After a 2023 that saw the Chicago Cubs miss the playoffs by one game, 2024 was ripe for optimism from the fans and the team alike. A new manager and minor tweaks to the roster set up a 2024 that would see the rebuild start to reap some rewards. The Chicago Cubs offense, though, did not get the memo, and after ranking sixth in 2023 in overall output, it has fallen to the mid-20s in 2024.
The slump has taken a toll on the team, sinking them to last place in the NL Central this season. If there is any silver lining to be gleaned from this slow start, 2024 mirrors 2023. The team was under .500 for much of 2023, but the offense came alive in the second half of the season. Ian Happ is trying to lead that turnaround in 2024.
Switch-Hitting Slump
Ian Happ has been a stalwart of the Chicago Cubs offense since making it to the majors in 2017. Riding in off the 2016 World Series Championship, Happ was the icing on the cake for a club that was expected to string along a line of pennants and championships with the likes of Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, and Kyle Schwarber in the lineup.
Over the next several seasons, this dream fizzled out, and the team was dismantled around the young Happ. He quickly became a veteran on a young, rebuilding team. As he came into his own as a Gold Glove left-fielder, his patience and discipline at the plate made him a more dangerous hitter. He went from jumping around in the batting order to a staple in the middle of the lineup.
2024 has proven to be an obstacle for Happ and the other Chicago Cubs offense, leading to their immense underachievement. The team with a top-ten payroll and the biggest in their division sits in the cellar as we approach the midway point in the season. Happ has dealt with his fair share of struggles, but there are signs that things are turning around for him and the Cubs.
Jolting the Chicago Cubs Offense
Happ started the season struggling, much like the entire Cubs offense. Apart from Michael Busch, the team was hard up for productivity, leading to many one-run games and setting up many bullpen collapses. Happ meandered along through the first two months of the year, struggling to make consistent, effective contact. First-year manager Craig Counsell moved Happ all around the lineup and even tried to jump-start his offense by having him DH, negating his Gold Glove-caliber play in left.
Starting in June, however, Happ’s fortunes began to turn around. Whatever mental reset he experienced, many factors started going his way. He started striking out less, being more selective early in counts, generating more hard contact, and driving the ball out of the yard at a much higher clip.
This was evident in a series-opening ball game in Baltimore when he launched a 3-run home run onto Utah St. to extend a precarious two-run lead to a five-run advantage over one of the best teams in baseball. Individual plays like this have helped change the tide of the Cubs’ season from barely holding the strings together to leading comfortably in ball games.
Fortune Shifting
The impact that Ian Happ has had in recent weeks has been significant. The Chicago Cubs are now within spitting distance of the rest of the teams in the NL Central and sit with the same record they had at this point in 2023: 43-49. Happ has driven in 41 runs in his last 39 games, boosted his OBP by almost 40 points, and ranks third in baseball in WRC+ and OPS+ since the start of June.
For a team that came into the year expecting to reach the playoffs, 43-49 is a far cry from what fans expected. But considering where the Chicago Cubs offense was just a few weeks ago and how Ian Happ has been helping turn the club’s fortunes around, he deserves a lot of credit for keeping the Cubs trade deadline priorities in flux and the standings in the NL Central close.
