The draft lottery reduces the sting of it a decent bit, but it’s still pretty annoying to land where the Cubs did this year: just two non-playoff teams will have finished with a better record than the Cubs. Four games over .500 and out of the playoffs. Exactly where you’d least like to be. Sometimes consistency is bad.
An aside that I offer only if it’s interesting to you, and less for it to MEAN anything: although the Cubs’ season records in 2023 and 2024 were an identical 83-79, the Pythag records (i.e., what the Cubs’ record “should” have been, based solely on runs scored/allowed) were not identical. In 2023, the Cubs “should” have finished 90-72. This year, the Cubs “should” have finished 88-74. Interesting that both teams – with different managers – dramatically underperformed their expected records thanks to a relatively large number of blowout wins and a well-below-average record in one-run games. Bad luck in back-to-back years? Pure flukey noise in a mere two-season sample? Or is there something inherent to the two rosters that increased the likelihood for those kinds of outcomes?
On to the offseason.
- The players and Craig Counsell pretty much uniformly presented the same response to the big picture questions about this season: there were some good things, we’re all privileged to be here, but that was not what we wanted to accomplish. Here’s how Dansby Swanson put it (Cubs.com):
“Wrigley and this fanbase are incredible. It’s a lot of fun,” Swanson said. “The environment is always fun. But I don’t want things just to be fun. Instead of being the ‘Cubbies,’ I want it where it’s like, ‘We’re the freaking Chicago Cubs. We’re not here to just win. We’re here to dominate each and every day.’
“That’s the vision and the mentality that is slowly but surely starting to get created. We’re not just here to show up and have fun. I don’t have fun when I lose. And I think that’s what we want to get to, the expectation that every day you show up to the field and step between the white lines, you leave with that ‘W’ flag flying.”
- The sum of the thoughts from Counsell (Sun-Times):
“We wanted to be busy today, and we want to be planning for things happening later this week, and that’s not going to happen,” manager Craig Counsell said. “Seasons are sacred. You don’t take them for granted. I told the team this: We’re fortunate and blessed to get chances, to get to wear the uniform. So when you don’t accomplish all your goals, there’s a bitter taste in your mouth, absolutely ….
“It’s important you reflect on the season, absolutely. If I sit here and say that we need to be better, then that reflection has to create some changes.”
- A crazy fan catch from the finale:
- Keegan Thompson’s injury from the game was a right foot sprain, and he left the ballpark in a boot and on crutches. Thompson is arbitration-eligible after this season (it looks like he got enough service time to reach Super Two status, if not three full seasons), and he is out of minor league options. The Cubs no doubt want to keep the 29-year-old righty, who bounced back well this year after his disastrous 2023 season, but the lack of minor league options for next season could make the tender decision a little closer. The question, I think, is really going to be about how badly the Cubs want to ensure they have him to compete for a bullpen job in Spring Training. If they tender him, then they’ll owe him $1 million-ish for 2025 and he’ll occupy a 40-man spot all offseason, but they’ll have him in March (after which they can decide whether he makes the team or hits waivers (and you MIGHT be able to outright him to Iowa)).
- Season is over, but I hope we get a health update on Ben Brown. Neck issue was just an odd situation from the very first moment it popped up and we kinda don’t know much of anything on the outside, other than the fact that he tried to ramp up a couple times and still felt it.
- Love and respect to the Wrigley Field grounds crew, who do so much that we don’t see:
- Random ShÅta Imanaga stat:
- A little weird baseball today, with the Braves and Mets having to play a double-header to determine the final two Wild Card spots in the National League. The regular season is over for everyone else, but the hurricane last week, combined with the way the subsequent games played out, means that the two teams playing today may have to travel tomorrow to play in the Wild Card Round the very next day.
- Shohei Ohtani couldn’t pull off the Triple Crown yesterday, as he didn’t get a lot of hits and Luis Arraez did. So the latter takes home a batting title for the third straight season, all with different teams:
- Some Cardinals bits, both expected:
- So what exactly is the presser gonna be about? Just announcing some lower-level moves in the organization? Or will Mozeliak explicitly name a successor (he’s stepping down after 2025)? I guess we’ll see what comes.
- The end-of-season statement from White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, after his team set the record for most losses in a season, and released during the Bears game:
- A very significant international retirement:
- Ian Happ, all class: