With nine days remaining in the regular season, the Chicago Cubs aren’t officially eliminated from postseason contention, but that is merely a formality at this point.
It’s a disappointing position for the organization to be in, not even making it to the final weekend, like last year, with the potential to make things interesting. And perhaps just as concerning, the Cubs didn’t even make it a compelling race for the National League Central Division title. After a 3-1 victory Friday against the Washington Nationals at Wrigley Field, the Cubs sit 9½ games back of the Milwaukee Brewers, who won the division for the third time in four years.
Manager Craig Counsell provided his most blunt assessment of the team and organization Thursday when evaluating the gap between the two franchises.
“The message sent, really, is that there’s a big gap,” Counsell said. “I mean, they’re ahead of us by a lot, and it’s a talented team on and off the field. It’s a talented team, but there’s a big gap. And we’ve got room to make up. There’s no question about it. Frankly, that makes it daunting.
“We should try to be building 90-win teams here. That’s what you have to do to, that’s a playoff standard.”
It’s improvement that must come internally, and, more specifically, focuses more on the process versus personnel, Counsell further explained Friday.
“We have to push each other in these situations, and that means that inevitably is going to make for hard decisions, because it’s hard, the thing we want to do is hard, and that’s going to require hard decisions,” Counsell said. “But the things worth doing are hard, so that’s where we’ve got to get to, and it’s going to be difficult. We’re not there.
“You have to be open to all areas of improvement. Strengths don’t have a limit. They can become bigger strengths and that means more wins, right? So it’s that’s why you’re open. You always are open to and you should examine every way that you can to improve the team.”
Veteran right-hander Jameson Taillon can remember facing the Cubs in 2016 and 2017 when he was with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the daunting environment they faced coming to Wrigley Field to play a loaded team with stars. He believes the Cubs need to get to the next level in multiple facets.
“It was scary to come to Wrigley and play, like, you didn’t want to catch them on a day where they’re swinging it hot, and I think going forward, that should be our expectation,” Taillon said after tossing six shutout innings Friday. “Teams shouldn’t want to come in here and play the Cubs. Wrigley shouldn’t be a fun road trip. Chicago shouldn’t be a fun road trip for other teams. They should come in here and say we’re going to get worked for three days or they’re going to be giving us a heck of an effort.
“As players, that’s something we should strive for. I know a lot of players on other teams love coming to Wrigley and I don’t want that. I want people to see Wrigley on their schedule and be like, shoot, I don’t want a part of that. For the Chicago Cubs, we should strive to be a 90-win, at least, organization.”
The Cubs (79-75) don’t have any excuses for being so far back of the Brewers. As Taillon noted, while the Cubs have endured some things not going their way, the Brewers have dealt with injuries and traded ace Corbin Burnes to the Baltimore Orioles. And yet they continue to find a way to win.
“It seems like they do win the big moments,” Taillon said.
Taillon recalled giving up a grand slam to the Brewers on June 28 off a 1-2 pitch to Jackson Chourio, which proved to be the difference in the Cubs’ 4-2 loss.
“They seem to sometimes have the edge on those moments over us right now, and it’s on us to flip the script,” Taillon said. “It’s a team effort, it’s an organizational effort, but I’m happy Craig’s on our side because I have full faith in him and the front office and the coaches and us as players finding a way to identify that and get better. Because we do have an excellent group of guys, and this organization’s got a lot of very bright people, so I don’t expect this year to be the norm going forward.”
For the Cubs to produce the type of consistency required to roll out 90-plus-win seasons annually, it requires more than just individual and collective performance at the big-league level. They must acquire and develop minor-league talent, which the Cubs are seeing pay off in some areas, especially with the young pitching that matriculated to the majors this year while some of their top prospects reached the upper levels of the minors.
But for any positives the Cubs could point to, the reality is they are missing out of the postseason again — they haven’t made the playoffs in a non-shortened season since 2018. That’s not acceptable for a franchise like the Cubs, especially within what was set up to be a winnable division this season.
“I do feel like we underperformed this year, I do feel like we’re better than what our record shows, and that doesn’t matter, because your record’s your record,” Taillon said. “But I do feel like this group’s capable of a lot more, and whatever they diagnose and want to do to get better, I’m all ears and ready to see what they have in store.”
Star power is arguably a missing piece to the current formula. The Cubs have a bunch of great players on their roster, ranking third in MLB with five hitters who have at least a 3.0 bWAR, trailing the Dodgers (seven) and Astros (six). But they don’t have the type of superstar who can carry the team for stretches when a group is scuffling, as the Cubs did from May to July.
Taillon saw firsthand on the Yankees in 2021 (92 wins) and 2022 (99 wins) how players such as Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole can affect a team’s success. While having stars can definitely help, Taillon also explained that there are a lot of ways to win games in the majors, again pointing to the Brewers, who have a lot of good players and find a way to win games without possessing a Judge or Shohei Ohtani-like threat.
“They just find a way to win baseball games, whether that be matchups or guys performing in big moments,” Taillon said. “There’s a lot of ways star power always helps, being able to hit the three-run homer — I know Craig’s talked about that — but also having the starting pitcher that can strike out a ton of guys or being able to put the foot down and end a streak, that sort of thing.
“Star power helps, but I just think there’s so many ways to win games, whether it’s young guys helping defense, baserunning, like, it’s not all about star power.”
