It's not a surprise to anyone that the Chicago Cubs have not had the 2024 season they envisioned.
Signing manager Craig Counsell away from the division rival Milwaukee Brewers and giving him the largest managerial contract in MLB history, combined with offseason moves to retain outfielder Cody Bellinger (free agency) and acquire first baseman Michael Busch (trade), the expectation in and around Wrigleyville was a playoff team that would contend for the World Series.
Instead, the Cubs are just barely above .500 at 79-76, sitting ten games back of the division-champion Brewers, who clinched their third division title in the last four seasons on Wednesday afternoon.
Counsell spoke to the media about the team's disappointing 2024 season and didn't mince words. "We've got to get better, man," he told reporters, including Marquee Sports. "The team we're chasing is 10 games ahead of us. You got to get better." Continuing his thoughts towards the Brewers, Counsell made clear he was attempting to paint a picture of how dire things really were. "I think the message sent really is that there's a big gap. I mean, they're ahead of us by a lot."
Counsell also seemed to express frustration with some of the moves that were made on the roster - at the trade deadline, the Cubs were both buyers and sellers, acquiring All-Star third baseman Isaac Paredes from the Tampa Bay Rays and reliever Nate Pearson from the Toronto Blue Jays, but also trading away reliever Mark Leiter Jr. to the New York Yankees.
"We should try to be building 90-win teams here. I mean, that's what you have to do to, you know, that's the playoff standard. I mean, that's what you got to get to, to be safely in the playoffs."
The Cubs have not won 90 games since 2018 when they went 95-68, the fourth consecutive year they won 90 or more games and made the postseason. They advanced to the National League Championship Series three times during this stretch, winning the 2016 World Series.
But since that streak was broken in 2019, where Chicago went just 84-78, the team's only playoff appearance came in the shortened 2020 season, where they lost in the Wild Card round after going 34-26 in the 60-game season.
The Cubs have finished in 4th place (2021), 3rd place (2022), and are on track to have a third-consecutive 2nd place finish this year.
The path forward for Chicago to reach Counsell's 90-win plateau is clear: Improving the bullpen, finding offensive competency at catcher, and looking for another impact bat for the lineup. Several upgrades could be made using one of MLB's top-rated farm systems, including behind the plate, minimizing the need for an ownership group loathe to extend into the luxury tax to spend significant sums in free agency.
