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In my last recap, I proposed the pressing quandary of "What's next?". Well, we're starting to find out. Image courtesy of © Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images With the MLB playoffs bringing October heat in other major markets like New York, the North Side of Chicago begins its long offseason slumber. If this last week was any indication, maybe, just maybe, the organization, through numerous and significant changes, knows it's time to wake up. As we start acquainting ourselves with the remaining postseason clubs vying for World Series glory, one thing is abundantly clear: success is out there and up for grabs in Major League Baseball. Should you seek proof of this, look no further than AJ Hinch and his scrappy Detroit Tigers, who, after deleting perennial postseason stalwart Houston, hold designs on canceling Jhonkensy Noel and crew's "Big Christmas" up in Cleveland. If the Motown Cats turned 0.2% playoff odds into 100%, why can't the Cubs do so as well? Those answers, with correlating insights, belong to a different piece in the near future. Still, at the very least, the actions taken this past week demonstrated at least the impression of frustration and discontent from the club's front office. So, what were those actions? A whole lot of coaching changes. Let's investigate who, what, and how these changes affect the Cubbies' makeup and philosophy. First base coach Mike Napoli, hitting coach Jim Adduci, bullpen coach Darren Holmes, and a pair of strength coaches have all been dismissed. I don't want heads to roll; I want to make deep runs in the postseason. These moves won't resonate significantly until next season begins in earnest, but one big thing it allows is Craig Counsell's license to build a proper staff. When you look at the roles these former Cubs coaches occupied, they magnify glaring deficiencies in categories that doomed the North Siders' playoff hopes in 2024. Jim Adduci, for instance, was the hitting coach for a team that turned in a .242 combined batting average. Now, this was for many documented reasons, not the least of which were the mighty winds of Wrigley, but that specific position was an obvious place to look to. On the other hand, Mike Napoli and Darren Holmes helmed positions that, at best, were inconsistent in producing success for the Chicago Cubs. Who is at fault? One obvious individual is the one you're thinking of: Jed Hoyer. Did he have anything to say about his team's performance? You bet he did. This past Tuesday, he delivered his end-of-season address, and the sound bites that came out of it, at the very least, highlighted his awareness that a plethora of this franchise's stakeholders are fed up with the playoff absences he has become the face of since the end of the 2017 campaign. Hoyer does not necessarily come across as a proponent of revisionist history but as one who seems out of touch even after failing to meet self-appointed elevated goals. His and Tom Rickett's cold feet regarding long-term top-tier free-agent signings have left this team in place of good enough but not great enough. Said Hoyer: We're disappointed, too, Jed. He and the organization have the most inside track on what changes are coming down the pipeline, and indeed, if they are enough to alter the fortunes of this club radically, it remains to be seen. Adding an "established starter" like Corbin Burnes (please!) would certainly do the trick if a tutorial is not provided. A frugal track record leaves supporters of this squad wondering if this season's failures are finally the turning point in restoring the Cubs to a place of desired prominence. So, with the offseason commencing, we have our heading in what must happen. The road laid before this club in securing a joyful future is long. View full article

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. View full article

Accepting unfavorable--yet, and worse, inevitable--outcomes is nauseating. That's why, as we begin the final week of the Cubs' 2024 season, searingly painful images of what this team could have been will linger in our minds, long after the Commissioner's Trophy is handed out in early November. Image courtesy of © Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images With the North Siders relegated to spectators this October, the rumbles of dissatisfaction escalated to a deafening roar this week. Team leader Jameson Taillon and skipper Craig Counsell themselves spoke up, trying to meet fans in their frustrated place. The Cubs are humiliatingly distant from serious playoff contention, and this week's results conveyed that sentiment without saying a word. Game by Game: Monday The modified goal for the season was to finish strong, and with the soon-to-be Las Vegas Athletics visiting the Friendly Confines for the first of a three-game series, the Cubs looked Herculean. The offense clicked. Dansby Swanson led the way with four RBIs, including a three-run blast in the second inning. The Cubs delivered clutch hits up and down the lineup, including a pair from Cody Bellinger, but yet again, staff ace Shota Imanaga drove the narrative. Punching out a career-high 11 batters, Imanaga scooped up his 14th win of the year with six, five-hit innings. Final Score: 9-2 Cubs Tuesday Jordan Wicks was one of several Cubs arms hobbled by injury this year, preventing him from really getting into a groove. That was apparent in the second game of the A's series. Though he lasted five full innings, Wicks got seriously touched up, allowing four earned runs on seven hits, three of which were round-trippers. Wasted opportunities were the story offensively. Despite outhitting the Athletics 11 to 9, Chicago produced a scant 1-6 with RISP. One clean inning of work from Jack Neely was the lone bright spot in this contest. He'll be an object of some hope as the team builds its 2025 bullpen plan. Final Score: 4-3 Athletics Wednesday Justin Steele bent and was broken in the rubber match of this interleague series. The Cubs' former All-Star got through just 2 2/3 innings in his return from the