Shades of '85? With Steele, Shota out, Cubs rotation needs a boost

The Cubs have lost three of their last four games and now begin their first full pitching rotation without Justin Steele and Shota Imanaga, their top two starters. The starters for the Mets series that begins Friday at Wrigley Field are Jameson Taillon, TBD (likely rookie Cade Horton) and Matthew Boyd.

Steele is out for the season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left (throwing) elbow. Shota is on the 15-day injured lists with what the Cubs describe as a mild hamstring strain. Hamstrings can be tricky, but at least it's not his arm.

The loss of Steele and Imanaga is one of those developments that leave Cubs fans shaking their heads. The team is in first place. The Cubs are leading all of baseball in scoring (5.87 runs per game). And the baseball gods rob them of their two best starters — Steele was 25-17 with a 3.07 ERA in 2022-24). Imanaga was 15-3 with a 2.91 ERA in his first season with the Cubs in 2024. It was the last thing the Cubs needed.

But it could be worse, and it has. The 2025 Cubs can only hope this is the end of their injury issues and not the beginning — a fate that short-circuited an even more promising Cubs season in 1985. The Cubs had won the NL East in 1984 (breaking a 39-year postseason drought) and were off to a 21-11 start when they lost their top two starters in May — one to a hamstring injury (Rick Sutcliffe), the other to an elbow injury (Steve Trout).

With Dennis Eckersley, Scott Sanderson and veteran Dick Ruthven filling out the rotation, that could have been survivable if Sutcliffe and Trout eventually returned, which they did. Unfortunately, it was just the beginning of the rotation's injury jinx. Eckersley went down with arm soreness in June. Sanderson missed two starts with a back injury. Ruthven suffered a broken toe when he was hit by a line drive off the bat of Keith Hernandez.

By mid-August, the entire Cubs starting rotation was on the disabled list — Sutcliffe (leg), Trout (elbow), Eckersley (right shoulder tendinitis), Sanderson (MCL tear) and Ruthven (broken toe). The Cubs had to move Trout from the 15-day DL to the 21-day DL just to make room for Eckersley.

On June 12, 1985, the Cubs were in first place in the NL East and their starting pitching staff — Sutcliffe, Trout, Sanderson, Eckersley and Ruthven was among the best in baseball.

It was a death blow to a team that was 34-19 with a 3 1/2-game lead in the NL East on June 12. The starting rotation was a combined 25-13 with a 2.34 ERA — Sutcliffe (6-4, 2.04), Trout (6-1, 1.79), Sanderson (3-1, 2.14), Eckersley (7-3, 2.57) and Ruthven (3-4, 3.38).

In a span of six weeks, the Cubs' rotation went from Sutcliffe-Trout-Sanderson-Eckersley-Ruthven to Ray Fontenot-Steve Engel-Derek Botelho-Lary Sorensen-Jay Baller.

When starters Dennis Eckersley and Dick Ruthven were put on the 15-day disabled list in August, Steve Trout had to be moved from the 15-day DL to the 21-day DL to make room for them.

On Aug. 16, 1985, all five Cubs starters were on the disabled list. It's worth noting that the top four starters — Rick Sutcliffe, Steve Trout, Dennis Eckersley and Scott Sanderson — averaged 6 2/3 innings per start.

There was no Cade Horton on the horizon in those days. Engel (a 1983 fifth-round draft pick) and Botelho (acquired from the Phillies in the Manny Trillo trade) were the Class AAA call-ups. Greg Maddux, the Cubs' second-round pick in 1984 (No. 31 overall) was in his first full season in the minors — 13-9 with a 3.19 ERA at Class A Peoria (though he would make his big-league debut the following September). Drew Hall, the Cubs' first-round pick in 1984 (No. 3 overall) was still figuring it out at Class A Winston-Salem. Jamie Moyer, the Cubs' sixth-round pick in 1984, was promoted from Winston-Salem to Class AA Pittsfield, but still a year away from his big-league debut in 1986).

And by that time, the Cubs were already headed downhill. They lost 13 consecutive games in June to fall from 3 1/2 games up in the NL East to fourth place, 5 games behind. And that was with the starting rotation almost intact. With all of them on the disabled list, the Cubs had no chance. The Cubs went 23-37 in the final two months of the 1985 season to finish 77-84, in fourth place in the NL East, 23 1/2 games behind the Cardinals.

Even before the 1985 Cubs rotation was decimated, the wheels were coming off — they lost 13 consecutive games from June 12-25, with most of the starting staff intact, though not necessarily 100 percent healthy.

This is the kind of season it was in 1985. Dave Gumpert, a reliever called up from Class AAA because of all the pitching injuries, was injured (strained groin) while pitching for the Cubs.

The Cubs' injuries were so bad in 1985, Tribune beat writer Fred Mitchell's lead quote in August was from Cubs trainer Tony Garofalo — "Nobody got hurt today. That's one for 'Ripley's Believe It or Not.'" Well done, Fred!