CHICAGO — The Cubs squared off with Cleveland Guardians left-hander Joey Cantillo on Thursday night, another opportunity to improve their standing against southpaw hurlers.

They entered this series finale 11-13 against left-handed starters and have seemingly struggled in that department. That raises a natural question, could the Cubs front office help buoy that record by augmenting the bench in the trade market?

“Certainly, it’s a trend that we’ve talked about [and] noticed,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said earlier this week. “We have been more effective against right-handed starters than left-handed starters and we need to be able to feel good in any kind of game, any kind of situation.

“I mean, certainly we’re a little bit imbalanced in that regard right now, but I do think some of that is who we faced.”

That’s key in this conversation. The Cubs are actually one of the better teams against left-handers. Their .743 OPS against southpaws ranks sixth in baseball and their 33 home runs are third behind the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees.

They have faced the gamut of left-handed starters in their 24 games before Thursday. Check out some of the left-handers they’ve faced since May 30, with their stats entering Thursday’s action:

Andrew Abbott, Cincinnati Reds (1.79 ERA)
Nick Lodolo, Reds (3.52 ERA)
MacKenzie Gore, Washington Nationals (3.11 ERA)
Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers (2.15 ERA)
Jesús Luzardo, Philadelphia Phillies (4.05 ERA)
Andrew Heaney, Pittsburgh Pirates (4.16 ERA)
Matthew Liberatore, St. Louis Cardinals (3.70 ERA)
Brandon Walter, Houston Astros (3.34 ERA)
Framber Valdez, Astros (2.72 ERA)

They also faced an opener – the Tigers’ Tyler Holton – amidst that stretch and are 3-7 in those games against left-handed starters. That’s a devastating sum, regardless of the team’s overall success.

“It’s one thing to face left-handed starters,” Hoyer said. “Another thing is Gore, Luzardo, Skubal, Valdez, Liberatore. We faced really good left-handed starters. And I think maybe that’s part of it.”

Like Hoyer said they’re not resting on their laurels and chalking up their struggles to elite pitching. The Cubs hope to play in October and the best of the best will be on display there.

They’ll check in on bench options that could serve as platoon needs, but the way the offense is humming – they’re second in baseball in runs scored – it’s hard to add a trade option that can immediately insert themselves into this lineup.

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Just look at the current Cubs bench. Justin Turner, a veteran signed during spring training to serve as a right-handed bench bat against left-handers, has appeared in just 44 games and has 123 plate appearances for the Cubs this season. Last season, he played in 146 games and had 539 plate appearances.

Jon Berti, who was signed in the offseason to serve in his role, has started 23 games this year and made two starts in June and three since May 15. Vidal Bruján made three starts in June and has seven this season.

For all three players, it’s difficult to settle into a groove at the plate when you’re not facing live hitting on a regular basis.

“It’s really hard to go out there and get a bunch of hits when you’re not playing that often, so it’s a factor,” Hoyer said. “But, certainly, I do feel like those guys, it’s been hard for them to really get in a rhythm, and our everyday guys have played really well.”

A trade option won’t necessarily come in and play day in and day out and boost the production against left-handers, production which is already solid.

“I do think that our everyday guys have played really well,” Hoyer said. “We’re not really set up for platoons and things like that. That’s not really how our roster is set up right now. “So I think if we’re adding bench pieces, we’re also adding sort of depth in case of injuries.”