Cubs blown out by Pirates, lose 10th straight after authoring pair of 10-game win streaks earlier this season

The Chicago Cubs are in free fall. They plummeted to a new low on Tuesday night in Pittsburgh, where their May malaise featured a 12-1 defeat to the Pirates. The Cubs, who were 27-12 after stitching together their second 10-game win streak of the 2026 campaign on May 8, are now 29-26, having lost 10 straight and 14 of their past 16 games.

They keep losing ground in a crowded NL Central, the only MLB division that doesn’t have a team below .500.

Chicago’s offense has been dormant during this winless stretch. The Cubs have struggled mightily with runners in scoring position, a development that again flared up on Tuesday in PNC Park. They piled up eight hits, but their lone run came in the second inning. They even had men on first and second with no outs in the ninth yet came away scoreless once more to finish out the blowout defeat with a whimper.

Chicago’s 10-game skid is its longest since it had one of that very kind in 2022. That slide took place between June 4 and June 16 four years ago.

This year’s drought arrived before June, and so did the club’s two 10-game win streaks. Has an MLB team experienced highs and lows like this before?

Back in 2017, the Los Angeles Dodgers won 10 games in a row in June and 11 consecutive games in July, only to then drop 11 straight contests in September.