Newly Acquired Cubs Closer Unimpressive with Rough Appearance on Opening Day

The Chicago Cubs need their closer to start pitching a lot better.

Cameron Zunkel | Mar 28, 2025

Mar 27, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Chicago Cubs pitcher Ryan Pressly (55) pitches against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the ninth inning at Chase Field. / Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

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Chicago Cubs

The Chicago Cubs opened up their stateside schedule with a 10-6 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks Thursday night.

Chicago was powered by their offense. Miguel Amaya had a massive day at the plate, Ian Happ homered for the first time in 2025 and Nico Hoerner enjoyed his return to the lineup.

It was the pitching staff that had some struggles in the win.

Justin Steele was not his sharpest. He went five innings, allowed six hits, three runs, walked one batter and struck out just two.

Nate Pearson followed that up by allowing two runs in the sixth inning, despite not allowing a hit.

However, it was the newly acquired closer that is the most concerning part of the pitching staff.

Ryan Pressly made is Cubs debut in Japan when he threw one scoreless inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers. But he did walk three batters in that outing, so it was anything but clean.

Against Arizona on Thursday, the right-handed pitcher threw the ninth inning, but did not have much success. He allowed two hits, including a double off the bat of Corbin Carroll. Those two hits resulted in a run, so Pressly is a little bit lucky this was not a true save situation.

Per Baseball Savant, the closer topped out at just 92.7 MPH on his four-seam fastball. His slider and changeup both hovered in the upper-80s while his one curveball was thrown 82.0 MPH. Additionally, four of the five balls put into play off him had an exit velocity of 94.0 or higher.

It was clearly not his best outing.

What is so concerning is he was not great in spring training, either. The two-time All-Star allowed opponents to hit .292 off him this spring and he allowed three runs in 5.2 innings pitched.

Finishing games is where the Cubs struggled the most last season. They ranked in the bottom half the MLB in saves. They also blew 26 saves. Now, no team is going to have a perfect save percentage, but Chicago needed to be better.

With Pressly, Chicago was hoping to have a closer that could shut down teams in the ninth inning and help them win those close games.

Winning those close games is important, so having a shut down closer is crucial. Pressly has not shown he can be that for the Cubs, yet.

It was only game three of the season, but the Cubs closer has to get back on track sooner rather than later.

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