5 Chicago Cubs to blame for not forcing Brewers to earn an NL Central title

The Milwaukee Brewers, a team most figured would be major sellers at the 2024 trade deadline, officially became the first team to clinch a division title, putting a bow on the NL Central without even playing their game yet.

The Brewers entered Wednesday's action with a magic number of one to win the NL Central meaning one win from themselves or a loss from the Chicago Cubs meant that the division would be won. The Cubs played first and fittingly lost in a way that they have repeatedly this season.

The Cubs led 3-1 after six against the lowly Oakland Athletics before allowing the A's to score four unanswered runs to win the game and end Chicago's division hopes.

While the Cubs were mathematically alive in the division race entering Wednesday's action, their realistic chances of winning their first NL Central title in a full season (excluding 2020) since 2017 vanished months ago. These five individuals are to blame for what will be a failure of a season on the North Side.

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5) Kyle Hendricks pitched his way out of the Cubs plans for the 2025 season

For the better part of a decade, Kyle Hendricks was as consistent as any pitcher on the Cubs. He only had one Cy Young-caliber season and that was back in 2016 (shocker), but Hendricks was almost always a reliable arm for the Cubs to turn to every fifth day in the middle or back end of their rotation. That has not been the case in 2024.

The Cubs rotation has been its biggest strength all season, as evidenced by the team ranking eighth in the majors with a 3.84 starting pitching ERA. Justin Steele and Shota Imanaga have looked like two legitimate aces, Javier Assad emerged, and even Jameson Taillon has had a really nice season. Hendricks, from the jump, was the weak link.

Normally, having a bad No. 5 starter wouldn't be a huge deal, but on this Cubs team, having Hendricks start every fifth day was quite bad. First of all, his 6.25 ERA in 27 appearances (6.68 ERA in 22 starts) was unacceptable, even as a fifth starter. Second of all, his poor efforts were magnified because the team could not remove him from the rotation.

Steele missed time with injury, as did depth guys like Jordan Wicks, Ben Brown, and Hayden Wesneski. With that in mind, the Cubs needed a lot more from Hendricks than they have gotten. He deserves a lot of love for what he has done with the Cubs, and particularly for his efforts in 2016, but it's time for the organization to let go.

4) The Dansby Swanson contract looks awful following a down year

The Cubs gave Dansby Swanson a seven-year deal worth $177 million ahead of the 2023 campaign expecting him to be a lynchpin on their team. He hasn't played abysmally, but he certainly hasn't come close to meeting those lofty expectations that come with that kind of contract two years into it.

Swanson's 2023 campaign was fine. He won a Gold Glove, was named an All-Star, and even received some down-ballot NL MVP votes for a Cubs team that narrowly missed out on the postseason. His fault last season, though, was the fact that despite hitting 22 home runs, he was only a 103 OPS+ hitter, three points above the league average. The Cubs did not pay him all of that money to be roughly league-average offensively.

Things have only gotten worse on that front in 2024. Swanson entered Wednesday's action slashing .234/.306/.379 with 15 home runs and 62 RBI. Barring a ridiculous late-season surge, Swanson will finish with worse statistics across the board than his 2023 season, which was already considered a down year.

Swanson's 93 OPS+ makes him clearly below league average as a hitter, and while he might win a Gold Glove, the Cubs need more than great defense from a player of Swanson's caliber. Hopefully he can make the contract look better in 2024, but with how these first two seasons have gone, it's hard to trust that.

3) The Hector Neris experience was not a good one for Cubs fans

In dire need of some bullpen help, the Cubs signed Hector Neris to a deal this past offseason, giving them an experienced late-game reliever to turn to. Unfortunately, Neris looked nothing like his formerly dominant Houston Astros self.

The right-hander's 3.89 ERA in 46 appearances with Chicago could've been worse, I suppose, but he took four losses and blew five of his 22 save appearances. Even when Neris was able to find a way to close a game, he'd make things interesting by allowing several base runners.

This contract went so poorly to the point where, despite holding onto a little bit of hope that a postseason berth could come, the Cubs DFA'd Neris in late August to avoid having his expensive club option turn into a player option.

The Cubs having a dismal bullpen late in games was a theme all season, and while Neris wasn't the only one who struggled to finish games, he certainly was a main factor in many of their tough losses.

2) Cody Bellinger failed to replicate his 2023 success

The Cubs took a one-year risk on Cody Bellinger ahead of the 2023 season and saw it pay off handsomely. Bellinger had his best season since his NL MVP win in 2019, finishing tenth in the NL MVP balloting and earning a Silver Slugger, nearly leading Chicago to the postseason.

With his great 2023 campaign in mind, the Cubs eventually re-signed Bellinger to a three-year deal worth $80 million, including player opt-outs after each of the first two seasons. With how Bellinger has played this season, chances are, he won't be opting out.

The 29-year-old has seen his OPS dip by over 100 points from .881 to .770. He went from hitting 26 home runs and driving in 97 runs last season to hitting 18 home runs with 69 RBI in 2024. The production simply has not been there.

Bellinger is a good player who has not had a bad season by any means, but he also hasn't been nearly as productive as he was in 2023. Had Bellinger been his 2023 self, perhaps the Cubs would've made the NL Central race more interesting.

1) Jed Hoyer failed to field a team capable of winning the NL Central

Nobody should shoulder more blame for this failure of a season than Jed Hoyer, the team's president of baseball operations. Hoyer was tasked with getting this team to the postseason and failed to deliver - it's really that simple.

Sure, the players on the field had to play better, but Hoyer still made several mistakes along the way.

The bullpen has been a mess for much of the season. Injuries hurt have them in that regard, but the Neris signing was a bust, and he was really the only reliever brought in. Hoyer did do well with some midseason additions in the bullpen, but the Cubs dug themselves an early-season hole because of the bullpen Hoyer assumed was good enough to begin the year.

Tanking the catcher position was another blunder. The duo of Miguel Amaya and Yan Gomes was easily the worst in the majors, and Hoyer went months without addressing it. He finally brought in some veterans later like Tomas Nido and Christian Bethancourt, but those players are far from game-changers. The Cubs needed catching help before the season, and really needed it in April or May when everyone else realized that the situation was dire, but Hoyer failed to come through.

Hoyer made some good moves like the Shota Imanaga signing and the Michael Busch trade, and we really have no idea how much money he was allowed to spend, but outside of a solid April, this Cubs team was never good enough to compete with the Brewers in the Central. Hoyer has to take accountability for that.