injured list, but proved to be far from his club's biggest concern. I'll just say it: Drew Smyly can't get off this team soon enough. In less than one full inning of work, Smyly surrendered two absolutely critical earned runs to doom his squad late. Championship teams do enough of the little things to manufacture runs and deliver clutch results when needed and this team lacks that quality. In fairness, though, championship teams also have a lot more talent than this. The Cubs dropped the series. Final Score: 5-3 Athletics Thursday What's made Cubs baseball entertaining down this final month or so is an astonishing knack for putting up football-like run and hit totals. Game one of a four-game tilt versus the Washington Nationals was the latest occasion for a festival of scoring. Whether or not Bellinger remains a Cub heading into next season, he sure is fun to watch. He cashed three RBIs on a 2-4 day at the plate. Meanwhile, the bullpen, despite another poor outing from Smyly, did enough to help lock down the narrow victory. Final Score: 7-6 Cubs Friday The increasingly outspoken Taillon picked up his 11th win of the year in game two of the long weekender. Tossing six two-hit innings, Taillon positioned his team for at least a spilt of this prolonged late-season series. Both teams' pitching staffs were greedy, as the Nationals and Cubs combined for 11 hits. Mike Tauchman delivered the decisive at-bat, a two-run knock in the seventh inning. Porter Hodge shut things down in the ninth and recorded two strikeouts. Final Score: 3-1 Cubs Saturday On what presumably will be the last hot day in Chicago in 2024, the Cubs gave away a fantastically flashy bobblehead of Bellinger. Along with the italian beef you may have ordered from the 400-level concession stands, that was the best part of the game. Nats starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore no-hit the Cubs going into the seventh inning, until Patrick Wisdom broke things up with a solo homer to left field. That would be one of just two hits for the Cubs in this contest, which proved the final nail in a coffin the team had lain in since early summer. Final Score: 5-1 Nationals Sunday Though it presents itself as the hollow definition of a moral victory, I do think it's important for the club to finish above .500. The Cubs advanced that cause in the series finale. Until he starts winning some well-deserved accolades, there's not much else I can say about the brilliance of Shota Imanaga. He fired seven shutout innings, and looked sharp while doing so. Tauchman got the offense going early, with a solo shot in the first inning. Other key offensive contributions came from the team's other standout rookie, Michael Busch, who really does seem like one of the biggest steals for this club in recent memory. Though the win was watered down by the club's lack of a postseason berth (plus a couple hours' worth of rain), it still proved encouraging in identifying some of the squad's biggest strengths. Final Score: 5-0 Cubs The Chicago Cubs are six games away from a long, dark winter of work. First, though, they'll travel to Philadelphia for a three-game series with the Phillies, before coming home to Wrigley to end the season against the Cincinnati Reds. The future of this club is far more intriguing than its present. We're staring at a long road back to relevancy for the North Side's beloved professional baseball team. Cubs fans are left to hope the club does what's necessary to get there. View full article

And don't say the obvious reason. Image courtesy of © Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images With as much energy and era-defining excitement as there is in Major League Baseball these days, the game is better when the Chicago Cubs are elite. Due in large part to a much more passive spending strategy in free agency than the club's most loyal fans would like, this is not the case. But with another gargantuan winter of first-class free agents looming, it could be. Should Tom Ricketts and Jed Hoyer ante up and shock the baseball world, a lot of things would change quickly. There are plenty of great baseball cities across America, all of which can stake a legitimate claim as to why their favorite club is essential to the big-league experience. I'm not about to unload another think piece full of 1060 West Addison romanticism on your screen, though the team's play in the 2024 campaign reminded us all why the North Side of Chicago needs the postseason. We need it worse than the left-field bleachers needs a tremendously elongated beer snake. A plethora of missed opportunities and heartbreaking losses over the summer denied the Cubs a true shot at slithering their way into a Wild Card spot in these last couple of weeks. The team, though missing the final splashy pieces, are not devoid of weapons. They possess a shutdown defensive middle infield of Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner; a promising starting pitching staff; and a rapidly blossoming farm system, with dudes just about ready to hit the ground running. What the club does not possess, however, is a killer instinct. This practically goes without saying but I'll say it anyway: You need a killer instinct to win a championship in this league. Bringing Juan Soto and Corbin Burnes into the fold would resoundingly shift the narrative for Craig Counsell's ball club. And here's how. Since the ex-Brewers skipper already managed him for some time in Milwaukee, let's start with the 29-year-old righty starter, Burnes. Despite navigating some costly injuries in 2024, the Cubs, led by southpaw studs Justin Steele and Shota Imanaga, have a reasonably good starting rotation. A nasty veteran arm like Burnes would make that group one of the best in the game. With a career 3.22 ERA, a 14-8 record with the Orioles, and 164 strikeouts on the season, Burnes boasts consistency. He'd plug a hole in the middle of the Cubs rotation, which has seen guys like Ben Brown go down to injury, and the fading Kyle Hendricks saddled back into a starter's role he clearly is no longer built for. His strikeout rate dip