It took just one game for Cubs to realize the true cost of their Alex Bregman whiff

The Chicago Cubs were hardly silent this offseason. Matthew Boyd profiles nicely at the back of the rotation, former Houston Astros closer Ryan Pressly is exactly the sort of high-leverage arm this bullpen was sorely lacking and, of course, acquiring an All-Star outfielder in Kyle Tucker — on a one-year rental, no less — is the sort of aggression that fans have often accused Jed Hoyer of shying away from in the past.

But despite all that, the Cubs' winter was as much defined by what they didn't do as what they did. And one whiff loomed larger than the rest: Alex Bregman looked to be an ideal fit for a team with question marks at both third base and second base, only for the Boston Red Sox to show more urgency at the 11th hour to get a deal done. Bregman headed to the Northeast, while Chicago entered the 2025 season once again hoping their weaknesses wouldn't come back to haunt them.

That hope lasted ... well, just a few innings, as it turns out.

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Cubs feel Alex Bregman's absence in opening loss to Dodgers

OK, so maybe that's a bit hyperbolic. The MLB season is a marathon, not a sprint, and an island game against the powerhouse Los Angeles Dodgers a week before every other team begins its 2025 campaign is a tough spot to be in.

Then again, those Dodgers are Chicago's primary competition for an NL pennant, which should be a reasonable goal for this team based on where it's at in its competitive cycle. And the Cubs let game one of their two-game Tokyo Series slip away, in part, by a mistake from the player taking Bregman's spot on the roster.

In the top of the fifth, Chicago second baseman Jon Berti committed a throwing error while trying to rush a potential double play; instead of a tie game with two outs and runners on the corners, the go-ahead run game around to score. L.A. wouldn't trail again, eventually nailing down a 4-1 win.

Of course, Berti shouldn't be Chicago's second baseman for most of this season; Nico Hoerner should hopefully be back from offseason flexor tendon surgery soon enough. But it just goes to underscore how much uncertainty still remains in this Cubs infield. uncertainty that found Chicago in its very first game of the season. Bregman already appears to be paying dividends in Boston, both on the field and off. He could've been doing the same for the Cubs, if the Ricketts family had found the money.