Michael

Busch

Busch has been fairly disappointing in hitting .239/.349/.391. It’s the final number there that’s the real problem; Busch hit 34 homers and slugged .523 in 592 plate appearances last season. This year, with his bat speed and his exit velocity numbers all down, he has 17 homers in 607 plate appearances.

Busch followed Pete Crow-Armstrong in the first inning with a solo homer off Bryan Hudson. He later drew a walk in the sixth. The 28-year-old first baseman is up to 15 homers and 64 RBI while hitting .244/.351/.389 across 561 plate appearances. His batted ball quality is down significantly from last season, making it difficult to follow up his 34-homer campaign. Though 2025 might’ve been the outlier, as his batted-ball metrics are more in line with his 2024 output.

Busch had been mired in a bit of a power outage lately, slashing just .253/.290/.316 with one homer, nine RBI and an 18/4 K/BB ratio over 100 plate appearances in his last 22 ballgames. He’ll get a day off to reset in this one with Pedro Ramirez filling in at first base and batting sixth against Cardinals’ right-hander Hunter Dobbins.

Busch spoiled Cade Cavalli’s no-hit bid with a two-out single in the seventh inning. That would be the only hit that the Cubs’ offense would get in the brutal offensive performance. For the season, the 28-year-old slugger is hitting .245/.353/.388 with 14 homers and 63 RBI in 544 plate appearances on the season.

Busch came back to haunt his former organization by tagging Justin Wrobleski for a solo shot in the fifth inning before adding a two-run single in the sixth. The 28-year-old first baseman is up to 14 homers on the year and should reach the 20-homer threshold for the third consecutive season.

Busch’s two-run single in the sixth inning capped off a five-run inning and extended the Cubs’ lead to 8-0 in a game Chicago would eventually win 11-0. He’s hitting .245 with a .766 OPS and 56 RBI this season.

Busch’s RBI single in the first inning wound up being the only run the Cubs would drive in on the night, as the other run that scored came via a wild pitch. Busch was one of just six Cubs to tally a hit in Friday’s loss and he has now hit safely in three-straight games.

Remember when Busch hit .193 with two home runs in 30 games in March and April? Since May 1st, Busch is hitting .279/.424/.467 with seven home runs, 18 runs scored, 33 RBI, and two steals in 48 games. He should be treated as the top 10 starting first baseman he was drafted to be before the season began.

The Giants brought in Erik Miller just to face Busch in the fifth, and the left-handed hitter responded with his second homer in 91 plate appearances against a southpaw this season. It was also the first homer Miller has ever allowed to a left-handed batter in the majors; they had hit .200/.318/.242 against him in 196 plate appearances.

Busch crushed a 424-foot shot off Tomoyuki Sugano in the sixth inning, but it came with the Cubs trailing 7-1. He’s now homered seven times in 2026, while the solo roundtripper gives him 37 RBI in 67 games. It’s the first homer of the month of June for Busch, but he has picked up hits in six of his seven contests in the month. Overall the production has been disappointing, but there’s reason for optimism over the final 90-plus games of the campaign.