dents his case as a certifiable ace, but only two pitchers (Aaron Nola and Logan Webb) have thrown more innings since the start of 2021 than has Burnes. He's a pillar for the rotation. To me, pitching wins championships, but I'm not naive enough to think that's all it takes. Enter Soto, who at just 25 years of age would bring a projectable decade of offensive excellence to a team that needs exactly, specifically, excruciatingly that. He's famous for his generational plate discipline, but this season has been a reminder that he also has legitimate, top-end power, too. With a 13.9% barrel rate, Soto towers over the league average, nearly doubling it. He'd give the team the strongest ownership of the strike zone in MLB. By the end of this season, he'll edge past Ernie Banks on the all-time walks list--that is, at 25, he'll equal Banks's career walk total. Imagining a scenario where he is in the middle of a lineup with the likes of Isaac Paredes and Ian Happ conjures up images of a blocked-off Michigan Avenue, allowing for parade traffic. Are you buying in? Hopefully the top brass in the organization is. Baseball is better when the Cubs are better. This course of action puts that reality on the immediate horizon. We know that it's not the usual mode of operation, for Hoyer or for Tom Ricketts. Sooner or later, though, that has to change. This pair of superstars is as good an occasion as any. View full article

With the Cubs' 2024 season breathlessly galloping toward post-mortem, this week of baseball served as a stark reminder of where the team stands. Considerable success and expectations of the past ten years of this organization have made large swaths of the media and fanbase lose sight of the Cubs being "loveable losers" for a reason. All those reasons and more were on full display this past week for Chicago's North Side baseball team. Let's dive in to see how it all went down... Image courtesy of © Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images Supporters of this ball club lull themselves into a false sense of misery, so when a series plays out as it did this past week against the Los Angeles Dodgers, we don't quite know how to react. Starting their final West Coast swing of the season, the Cubs delivered their most surprising result of the year versus LA's National League team. It was more about former Dodgers than current ones in this contest, with Michael Busch and Cody Bellinger showing off to their previous employer in ways Cubs fans have been pining for. These two went a combined 6-9, including a couple of absolute moonshots into the seats of Dodger Stadium, one a solo blast, and one a two-run dinger. The Cubs' offensive explosion more than compensated for yet another pedestrian start from Kyle Hendricks, who went 4.1 innings and allowed two earned runs on four hits. Final Score: 10-4 Cubs When the book on this year's campaign is finished, it will say the Cubs couldn't score in May and June and thus missed the playoffs. Well, since August, they can score, and that's what helped them secure the series win against one of baseball's best. The underrated Seiya Suzuki did a fair share of the damage in this one, delivering clutch hits and an RBI. His mate on the mound, Shota Imanaga, pitched seven innings, which sounds like something he'd do, though he did surrender three earned runs and struck out just four. I guess a win is a win. Final Score: 6-3 Cubs As one of the hottest road teams in MLB, you might think the Cubbies swept Mookie Betts' squad, but they didn't. In somewhat of a see-saw battle that featured a furious four-run fifth-inning rally from the Cubs, the team that plays in America's third-oldest ballpark prevailed. You'll hear more about this later, but the Cubs' bullpen fumbled away at what had become a very winnable game. Though both clubs were lacking from a defensive standpoint, a plethora of stranded baserunners and missed opportunities determined the Cubbies' fate on a night where starter Jordan Wicks managed a less-than-modest three innings of work. Final Score: 10-8 Dodgers The Cubs opened the weekend with a game about as much fun as getting assigned a term paper on a Friday night. Facing Kris Bryant's lowly Rockies, a team the Cubs swept at the outset of the season, Craig Counsell's club squandered a 5-0 lead late in the Mile High city. The Cub's delicate hopes for success in the second half have rested in the unsteady hands of a bullpen that previously had earned a reputation for mediocrity. Though a paltry 2-10 with RISP didn't help, Drew Smyly's performance helped even less. The Cub's 35-year-old lefty was taken out after pitching a third of an inning and giving up three runs against an opponent measurably inferior to his own club. Final Score: 9-5 Rockies The Cubs' next World Series roster will look eye-poppingly different from the current one, and barring the Cubbies succumbing to another mystical curse, the bullpen will be one of the most altered components of that club. At times unreliable and at times solid, Nate Pearson and Porter Hodge blew a consistent effort from the admirably steadfast Jameson Taillon. Jamo tossed six innings of two-run ball and was sufficiently backed up by his offense until the bullpen's latest implosion. Losing to bad teams sucks. Losing to those bad teams in extra innings sucks even worse. Final Score: 6-5 Rockies (10 innings) The Cubs salvaged the series' final game with a vintage Kyle Hendricks masterpiece. Due to his endearing leadership and humility, The Professor is one of my all-time favorite Cubs, so his struggles this season brought me no great joy. None of that mattered today as Hendricks sailed through six innings of two-hit baseball, punching out seven Rockies batters. Elsewhere, the offense, led by Michael Busch and Pete Crow-Armstrong, came through with enough clutch knocks to make the difference in this one. As this club's metric for success shifts to finishing above .500, the win served as catharsis. Final Score: 6-2 Cubs With the last two weeks of the season upon us, the Cubs have one goal left: To finish with more wins than losses. With the remaining schedule, that looks doable. Up next, the Cubbies return home to face the Oakland Athletics for three before kicking off an extended four-game weekend series with the Washington Nationals. The winter looms large for this franchise if it wants to become a serious contender again. Nothing outside of changing the ballpark's name back to Weeghman Field should be off-limits to ensure this. Things are about to get interesting. View full article

