To say that this season has been a disappointment for the Chicago Cubs would be an understatement. After losing another series over the weekend to the Milwaukee Brewers, the Cubs are now 11.5 games out of first place in the National League Central.
If there's a division where an 11.5-game lead could be erased, it wouldn't be surprising to see it be the NL Central. However, Chicago hasn't shown any signs of being able to go on a stretch of high-level baseball, so it's tough to say anything close to that will happen in the future.
They're just 5.0 games out of a Wild Card spot, which isn't ideal at this part of the year, but they're still in the mix.
Heading into the trade deadline, their focus should be on finding ways to win games, no matter the circumstance.
If they don't, there's a good chance the Cubs will be sellers, and the 2024 campaign will be a huge failure.
Mark Feinsand of MLB.com listed questions for National League teams. He questioned if Chicago could win enough in the next month to justify buying, a warranted concern given their play.
"A sub-.500 record and negative run differential are typically enough to foreshadow a July seller, but this year’s NL Wild Card race has complicated matters."
"The rotation has been hit by injuries (Javier Assad, Ben Brown, Jordan Wicks), the bullpen has had a number of issues and the offense has been in the lower third of the NL, so there are certainly areas for Chicago to address if the club decides to buy. But the Cubs are teetering on the line of the first CBT threshold, so Hoyer and ownership must decide whether it makes sense to surpass that line with a club that currently holds the third-worst record in the NL."
It's tough to picture the future of this organization, at least in the next few months. The Cubs could make a splash at the deadline and completely overhaul their team, as they have one of the best farm systems in baseball, but it might not be worth it with how everything has played out.
There aren't many other teams with this tough of a path during the next month, making Chicago a big storyline.
They have pieces to sell if they want to better their farm system and regroup for the offseason, but after making financial commitments during the winter, that might not be the right decision.
