it’s the sheer insanity of what could go down as the best stretch of his career.
“We never have baseball figured out,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell joked after the Cubs 23-3 demoliton of the Padres on Marquee Sports Network. “He probably went through the roughest patch of his career, and on the other side of it is the best stretch of his career.”
Swanson’s run has him breaking records and accomplishing feats only Sammy Sosa and Ernie Banks have done before. He tied the franchise record for RBI in a single series in their four-game sweep of the New York Mets at Citi Field. In that series, he set the highest three-game span of RBI in franchise history with 15.
The Mets wound up firing their manager, Carlos Mendoza, after the Cubs left town.
The biggest game during that run was his three-homer game to cap that historical beating of the Padres. Swanson drove in eight runs, a career high.
His feats have grown to the point where Marquee Sports reporter Taylor McGregor is joking about interviewing him after every win.
“Kind of hard to explain, I don’t really have any words for it,” Swanson told McGregor. “I’m incredibly grateful.”
The signing in the background of that interview right now describes how Swanson, the Cubs, and their fan base feels right now about the season.
Dansby Swanson Showing Value to Cubs
While Dansby Swanson’s struggles were at the forefront, Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer publicly backed his shortstop. Hoyer said the team is better when Swanson is on the field.
Those words were true when Swanson was hitting just .175, it’s the same with him averaging 2 RBI per game. He entered that game against the Padres with 2.2 bWAR/2.1 fWAR, showing that he was already an above-average starter at shortstop.
From 2022 to 2025, Swanson put up 19.0 fWAR at the shortstop position. That ranks him sixth at the position. The five players in front of him all have a strong shot of being enshrined in Cooperstown.
Swanson’s bat is closer to a league-average player than a Hall of Famer, with a 105 wRC+ in that four-year run. That just describes how strong a defender he’s been. Swanson’s defense is rated at +68.0 runs, which is 16 runs higher than the next player (Francisco Lindor).
If Swanson continues producing anywhere close to his established level, the Cubs can devote even more attention to reinforcing their injury-plagued pitching staff ahead of the trade deadline.
Cubs’ Dansby Swanson Reaches New Heights During Incredible Hot Streak