Though he hasn't quite pulled into the station, Pete Crow-Armstrong is arriving on schedule. Find yourself at Wrigley for just about any game in 2024 and you're likely to witness fans walking out of shops like Sports World, Wrigleyville Sports, and others, donning the number 52 on the back of their brand new blue-pinstriped jersey. Good for them, because with the upward trajectory of the Cubs' young centerfielder, he figures to be cemented in Craig Counsell's everyday lineup for years to come. Image courtesy of © Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images Not far removed from being an offensive liability for his club, Pete Crow-Armstrong now provides this squad confidence, versatility, and an indelible, super-charged positive attitude, which emanates from both his offensive and defensive roles on the field. There will come a time in the near future when Crow-Armstrong will be considered the Cubs' most dangerous player, and not just for the obvious reasons. For the first few months of the season, it was difficult--if not impossible--to tell what Crow-Armstrong's value was, outside of his impressive speed and flashy glove. Now, that almost seems like an "Inception"-style illusion, compared to what the Cub's outfielder is transforming into since the All-Star break. At the time of this writing, he has 26 stolen bases, and he takes off almost automatically if and when he reaches base. He's often able to reach base, too. With his swift stride, Crow-Armstrong has restored some of the magic lost from the days of Javier Báez, on the bases and in the way a ball in play off his bat seems to promise chaos. He's a wonder to watch. I don't know the reason for Crow-Armstrong's emergence boiled down to one metric, just as I don't know why Three Floyd's Gumball Head beer tastes better at Murphy's than anywhere else. But what I do know is that, with a rapid growth in confidence, the Crow-Armstrong this organization has been waiting for is showing up. At the last game I attended, with the sun glistening off the outfield ivy, I must have exclaimed "Let's go Pete!" upwards of a dozen times. This is for many reasons, not the least of which being that I want him to help my favorite team win, but it's also because he's the most exciting player on the field. Watching him play is the opportunity to witness one of the best spectacles in baseball. What bodes well for the 22-year-old is his ability to hit the cut fastball, which he wallops at a .387 rate; his proficiency with this particular pitch is yielding more success across the board. If you don't believe me, check out his stat line from his last visit to PNC Park. Just hours before I wrote this, the Cubs inducted Kerry Wood into the franchise's Hall of Fame. For reasons well beyond just his 20-strikeout game, Wood earned this prestigious honor. I'm not in any way saying that Crow-Armstrong will enjoy a similar accolade one day--though perhaps he will. What I am saying is that he is a remarkably special player. More importantly, he's a Cub. View full article

With as good as the Cubs have been since the start of August, and they've been great, the other teams they're chasing in this break-neck race for the playoffs are better. Some of my fellow colleagues here at North Side Baseball had previously pointed out that winning games by scoring football-like numbers is not sustainable for the long haul, and this past week proved why that's the case. Barring unspeakable collapses from the Braves and Mets, the Cubs are almost certainly standing at the outset of their last few weeks of baseball in 2024. Let's dive in to see how it all went down... Image courtesy of © Matt Marton-Imagn Images If familiarity breeds contempt, the Cubs and Pirates must really hate each other by now. This past Monday, the Cubs squared off with the Pittsburgh Pirates again for the first of a three-game set at Wrigley Field. The Cubs cranked the vibes to an all-time high and held a 3-0 lead through seven scoreless innings provided by Jameson Taillon. Then, the final two innings happened. Varying levels of outstanding since becoming a Cub, Jorge Lopez suffered his worst outing for Chicago's North Side club. Not only did he relinquish the lead, he did it by getting knocked around by guys like Andrew McCutchen, who was last relevant when Netflix still mailed physical discs to its subscribers. Shawn Armstrong also worked an inning and gave up an additional run, but the damage was done. Final Score: 5-3 Pirates The Cubs were knocked down in game one of this series and stayed down in game two. A late scratch to Justin Steele put the inconsistent veteran Kyle Hendricks on the mound in this one. To put it bluntly, he was everything Cubs fans have grown fearful of this season with the 34-year-old right-hander. The Bucs tallied five runs on eight hits and to make things so much worse, the Cubs stranded nine baserunners, squandering multiple bases-loaded scenarios in the early innings. There was a lot not to like about this game, and with the stakes still so high, it felt like the end of something. Final Score 5-0 Pirates I could not be happier to write this: The Chicago Cubs threw a combined no-hitter in the series finale versus the Pirates. Shota Imanaga is known to dazzle, but this was something special. Going seven innings before Craig Counsell controversially pulled him (the pitch count was quite high), Imanaga deftly escaped trouble in the few times he faced any. Nate Pearson and Porter Hodge certified the historical night with an inning each of clean work. Leaving little doubt for their brothers on the mound, the Cubs put forth an offensive onslaught, including long