The Chicago Cubs were doomed in the 2022 season due to their moves (or lack thereof) last off-season.
In 2021, the Chicago Cubs were not a good baseball team by any sense of the word. After making the playoffs in 2020, the 2021 Cubs went 71-91 and traded away most of their core players.
However, a team like the Cubs could have easily rebuilt much of its core on the trade market and/or the free-agent market. They made some moves indicating that they want to win and win now, by signing free agent starting pitcher Marcus Stroman and Japanese outfielder Seiya Suzuki to the free agent market.
With those additions and, largely, keeping the same team that they did last year, the Cubs finished with a slightly better 74-88 record. That was 13 games back of the Phillies for the third and final NL Wild Card spot.
Here are the five biggest mistakes the Cubs made in 2022.
Five biggest mistakes that doomed the Cubs in 2022 and why
5) Not addressing their bullpen enough
For a team that was 14 games under .500, their bullpen was not off the charts terrible … but it still wasn’t very good. Their bullpen ERA was 4.12, which was 21st in baseball.
Of the 12 playoff teams in 2022, only one of them (the Phillies, who hadn’t made the postseason in over a decade due in large part to having a perennially bad bullpen) had a bullpen ERA out of the top 14. In other words, of the top 14 teams in bullpen ERA, 11 of them made the playoffs.
In the second half of the season (post-All-Star Game), though, the Cubs’ bullpen had a 3.85 ERA, which was 17th. The Cubs actually went 39-31 after the All-Star Game, which was actually the fifth-best record in the NL.