AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh

The Rundown: Cubs Extend Home Streak, Hoyer Positioned for Big Deadline Moves, Happy Kid K Day

Photo of Michael Canter Michael CanterMay 6, 2026

“Nothing will stop you and nothing will stand in your way.” – Heaven by The Rolling Stones

I love the scene in Field of Dreams where Shoeless Joe Jackson (played by Ray Liotta) asks Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) if the magical baseball field surrounded by cornstalks is heaven.

“No,” Kinsella replied. “This is Iowa.”

He could just as easily be talking about Wrigley Field, where the Cubs never lose, at least lately, and miracles exist in the form of walk-off wins. Michael Conforto was the hero on Monday, and poor fielding got the best of the Reds yesterday. That’s not to say Chicago’s North Side Baseballers lacked impact players. Ryan Rolison earned the win, his third in six outings since joining the Cubs in mid-April, and Michael Busch hit a solo homer in the 8th inning that tied the score and set up the spirited extra-inning victory. The Cubs have walked it off five times during their ongoing 13-game home winning streak.

Like I said yesterday, we’ve reached the point where wins are expected, and winning is fun. Let me reference another iconic late-80s movie: Wall Street.

“The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that winning, for lack of a better word, is good. Winning is right and winning works. Winning clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.”

Chicago’s remarkable run is reminiscent of the extended heater the Brewers went on last summer. The Cubs have won 17 of their last 20, an incendiary .850 winning percentage, and they’re 21-8 (.724) since Cade Horton went down. They’ve also increased their lead to 2.5 games over the surprising Cardinals, five games ahead of the last-place Brewers and Pirates. Stuff that pancake in your back pocket.

Milwaukee had streaks of 14, 11, and eight wins in 2025. The Cubs have won seven straight overall, and had another 10-game winning streak April 14-23. There are two games left in this series before a road trip takes them to Texas and Atlanta, followed by a three-game set at The Rate to play the resurgent White Sox, who sit a half-game out of first in the AL Central.

Yes, you read that right, no need to adjust your bifocals. That’s the longest road trip of the season, and it should give us an idea of whether the 2026 Cubs are a very good team or one capable of winning the World Series.

Cubs News & Notes

  • Hot-hitting prospect Pedro Ramírez was named the International League’s Player of the Month for April.
  • Infield prospect Jefferson Rojas is starting to heat up, too. He’s recorded at least one extra base hit in five of his last six games.
  • Rolison still doesn’t have an entrance song that plays when Craig Counsell summons him from the bullpen. Then again, until three weeks ago, the lanky lefty didn’t have a roof over his head.
  • The journeyman reliever is succeeding this year because he’s relying on horizontal movement instead of chasing whiffs. The Cubs have been riding that wave since everyone else thought it was a relic from the past.
  • Patrick Mooney of The Athletic believes the Cubs are setting the stage ($) for some big deadline moves.
  • Five different players have had the decisive walk-off at-bat during Chicago’s 13-game home winning streak. Busch hit the worm-burner that won last night’s game, and Conforto had the big home run on Monday night. Dansby Swanson singled home Ian Happ to beat the Phillies on April 23, Nico Hoerner hit a 10th-inning sacrifice fly to beat the Mets on April 19, and the streak started on April 12 when Carson Kelly drove in Scott Kingery to beat the Pirates.
  • Hoerner is starting to be mentioned with some of the league’s MVP candidates, and that notoriety is growing with each game.

Ball Four

I’ve got nothing…

Central Intelligence

How About That!

Framber Valdez appears to be suffering from some type of elevated emotional distress. The league can continue to fine him, but he is also hurting his teammates and manager A.J. Hinch with his shenanigans.

Twins shortstop Carlos Correa needs ankle surgery and will miss the rest of the season.

Jim Bowden of The Athletic lists the pitchers most likely to be traded ($) at the deadline. Freddy Peralta is one big name. Zac Gallen, Seth Lugo, and Sandy Alcántara are also listed. Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told the media last week that he’s had trade conversations “earlier than I ever have. Other clubs haven’t been doing very well, either. Clubs have called around.”

Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera said he supports an MLB salary cap.

Apropos of Nothing

We’ve hit the trifecta of May’s most iconic, non-Memorial Day celebrations this morning. First is May the Fourth, followed by Cinco de Mayo, and today is Kerry Wood Day for all who celebrate. Do you remember where you were when Kid K struck out 20 Astros in 1998? I was at the Marrs-Meyer American Legion Post in Worth, IL, trying to match beers for punchouts. I lost that one.

Son of Apropos

I apologize for the extra media today. I also hope that I didn’t get any readers in trouble at work for distracting you from your jobs.

Three from the Bill Chuck Files

  1. The Phillies are now 7-1 under interim manager Don Mattingly. “GM Preston Mattingly must be so proud of his dad,” wrote Chuck. “Thus far, it’s a total eclipse of the son.”
  2. Aaron Judge hit his 14th homer Monday night, and it was a big deal because of Michael Kay’s call. Kay honored his dear friend, John Sterling, with this tribute.
  3. White Sox announcer Len Kasper did the same thing when Munetaka Murakami hit his 14th tater of the season.

Side Note: Bill’s latest column is one of my favorites, and not just because he mentioned Cubs Insider. With that in mind, I’m going to give away a paid subscription to the first commentor that can answer this trivia question:

Name the MLB player who had the most hits in a single nine-inning game, and name the team he did it against. You’re cheating if you look it up, and though I’ll have no proof, the shame will haunt you forever.

Extra Innings

Ramírez had one hell of an April.

They Said It

  • “You just make yourself hard to beat. You develop this resilience and this hard-to-beat mentality. It creates a belief system when we’re down in the eighth: ‘We got a shot.’ And it’s not always like that. Comebacks and late-inning stuff create that. Sometimes, you just need to see it to believe it.” – Counsell
  • “You can easily get frustrated when you look at the guys you were drafted with and see their paths to the big leagues. For a long time, I think that just ate me up, being injured. But I finally came to terms with [the idea that] everyone’s got their own path. So it’s like trusting and staying patient. There’s a lot of times I could have laid down and quit . . . but I kept going. I kept sticking with the process, and it’s paid off. It’s special. I love it here.” – Rolison
  • “It’s going to be a summer of working through our internal guys, but external [additions] are going to be a real thing as we go on. It’s also May, and it takes a while for those things to happen. We’ve been looking really consistently for small transactions, but anything bigger is going to have to wait. We’re going to have to get healthy and handle those things internally.” – Jed Hoyer (Note: That may be the wordiest semi-commitment I’ve ever read).

Wednesday Walk-Off Song

Speaking of word salads…

Photo of Michael Canter Michael CanterMay 6, 2026
Cubs Insider © Copyright 2026, All Rights Reserved