MILWAUKEE — It’s safe to say this was a boom-or-bust season for the Chicago Cubs offense, from its first-half dominance to its second-half slumber.
It was a head-scratching turn of events, watching so many good hitters stop hitting at the same time. But there was optimism they could all put it back together in the postseason and make a long run, with an energized fan base willing them to win.
When the Cubs cranked out three home runs in their Game 4 win at Wrigley Field, with the ballpark as alive as it has been since the “Bryzzo” era, it seemed as though their luck was about to turn.
But boom begat bust once more in Game 5 of the National League Division Series on Saturday, as the Milwaukee Brewers bullpen shut down the Cubs on four hits in a 3-1 win at American Family Field to advance to the NL Championship Series.
Good but not great.
It’s fine for a small-market team with limited resources, but not enough for a team like the Cubs with sellout crowds making Wrigley Field into the owners’ ATM.
“It’s a challenging thing to get to Game 5 of a division series and have the (league) championship series there right in front of you and to really (be in) the thick of it,” Nico Hoerner said. “We can look forward to things to come and this and that, but when you’re in the middle of it and knowing that it’s hard to get here, yeah, it’s hard.”
The Cubs lost to a better team in the Brewers.
Not significantly better, but enough to win the division by five games and the NLDS 3-2. That’s all that matters.
The Brewers pitching ultimately made the difference in the series, which was no surprise. Five Brewers relievers combined to stifle the Cubs, including rookie Jacob Misiorowski, who gave up a solo home run to Seiya Suzuki but was masterful otherwise.
Chicago Cubs’ season ends with a 3-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 5 of the NLDS
The Brewers cranked three two-out, solo home runs, doing just enough damage off Cubs relievers — or out-getters — in a game in which starter Shota Imanaga was left unused. Imanaga had given up home runs in 10 straight outings, and his confidence seemed shot after his Game 2 loss.
Manager Craig Counsell couldn’t be blamed for not using his left-hander, though Cubs President Jed Hoyer will have to wear it for not adding a quality starter at the trade deadline, a move that came back to bite the Cubs when Cade Horton suffered a rib fracture the final week of the regular season.
Asked if he was upset about not starting, Imanaga blamed himself.
“I felt like I didn’t have enough skills there,” Imanaga said through his interpreter. “Hopefully I want to (improve) my skills so I have the trust (of Counsell) to throw not necessarily short innings but give us long innings.”
Imanaga and the Cubs will be back next year, but so will the Brewers, and maybe even the Cincinnati Reds in the NL Central.
It’s up to Hoyer to make the right moves to ensure the offense is more consistent and the bench depth is good enough to rest the starters. Replacing Kyle Tucker in right field will be his first priority. Though it’s still theoretically possible that Tucker will remain a Cub, no one believes it will happen. And after Tucker struggled in the second half and postseason, there was no outcry from fans to keep him, giving Chairman Tom Ricketts a valid excuse for not giving him the biggest contract in franchise history.
Tucker wouldn’t discuss his pending free agency afterward, but when asked if he wanted to stay in Chicago long term he replied: “I don’t know what the future is going to hold. But if not, it was an honor playing with all these guys and I wish everyone the best of luck, whether it’s playing next year or not with them. It was a fun group to be a part of.”
Sounds like sayonara.
Tucker went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in what could be his final game with the Cubs. Trailing 2-1 in the sixth, the Cubs had a prime scoring opportunity against Aaron Asbhy, who gave up a single to Michael Busch and hit Hoerner with a pitch. But Tucker missed a juice 3-1 pitch and eventually struck out, and reliever Chad Patrick retired Suzuki on a lineout to left.
That brought up Ian Happ, whose three-run, first-inning home run Thursday launched the Cubs to their 6-0 win in Game 4. But Happ looked at a called third strike, ending the threat. Andrew Kittredge surrendered a two-out home run to Brice Turang in the seventh that gave the Brewers an insurance run, and the Cubs were toast.
Kittredge said his slider was where he wanted it.
“I don’t know if he sold out to that pitch or what, but he put a pretty good swing on it,” he said.
Happ is back next year, but his future could be murky if Hoyer is looking to get younger. With Owen Caissie expected to play regularly in right, the Cubs could sign another free-agent outfielder. Trading Cody Bellinger in a salary dump hurt the Cubs, who got next to nothing in return for a star hitter.
The bullpen is not getting any younger either, and Hoyer is going to have to find some money to pay Brad Keller, the unsung hero of the team. Kittredge has a $9 million team option that should be picked up as well.
“The offseason is a long process, and every team has to get their ducks in a row,” Kittredge said. “But I loved my time here and I would love to be back. This was such a great group, different personalities but everyone really jelled together. There was good banter in the bullpen. It was just a good time and that bullpen was special to be part of.”
It will take some time to process this season, and doing so after Saturday’s season-ending loss was not a great time. But since we’re already here … might as well jump.
The team was expected to make the postseason, which it did. It was not expected to go to the World Series, and it didn’t. So it basically lived up to expectations, even though the first half gave fans hope that a long postseason run was a possibility. The regulars in the lineup faltered in unison, and the unfortunate injury to Horton was a backbreaker for the postseason.
But one thing we did learn was that the core is solid. Several players stood tall in the postseason — notably Hoerner, Suzuki and Michael Busch, who established himself as a clutch hitter and one of the game’s best leadoff men.
“The good, the bad, I’ll reflect on it all and try to learn from everything that you can,” Busch said. “I was happy obviously to take his postseason experience and use it to my benefit, hopefully, in the future.”
Busch was the best thing to happen to the Cubs while they were fixated on Pete Crow-Armstrong, a fine player who will be marketed like crazy by the Cubs this offseason, especially if Tucker leaves. Crow-Armstrong has the talent and charisma to be a superstar, but he’s not quite there yet, as we saw in the second half and postseason. Hopefully the Cubs can work on his plate discipline, which is the biggest thing keeping him from being the player he can be. Crow-Armstrong needs to mature and stop the helmet-tossing, but that’s a minor complaint. The Cubs need his emotion, but he can channel it better if he gets some good advice.
Counsell had a successful year and was the target of too much whining about his lineups. But he also can do some reflecting after another postseason that ended too early.
What if he gave Busch more at-bats against left-handers instead of playing 40-year-old Justin Turner at first? Should he have rested Crow-Armstrong more during his second-half slump? Would the Cubs have fared better in the postseason if he had set up the rotation to go with his hottest starter, Jameson Taillon, in Game 1 of the wild-card series, with Matthew Boyd in Game 2 and Imanaga in the bullpen?
Who knows?
There will be plenty of time to debate what the Cubs should have done and what they should do next. Suffice to say, Ricketts and Hoyer should feel fortunate they have a fan base as passionate, loyal and knowledgeable as Cubs fans are.
When the powers that be let the trade deadline pass without making a major move, it showed how much the organization takes those fans for granted. They put their heart and soul into this team, as evidenced by the raucous atmosphere during the postseason games at Wrigley.
It’s time they got what they deserve.