Cubs Week In Review: It's Over, What Comes Next?

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Saying goodbye to Cubs baseball for the season, especially for one whose heart was once filled with such hope, is excruciating. If you don't believe me, just ask Bleacher Jeff. If the blue-shirted vendor's echoes of "last call!" in the 8th inning weren't evidence enough, the Chicago Cubs played their final baseball games of the 2024 season. One filled with more questions than a re-run of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?". Since we have quite a while to ponder the direction of this team's still Jed Hoyer-led future, let's, for the last time this season, dive in to see how it all went down...

Image courtesy of © Matt Marton-Imagn Images

Game by Game: Monday

The Cubs started the week as a team with nothing to play for, and they looked like one against the Phillies in their first of a three-game set from Citizens Bank Field. Caleb Kilian took the bump for the Cubbies, delivering 5 2/3 innings and getting thoroughly shelled by Kyle Schwarber's club. Kilian gave up five earned runs on eight hits and issued four free passes. Offensively, the Cubs' favorite 2024 tradition of stranding baserunners held sway as they left nine on base in this late-September contest. Nico Hoerner and Mike Tauchman were responsible for Chicago's only RBIs, coming through with one apiece. 

Final Score: 6-2 Phillies

Tuesday

In my previous recap, I stated that this club's ascending over the .500 mark was a goal worth pursuing. By virtue of winning game two of their final road trip of the season, the Cubbies ensured at least the same amount of games up as games down. Lefty Justin Steele got the nod in this contest, his last start of the season. He went four innings, surrendering two runs, including a solo shot by Phillies slugger Bryce Harper, and punching out three. The Cubs' offense, which enjoyed somewhat of a second-half resurgence, was sharp on this day. Though stranding eleven baserunners, the North Siders got key contributions from consistent second baseman Nico Hoerner, who went 3-5, and from their utility star Cody Bellinger, who laced a clutch 3-run triple in the sixth inning. Even when it doesn't matter, winning always feels good. 

Final Score: 10-4 Cubs

Wednesday

The Phillies are one of the more likely contenders for this year's Fall Classic and probably had even less to play for in this one than their opponents from the North Side of Chicago. But that didn't stop them from not so kindly dispatching Craig Counsell's squad in the series' finale. Javier Assad toed the rubber in this one and got absolutely lit up. One of the several Cubs' pitchers to suffer truncated work due to injuries in 2024, Assad let up eight earned runs on eight hits, never really finding any kind of rhythm. The Cubs pushed six runs across the plate versus Ranger Suarez's ball club, including four runs on two complete bombs by Nico Hoerner, whose bobblehead is featured prominently in the man caves of Cubs fans all over the Chicagoland area.

Final Score: 9-6 Phillies

Friday

For the final three games of the 2024 campaign, Ian Happ and the Cubs welcomed the Cincinnati Reds to Wrigley Field. Once foes in competing for a wild card playoff spot, the Cubs and Reds looked like two teams defeated by failure to reach lofty expectations. Jameson Taillon sailed through 7 shutout innings and, in doing so, checked in with a 3.27 ERA for the season. The two teams combined for nine hits, and the game's winning run came on a Miguel Amaya sacrifice fly in the fifth inning. Near the outset of the week, the Cubs' front office indicated it intends to bring "an established" starting pitcher in to help end the team's postseason drought. The Cubbies' pitching performances in this contest provided reason to believe that whoever that individual turns out to be will not find an empty cupboard in Chicago.

Final Score: 1-0 Cubs

Saturday

As the words begin to appear on screen, I find it increasingly hard to articulate what Cubbies' veteran pitcher Kyle Hendricks means to me, millions of Cubs fans worldwide, and the organization. Far beyond in services in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series, "The Professor" has stood out as example number one when it comes to professionalism, endurance, and overall nasty stuff since becoming a Cub in 2012. He delivered a (probable) final lecture worthy of his legend on this day. Going 7 1/3 innings, Hendricks induced one ground ball after another in a swift and efficient outing. Hoisting his cap high in the air in salute to a crowd of grateful supporters, Kyle Hendricks walked off the mound of the Friendly Confines one last time, having positioned his club nicely to pick up their 83rd win of the season. And they did. The North Siders' preserved the good vibes by scoring three eighth-inning runs. Mike Tauchman, Pete Crow-Armstrong, and Isaac Paredes all notched RBIs in the winning effort. What a Saturday scene at Wrigley.

Final Score: 3-0 Cubs

Sunday

After matching their win total from 2023 the day prior with an enormously emotional series-clinching contest, the Cubs fell flat in the series' final game. Caleb Killian and company held the Reds to 27 straight scoreless innings before falling to Cincinnati in extras. The Cubs scattered three hits in this contest, which found Seiya Suzuki and Michael Busch, two offensive stalwarts of the club in 2024, with a chance to leave the people with a good taste in their mouths heading into 2025. It was not meant to be. With two runners on, the powerful Michael Busch flew out to left field in an oh-so-unceremonious way to end the Cubs' 2024 campaign.

Final Score: 3-0 Reds (10 innings)

So that's it. One hundred sixty-two games over and out for the team and a city starving for postseason play, but with top brass unwilling to feed them. The next time the Cubs play the regular season, you and I will hopefully be in Japan watching our squad take on the Los Angeles Dodgers. Jed Hoyer is set to deliver his end-of-season address this coming Tuesday. The fact that he couldn't get this club to the postseason this year is an unequivocal failure. He, Carter Hawkins, and Tom Ricketts should and must come under fire as to why they simply could not orchestrate a contending playoff club. Big changes are on the horizon, but until then, there will be a reprieve.

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