Remember when Chicago Cubs fans were livid because their team would suffer early playoff exits?
Those are now known as the good old days.
After officially being eliminated from the wild-card race on Saturday, the Cubs will have endured four years of absence — a presidential term, if you will — from the playoffs. The last time they were in the postseason was in 2020 with Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Javier Báez on the team.
With a week of regular-season baseball remaining with no playoff implications, the only things the Cubs faithful have to hope for are a second-place finish in the National League Central, staying ahead of the equally disappointing rival St. Louis Cardinals and a record above .500.
Those would be pretty skinny accomplishments for a team that brought in red-hot manager Craig Counsell with the hope the Cubs could be a contender in 2024.
So, what’s in store for the final week with three-game sets in Philadelphia and at home against Cincinnati?
“Nothing changes,” Counsell said Sunday before the game. “You go out and play the game and you respect the game and respect your teammates and that’s it. That’s what you do.”
Cubs leadoff hitter Mike Tauchman didn’t have much respect for the right-field video board on Sunday. The Palatine native took the third pitch from Washington Nationals starter Jake Irvin and hit a 421-foot home run that hit the board hard to set the tone in a 5-0 victory in front of an announced crowd of 30,086. The game started 2 hours and 20 minutes late because of rain and the stadium was about half full at game time.
Michael Busch and Miguel Amaya also homered for the Cubs (80-76) to help starting rookie pitcher Shota Imanaga improve to 15-3.
Imanaga fired seven shutout innings, allowing six hits and striking out four.
He should be in the conversation for Rookie of the Year even if Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes is the favorite.
No matter what happens with the voting, Counsell liked what he has seen this season out of Imanaga.
“His interactions are enjoyable,” Counsell said. “He has a great sense of humor. He has a routine that he has created with a different schedule in a different pitching environment. It has evolved and it’s fun to watch him.”
Counsell said Imanaga is not satisfied with the status quo.
“I called him curious at the beginning and I think that leads to growth and changing and trying to get a little bit better,” Counsell said.
“Those are all traits of a learner who is trying to get continually better at his craft.”
Counsell also admires Imanaga’s instincts.
“That’s a fun part about watching him,” Counsell said. Sometimes the players we say have really good instincts play the game how we would want it to be played. They are seeing things before everyone else. And we admire that. We say we saw it, but they saw it first. It’s a gift.”
Imanaga, the late-season success and development of speedy center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, and the team defense in the second half of the season have been highlights of a so-so 2024.
Counsell tried putting this season in perspective.
“With seasons like this, clearly there are successes and there are things that aren’t good enough,” Counsell said. “That leads to your record. That record is the record. That’s earned.”
As for the future, 2025 will be a whole different animal — one that Counsell hopes will be better.
“None of the successes or the failures are promised moving forward,” he said. “That’s one of the difficult things about evaluating teams as well. We have to maximize those successes again and create more successes.
“Clearly there wasn’t enough. We have to turn weaknesses into either average or strengths.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