balls from Pete Crow-Armstrong, Dansby Swanson, and Cody Bellinger. What a memorable night at the Friendly Confines. Final Score: 12-0 Cubs In last week's recap, I said the Cubs' unlikely road to the playoffs was in danger of being obscured by the New York Yankees. Well, game one versus the Bronx Bombers proved me right. Though the 3-0 loss hurt, the real story in this one was legendary Cubs' first baseman Anthony Rizzo making his emotional first trip back to Wrigley since his infamous trade in 2021. With his former walk-up song "Intoxicated" blaring over the speakers, the South Florida native showed his appreciation to over 40,000 thankful fans, who had vivid memories of the Cubs' 2016 World Series triumph come flooding back to them. Unfortunately, his new club took the day. Yankees' starting pitcher Luis Gil held the Cubbies to just one hit, and the Cubs left five runners on base—a far too generous welcome-back gift from Rizzo's former club on this day. Final Score: 3-0 Yankees I love it when the Yankees lose, so I'd love to tell you that the Cubs set up a game three rubber match in this one, but they didn't. Getting only one runner in scoring position the whole game, the Cubs made things unnecessarily hard on themselves and their starter, Javier Assad, who grows more consistent with each appearance. He went 5.2 innings and surrendered only two runs, but his offense's disappearing act let the effort be in vain. Final Score: 2-0 Yankees After going scoreless in two straight games, the Cubs salvaged the final contest of their three-game tilt with the Yanks. With Jameson Taillon toeing the rubber, the Cubbies showed how frustratingly close they are in quality to some of the league's best. A clutch two-out knock to left field by Isaac Paredes drove in two runs for the North Side club, which proved sufficient in this one. Though he's been maligned by this fanbase and various radio personalities, it's important to point out how reliable Jameson Taillon has been for the Cubs. This marked his tenth victory of the year, and his ERA of 3.57 is more than respectable. Final Score: 2-1 Cubs With the playoffs implausible at best, the time has come just to enjoy the ride. There is still plenty in play for the Cubs down the final stretch, including securing a winning record. There are some nice pieces in the organization that will prove fruitful for the Cubs' future, which most certainly has to employ a "playoffs or bust" mentality in 2025. For now, we've been handed a jump start on pondering visions of what could have been. View full article

Out of seemingly nowhere, the Chicago Cubs are playing their best baseball of the year and, by the looks of it, are a playoff-caliber team. With twenty-five games left and only 3.5 games back of the final NL Wild Card spot, Craig Counsell's squad is firmly planted in the conversation for postseason contention and has excited fans about this club's potential future. There's a lot to take in from this past week, so let's dive in to see how it all went down. Image courtesy of © Rafael Suanes-USA TODAY Sports There was a point in this season when April was frequently looked to as evidence that the Cubs could score runs. In the last nine games, the North Side ball club has scored an almost unfathomable 89 runs. In game one of a three-game series versus the Pittsburgh Pirates, the baseball world got a crash course in just how scorching hot this team's offense is right now. Opposite his counterpart Mitch Keller, the Cubs' righty Jameson Taillon took the bump in this one. Going 6.2 innings, giving up four runs on eight hits, Taillon put forth a performance that would have resulted in a crushing loss were it played this past May or June, but with the Cubby bats cruising the way they are, it was more than enough. The Cubs put traffic on the base pads throughout the game. The revelatory shortstop Dansby Swanson assaulted a two-out grand slam, which proved the exclamation mark as part of an eight-run sixth inning. Elsewhere, the Cubs' middle of the order appeared unstoppable, with Suzuki, Bellinger, and Paredes all recording multi-hit games. Final Score: 18-8 Cubs Though not as dominant as last season, Justin Steele is a starting pitcher no opposing team's manager wants to deal with. After giving up two first-inning runs, the Mississippi bulldog delivered 5.0 innings pitched, striking out six and walking just two. The Cubs got key offensive production from Seiya Suzuki and Dansby Swanson, who accounted for five of the club's nine runs. Surprise slugger Miguel Amaya, now batting well above the Mendoza Line, went 2-4 and drove in two runs in this series-clinching contest. Final Score: 9-5 Cubs Claiming what was undoubtedly their biggest win of the season to date, the Cubs erased a seven-run deficit against Paul Skene's Pirates to earn the most implausible sweep of the season. Scoring eleven unanswered runs, Craig Counsell's team employed Cole Wright's motto: "If you've got a 1% chance, you've got a 100% chance". Chipping away at Pittsburgh's lead in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings, Chicago used a six-run ninth to complete the remarkable comeback. The fight this team showed in this one was awe-inspiring, especially that of catcher Christian Bethancourt, who drove in seven runs. Cubs fans who stuck around long enough at home and in person were treated to pure theater. Final Score: 14-10 Cubs After Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam turned up the volume at Wrigley in their first of a two-night engagement, Shota Imanaga and the Cubs banded together in game one against the Washington Nationals for yet another vital win. The Cubs' rookie sensation set down eight Nats batters and got through an impressive six innings of work. Offensively, the Cubbies continued to rake, with critical run production from Cody Bellinger, Pete Crow-Armstrong, and a surging Dansby Swanson. Final Score: 7-6 Cubs The Cubs used timely hitting and even more timely pitching to propel themselves over the .500 this week. That formula didn't change in game two versus the Nats. Though he gave up all three of Washington's runs, Javier Assad worked through an admirable six innings in which he struck out only four, but more importantly, kept his squad in the game. The North Siders used a four-run fifth inning to get out in front and give Assad his seventh win of the season. The win ensured the Cubbies' fifth-consecutive series win and was something of a return to form for the Cubs' bullpen. Final Score: 5-3 Cubs The series finale versus the Nats allowed the Cubs to earn their second straight sweep and climb to five games over the .500 mark. They made the most of that chance. On the eve of Labor Day, the freshly healthy Jordan Wicks and his club crushed Dave Martinez's squad. Having just returned from the 60-Day IL, we haven't seen much from Wicks in some time, but he was reasonably satisfying in this one. Going five innings, Wicks looked resilient, allowing just one earned run on four hits. His name has come up a lot in this article, but what Dansby Swanson is doing right now can't even be called vintage because it's hard to say he's ever been as good as he's been during this current run. He went 4-6 and came around to score twice. If the Cubs do find a way into the postseason, it will be mainly because they never want to be out of a game and can pour it on when it's a romp such as it was today. Final Score: 14-1 Cubs The Cubs are a good baseball team. Not just right now but on the whole. If this club had played even close to this level in the early summer months, we'd be talking about a Cubs team that probably would have already clinched a playoff spot at this point. Up next for the Cubbies, it's back to Wrigley, where they will take on the Pittsburgh Pirates for three games. After that, this postseason push gets exponentially more difficult as the Yankees come calling to close out the six-game homestand. Securing the right to call this season a success will be a tough task, but that's a good problem to have right now. View full article

Stakeholders of big market teams all too often let good be the enemy of great. What I mean by this is that even in a week where the Cubs won four out of six games, we don't necessarily register the triumphs as anything more than what we should have gotten all along. Allow me to submit this week of North Side baseball as proof positive of this theory's legitimacy. This week was fun, novel, and even a little encouraging, though as it pertains to the Cubs' desperate playoff push, it accomplished nothing. Let's dive in to see how it all went down... Every year, Wrigley Field plays host to some of the most iconic bands in the world; it's no wonder that with those types of shows coming up, the Cubs started the week off with a three-game set versus the cats from Motown, the Detroit Tigers. Chicago and Detroit have a lot in common: great food, iconic architecture, and statistical mirrors of one another when it comes to these two ball clubs. The Cubs and Tigers are virtually identical in more than a handful of categories, including overall record. Game one in this series saw the Cubs performing in the image of a team much better than they are. With Javier Assad assuming the starting duties in this one, the Cubs managed a win against Drew Smyly's former club with seriously timely hitting. Cody Bellinger, the club's two-strike specialist, came through with a pair of clutch hits. Meanwhile, newly anointed closer Porter Hodge slammed the door on AJ Hinch's club with a pair of strikeouts and allowed just one hit in the final frame. Final Score: 3-2 Cubs It takes a specific kind of pitcher to bounce back from surrendering a devastating long ball. In game two of this series, Jameson Taillon was not that kind of pitcher, which loomed even more disastrous on a day when Craig Counsell's bullpen put some of its old warts on full display. Stranding base runners is perhaps one of the Cubs' biggest bugaboos this season, and that wasn't any different on this day as they would leave six on base and delivered a meager 1-6 with RISP. The Tigers didn't get a chance to show off their future AL Cy Young winner, Tarik Skubal, in this series, but they got considerable pop from two of their young talents, Kerry Carpenter and Riley Greene. Maybe this was some kind of weird payback for keeping Isaiah Thomas off the Dream Team. Final Score: 8-2 Tigers Miguel Amaya and Pete Crow-Armstrong could have been the worst thing to happen to the Tigers since Jim Joyce robbed Armando Galarraga of a perfect game in 2010. Amaya and PCA were electric, driving in seven combined runs and showing signs of thrilling future promise. If that wasn't enough, Justin Steele cruised to his fourth win of the season. He fanned ten Tigers batters, allowing only two runs on four hits. Cubs take the win, the series, and in all likelihood, will be treated to free Detroit-style coney dogs the next time they're in town. Final Score: 10-2 Cubs Home runs are not a viable offensive strategy, but they sure are fun. In game one versus the Miami Marlins, Pete Crow-Armstrong provided the most exhilarating example of this to date. Trailing 1-0 in the top half of the third inning, Crow-Armstrong drilled a ball off the rightfield wall; 14.08 seconds later, PCA got the Cubs on the board with an inside-the-park home run. The Cubs are in business if this kid is as good as he has looked for the last several weeks. The Cubbies got solid bullpen work after Kyle Hendricks got through 4.2 largely trouble-free innings. Final Score: 6-3 Cubs On any given day, Chicagoans are presented with seventy-seven different neighborhoods of possibilities, but watching a Shota Imanaga start is about as good a usage of our time as it gets. Notching his 10th win of the year, Imanaga refused to let the fish off the hook, surrendering just two runs on four hits. Just like he did in his advertisement for Marquee Network, outfielder Seiya Suzuki stole the show in this one with two homers and four RBI. The Cubs' offensive showcase would also see a more conventional home run from Pete Crow-Armstrong, launching an absolute bomb into the second deck of right field. With the win putting the club back at the elusive .500 mark, it was a total romp for the Counsell's squad. Final Score: 14-2 Cubs Your question is: Did the Cubs sweep the Marlins? No, they did not. With a chance to push themselves over .500 for the first time since late May, a dizzying number of the club's worst habits resurfaced. Chicago left nine on base, wasting a pretty serviceable seven-inning performance from starter Javier Assad. Still a winnable game heading into the home half of the eighth inning, Julian Merryweather absolutely imploded. The Marlins hung a four-run inning on the Cubs' reliever to seal the deal and again put the Cubbies on the wrong side of .500 with a crucial week of baseball forthcoming. School is back in session across the Chicagoland area, and we have already learned a lot. Those majoring in Cubology now know, if they didn't already, that this club possesses some surprisingly nice pieces for future contention. However, the team is still incomplete, like starting a movie and not finishing it. Up next, the Cubs are set to square off with division for Pittsburg for three against the Bucs before a weekend rendezvous in D.C. with the Nationals. The Cubs must use the last month of the season to finish above .500 to be awarded the "Shows Improvement" mark on their report card. Can they do it? View full article

All of us have that one surprising fact in our back pocket that others always seem surprised is true: a tomato is actually a fruit, not a vegetable. Regarding the Cubs, you can pick and choose all kinds of (mostly bad) surprises from this season, but none more so than this: last week, the Chicago Cubs were swept for the first time all year. Image courtesy of © Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports Depending on when you decided to check your phone, the Cubs drew as close as 2.5 games back of the third and final Wild Card spot a week ago. With a chance to claw their way back to the .500 mark for the first time since mid-June, the Cubs took off for Cleveland, and it did not rock. A Shota Imanaga start has been the Cubs’ closest thing to a “Get Out of Jail Free” card this season. The team is 17-6 in his starts, and he possesses an almost supernatural ability to calm things down for his club, not on this day. Despite an eight-run output from the Cubs, including production from the growingly consistent Dansby Swanson, the Guardians used a splashy, four-run fourth inning to shift the momentum in this one. JhonKensy Noel, the man locally known as “Big Christmas,” took advantage of questionable umpiring and hammered a two-out, two-run shot off Imanaga. The Guards added three more in the 5th inning, proving sufficient enough to survive a late-game rally from Craig Counsell’s club. Final Score: 9-8 Cleveland One of the more unpleasant trends of this Cubs’ season is not knowing when a start from a typically reliable pitcher, like Javier Assad, will transform into a kinda-sorta bullpen day. Though the Guardians were largely kept off the scoreboard at Progressive Field, so were the Cubbies. The North Side club struck first in this one with an RBI knock from the Cubs’ shortstop, Dansby Swanson, and that was it. The day belonged to former Detroit Tiger Matthew Boyd, who cruised through 5.1 innings of work, striking out six Cubby batters. Tough losses spiral into other tough losses, which happened here. Final Score: 2-1 Cleveland Like an underrated Fall Out Boy deep cut, the Cubs were “Dead On Arrival” in the series finale versus the Guardians. Let’s get right to it: The Cubs didn't show up in a game featuring the mostly steady Jameson Taillon toeing the rubber. Scrounging up just one run on a measly five hits, the Guardians caught the Cubs with their guard down. Last week, we spoke about a Cubs offense that has produced at a much more impressive clip since just before and after the All-Star break (over 4.5 runs per game), but the team masquerading as a professional baseball team on this day went 0-6 with RISP. In Chicago, as the Bears get ready to kick off the regular season, one can feel a certain “passing of the torch” from baseball to football; it felt like a Brian Urlacher sack in this one. Final Score: 6-1 Guardians With the Cubs largely playing better baseball in the last few weeks, the narrative centered around how easy the squad’s remaining schedule is when compared to the other clubs vying for a postseason berth. Considering that, the North Side ball club hosted the similarly mediocre Toronto Blue Jays for a three-game set. The Cubs used Craig Counsell’s favorite play, the home run, to generate most of their offense in game one of this tilt. With long balls from Cody Bellinger, Pete Crow-Armstrong, and Miguel Amaya, the Cubs resuscitated its dormant offense from the previous two contests. Nothing came easy as the Cubbies survived a late rally from the Jays, taking the game on a clutch walk-off single from Seiya Suzuki in extra innings. Final Score:6-5 Cubs The only thing better than a home run is a first-pitch lead-off home run from one of your squad’s most trusted veterans. Enter Ian Happ, who did exactly that on a hot Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field, on a day when Chicago-native Stephen Colbert stopped by to serenade the Bleacher Bums and everyone else at 1060 West Addison with the seventh inning stretch. Excellent fielding and even more excellent bullpen play kept things in check for the Cubs after a greatly curtailed outing for Justin Steele, who managed just 2.0IP. Cubs take the series. Final Score: 3-2 Cubs I don’t know a better way to say this, so here goes: The Cubs got flipped the bird by the Blue Jays in the closer of this three-game series. In turn, the loss screwed over Cubs fans' hopes of warding off the Sunday scaries with a sweep for the home team and not meant to be. It’s hard to fault Shota Imanaga for much, even in a season where everyone in the clubhouse deserves a portion of the blame for how this season has played out. He pitched five innings and surrendered four hits, including a round-tripper to Jays’ center fielder Joey Loperfido. From there, the Cubs’ previously notoriously anemic offense made a surprise return; they managed a scant four hits, no runs, left six on base, and went 0-6 with RISP. Willy Mays Hays put on better hitting displays when trying out for this same Cleveland organization. Final Score: 1-0 Blue Jays As fans, journalists, enthusiasts, or general followers of the ball club, we’ve endured a lot this season. In my prior recaps, I’ve referred to the Cubs as disappointing, underachieving, even hopeful at times, but never disappointing. In no uncertain terms, this week was disappointing. Saddled with a record of 61-64 and a full five games back in the Wild Card, the team must press on and fight. Up next, the Cubs host the Detroit Tigers for three before heading to Miami Beach for a weekend series with the Marlins. I’ve always been more of a Motown guy than a Pitbull guy, but here, once again, is a chance for the Cubs to make some memorable music before the house lights come on. View full article

Due to what sometimes feels like oppressive negativity in sports journalism, and just because of who I am, I ardently try to keep a positive outlook. After the Cubs bagged an impressive series win over the Minnesota Twins this past week, I DM'd one of my fellow Cubby buddies, "This is the team we've been waiting on." Unless you find yourself deeply entrenched in ancient rituals of masochism, this was a hard week. The Cubs played good baseball this week and thrust themselves back into the conversation. Here's how it went down... Image courtesy of © Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports Embarking on a week of baseball in which the North Side club enjoyed an extraordinarily rare two days off, wins as if they weren't already, were weighted at an immensely high premium. Craig Counsell's squad is hitting harder these days than Matt Cameron of Pearl Jam on a snare drum. The Cubs are in the midst of a lengthy stretch of playing their best ball of the year, though as they kicked this week off with their week facing an interleague adversary in the Minnesota Twins, you wouldn't know it. In the final series of a seven-game homestand, the Cubs arrived flat as can be in game one versus the the Twinkies. Without run support, a Kyle Hendricks start is transformed into an auto-loss. That's exactly what happened on a day when the Cubs were shut out despite only conceding three runs. Twins starter David Festa enjoyed the winning fiesta, blanking the Cubs over five sneaky strong innings. He gave up not a single run and fanned nine Cubs batters. There's a plethora of reasons to begrudge Mondays; this was one of them. Final Score: 3-0 Twins In joyfully unlikely fashion, the Cubbies bounced back in game two of the series. As one of the team's leaders, Shota Imanaga grasps the magnitude of the moment better than anyone else in baseball. The Pitching Philosopher simply dazzled in this one, pitching seven innings, allowing only two hits, and striking out ten Twins. Since he arrived back in Chicago, we've been waiting patiently for Isaac Paredes, who had gone 3-27 as a Cub before this game, to show up. Patience rewarded. He launched his first homer as a Cubbie, a three-run bomb that got the Cubs out to an early lead. The Cubs collected eleven hits and left five on base, which is one of the club's more balanced performances all year. Final Score: 7-3 Cubs With designs on securing their second-straight series win, the Cubs pinned their hopes on Javier Assad to help get them there. Though Assad largely fell short of that goal, the Cubbies' increasingly shutdown bullpen did exactly that with quality work from Drew Smyly, Porter Hodge, Julian Merryweather, and Jorge Lopez, all of whom combined for five scoreless innings of work. From the offensive side, the Cubs got key contributions from Christian Betancourt, Dansby Swanson, and newly minted offensive weapon Pete Crow-Armstrong. Strong offensive production has proven crucial as they claw their way back into Wild Card contention. Once perpetually sinking through the middle of the season in the batter's box, the Cubs' offensive out more closely resembles their early-season numbers, as they score over 4.5 runs per game. Final Score: 8-2 Cubs For those familiar, the Cubs have this cosmic penchant for beating their South Side rivals by a score of 7-6 in 2024. In game one of this two-game micro-series, it happened again, though not in the way you'd maybe want or expect. Racing an early 7-0 lead, the Cubbies completely ambushed White Sox ace Garrett Crochet with a barrage of dingers. Nico Hoerner, Cody Bellinger, Isaac Paredes, and Ian Happ delivered souvenirs to the seats at Guaranteed Rate Field. That sounds great, but with the Sox able to cut the lead to 7-6, it was up to the bullpen once again to bail the Cubs out of trouble. Culminating in a pulse-pounding relief effort from Hector Neris, the Cubs managed to take the game, giving Cubs Nation a cathartic sigh of relief. Final Score: 7-6 Cubs Not to spoil anything, but the Cubs wanted to use the conclusion of this year's Crosstown Classic to draw within one game of .500, and they did. The Cubs and Sox locked themselves in a pretty tense pitchers duel, sending Justin Steele to the mound opposite Chris Flexen of the Sox. Despite the virtually nonexistent margin for error, the Cubs pulled out a late game rally, a two-run double from Isaac Paredes, to win the game and hope skyrocketing to an all-time high this season. Final Score: 3-1 Cubs After witnessing what unfolded this week, I am convinced my text was accurate: This is the team we have been waiting on all year. With a record of 59-60, just 3.0 games back of the third and final NL Wild Card spot, the Cubs have a chance to do something special. The squad is playing its most sound baseball of the year. To secure the storybook ending, the Cubs will first deviate to Cleveland to play a three-game set with the Guardians; after that, it's back home for a weekend series with the Toronto Blue Jays. If we're gathered here talking about an over .500 Cubs team next week, I feel compelled to say we're back in business. View full article