The Chicago Cubs lost out on the NL Central division title to the Milwaukee Brewers in the regular season, but had a golden opportunity to beat their arch-rivals when it mattered most - in the postseason. They came back from a 2-0 series deficit in the NLDS, forcing a winner-take-all Game 5 back in Milwaukee, but Craig Counsell's bunch just couldn't get it done. To clarify, I mean his new bunch.
Counsell managed the Brewers for parts of nine seasons and had all kinds of success, but ditched Milwaukee for the Cubs after the 2023 season. That decision, while understandable, made him public enemy No. 1 in Milwaukee. Counsell got paid like the best manager in the sport and joined a big-market franchise with more resources to work with, but with that situation comes the responsibility of beating the team he left. Counsell failed to do that.
It's only two years deep, but it's hard to label Counsell's Cubs tenure as anything but a failure right now. They won just 83 games and missed the playoffs in 2024, and then lost to the team Counsell abandoned in October the following year. While it's easy to point the finger at him with all of that in mind, Cubs fans frustrated by the early postseason exit should redirect their complaints elsewhere.
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Jed Hoyer did not do enough at the trade deadline
It might not feel this way because the Brewers wound up winning the division with ease, but the Cubs were squarely in the mix for the NL Central title, sitting just 2.0 games back of Milwaukee on the day of the trade deadline. Cubs fans had assumed that since they had traded for Kyle Tucker, a superstar on an expiring contract, had a lot of tradable prospects, and hadn't had any postseason success in nearly a decade, that there'd be a major blockbuster, particularly to address the pitching. That deal never came.
It isn't all Hoyer's fault - there weren't many quality starters available, and prices were absurd for those who were on the market - but at the end of the day, Hoyer just didn't do enough. Michael Soroka was the only starter the Cubs got, and despite injuries to both Justin Steele and Cade Horton, he didn't start in the postseason. The Andrew Kittredge addition was a good one, but Taylor Rogers didn't make the NLDS roster and utility man Willi Castro was a non-factor in October. Kittredge was the only relevant deadline addition - that isn't good enough for a team that had true World Series aspirations.
Now, the result of the series finale had nothing to do with the pitching, but the Cubs allowed a combined 16 runs in the first two games. The pitching was the main reason why the Cubs were in an early hole. I'm not going to say Counsell made every perfect move, and obviously, the Horton injury stung in a big way, but Hoyer did not address the pitching nearly enough. That was made abundantly clear at the beginning of this series.
Cubs offense disappeared when it mattered most
Frankly, the Cubs were lucky to even advance to the NLDS. They scored just six runs in three Wild Card Series games, they were just fortunate to run into a feeble offensive team in the San Diego Padres. They averaged two runs per game in that three-game set, and by scoring 17 runs in the five-game NLDS, they averaged just 3.4 runs per game in that round. I maintain that Hoyer should've done more on the pitching front, but the Cubs scored three runs or fewer in six of their eight postseason games. No matter how you draw it up, that isn't a winning formula.
Cubs Player | Postseason H/AB | Postseason HR | Postseason RBI |
|---|---|---|---|
Ian Happ | 3/30 | 2 | 4 |
Kyle Tucker | 7/27 | 1 | 1 |
Pete Crow-Armstrong | 5/27 | 0 | 0 |
Dansby Swanson | 4/26 | 0 | 0 |
Carson Kelly | 5/28 | 1 | 1 |
Matt Shaw | 2/17 | 0 | 0 |
Michael Busch, Seiya Suzuki and Nico Hoerner were consistently producing, but as for the rest of their lineup, what is there to say? Six of the nine regulars in the Cubs lineup combined to go 26-for-155, hitting .168 with four home runs and six RBI. This list of underperforming Cubs include a player likely to get over $300 million this offseason (Tucker), an All-Star (Crow-Armstrong), the longest-tenured Cub (Happ), the highest-paid Cub (Swanson), and one of the NL's best hitting catchers for much of the yer (Kelly).
The Cubs ranked fifth in the majors in runs scored, sixth in home runs, and seventh in OPS in the regular season. In the postseason, they hit their share of home runs (thanks largely to the Busch, Suzuki and Hoerner trio), but averaged fewer than three runs per game in the postseason.
What is Counsell supposed to do with that? Is he supposed to bench the guys who got them there? Is he supposed to just wave his magic wand and tell his players to find a way to score runs? There's only so much a manager can do. How many teams can win by scoring two runs per game consistently? Blame must go towards the players who disappeared when the lights got bright.
Counsell wasn't perfect in these playoffs - no manager ever is - but I feel confident in saying no manager would've guided this Cubs team beyond the NLDS with how they played. If you want someone to point the finger at, blame the guy who didn't make the team any better at the trade deadline and blame the hitters who starred in the regular season only to disappear in October.