2026 Season Recap - The Great Failure of '26

The truth is that outside of 2016, every season comes to an end without winning the whole thing. You go through 162 regular season games, usually some amount of playoff games, and then you're left wanting more. More baseball. More chances. More of what brings me so much joy. More Summer days at Wrigley. More Tuesday nights under the lights. And more post-game beers with friends. There were so many highs this year but it's hard to sit here and fully reflect on that after what we experienced in San Diego. This team had its flaws and we all knew it. We knew that the starting rotation wasn't going to compete in a 7-game series with the Dodgers and we knew that the bullpen was shaky to say the least. But what I didn't know, and what I didn't expect, was that an offense that scored the most runs in baseball would fail to show up in the biggest moments.

• PCA, Bregman, Busch - 0 for 23 with 3 walks

• The team as a whole: 1R, 8H, 1 RBI, 0 HR, 1 extra-base hit (a Nico Hoerner double), 7 BB, 19 K, 2-for-15 with RISP. Slash line roughly .129/.229/.145.

It's almost hard to put into words how bad that is especially from a team that was 1st in total runs and 2nd in extra base hits in 2026. Again, fun regular season with the normal rollercoaster highs and lows, but it's going to be really hard to get the taste of dog shit out of my mouth that was left there by the Padres.

We'll get into some highlights and full player grades below before diving into what I think this team needs to focus on in 2027 if we play baseball.

Highlights

• PCA 40/40 Season, Cycle, and MVP

  • The most obvious highlight and one of the coolest things we've been able to witness as fans. I wrote in my season preview blog that we'd see a PCA MVP and boy, was I right. Just an unbelievable season from a guy who has embraced Chicago and become the face of the city.

Add to this that he's just the best defensive player in baseball...

• I was on the Range Game

  • Pretty cool moment for me this year getting to participate in the range game AND get it right. Don't want to make this all about me, it's a team game, but video down below.

• 13 Walk-Off Wins - 1st in the MLB

  • Doesn't get more exciting than leading the league in walk-off wins. They also had 7 walk-offs against them and 34 blown leads but this is a highlights section.

  • Franchise history: 13 ties the 2015 and 1932 teams for the second-most in Cubs history, one short of the 1930 record of 14.

• Two 10-Game Winning Streaks

  • Remember how fun this was when we were sitting at 27-12 on May 8th coming off back-to-back 10-game winning streaks? The franchise's first season with two 10-game streaks since 1935. Those were good times.

• The Emergence of Ben Brown

  • A guy many people counted out BUT NOT ME. I wrote in my season preview blog "I still believe Ben Brown could be something. Has all the measurables in the world. And I'm probably the only guy left in the city still believing in him and I'm sure that'll bite me in the ass." Can you imagine if he can come back fully healthy in 2027 and continue the path he was on? Ace stuff.

• Alex Bregman in the 2nd Half

  • Bregman showed his true value in the 2nd half of the year slashing .303 / .380 / .626 while playing elite defense at 3rd. Looking forward to seeing what he can do in 2027 at Wrigley Field.

Player Grades

Offseason Thoughts

A lot of key contributors are hitting free agency so who do you bring back, who do you let walk, and who do you go out and target?

Happ/Seiya

The obvious 2 free agents. I love Ian Happ because I love anybody who plays for my team for 10 years. He plays Gold Glove* left field and you kind of know what you're going to get from him year in and year out. But I'm done with that. I'm done sticking by an average left fielder because he's a good guy. Ian, I thank you for everything you've done for this organization but it's time to move on. I want power and clutch hitting out of my left fielder and that just really hasn't been Ian Happ.

Seiya is a different story. When healthy, Suzuki provides real pop in the middle of a lineup. Might be able to sign him for a few years but I'm worried it won't be a priority.

So who do you replace them with? There's the hope that Kevin Alcantara could still be a guy or maybe you could teach Pedro Ramirez the corner outfield position. That's one option. The other option is to get out there in free agency but it's a pretty weak outfield class. The only 2 guys that somewhat intrigue me are Randy Arozarena and Adolis Garcia. Both would provide some serious pop out there but it'd be a pretty steep decline in defensive capabilities (which I don't care about in left field).

Starting Rotation

The good news: Cade Horton (July?), Justin Steele, Ben Brown will all be back in the rotation in 2027

The bad news: Shota Imanaga, Kevin Gausman, David Peterson, and Clay Holmes will all most likely be gone.

So what do you do? Not much help coming from the prospect side of things. Jaxon Wiggins was great in 2025 but struggled in 2026 after some injuries. So who's out there available to sign?

Tarik Skubal

You want to be taken seriously? You want to make a real run at this thing? Go get the best pitcher in baseball. Defer some of the money, raise the price of beer at the ballpark by $0.25 (probably brings in an extra $2.5M), and grow a pair.

Michael King

We all know what Michael King can do. He shoved it for 7 innings against the Cubs in Game 1 of the Wild Card series and gave the Padres 185 innings with a 3.21 ERA in 2026. Would be an obvious upgrade from some of our current options.

Jack Flaherty

Gross. Didn't even really want to put this here. But Flaherty is interesting. The guy can still strike out batters at a high rate but he does get banged around once in a while. Back end guy with some upside.

Bullpen

Jed admitted that he failed this offseason with the bullpen. It was an obvious disaster headlined by the fact that they didn't have a clear shutdown go-to arm. I think we'll see some better numbers from Daniel Palencia, Zeferjahn, and Jacob Webb. But still a lot of work to do and they need to stop dicking around and only signing guys they think the "pitching lab" can fix.

David Bednar

The best proven closer on the market. 35 saves, a 2.47 ERA, and he's been lights out since leaving Pittsburgh. He won't be cheap, but if we're serious about fixing the ninth, this is the guy.

Raisel Iglesias

Turning 37 but still getting it done. 34 saves and a 2.55 ERA. Give him one year and let him close or set up for Bednar.

Gregory Soto

The high-leverage lefty we need with Thielbar hopefully out the door. Big strikeout stuff (79 K in 67 IP) and can close in a pinch. The walks will make you sweat sometimes.

Other bullpen additions

Jalen Beeks

Coming off an injury, but I've always liked Jalen Beeks. Solid control, and he should play well in front of an elite defense.

Brusdar Graterol

Hasn't pitched in the majors in like 3 years, but when he's healthy, his stuff is ELITE. Sign him for cheap and play the lottery.

Pete Fairbanks

The 6.31 ERA is ugly, but he still struck out 57 in 41 innings. The stuff is there but he needs to fix the control issues. Cheap one-year deal and let the "pitching lab" go to work.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't optimistic heading into 2027. We return the entire infield, the league MVP, and get some pitchers back healthy. The one thing that gives me pause is Jed Hoyer and the Ricketts Family. At some point you have to be extremely serious about winning. Don't go out and dumpster dive for 9 relief pitchers and hope that 2 or 3 can develop in the pitching lab. Don't go out and sign a bunch of backend rotation guys playing the quantity over quality game. Don't replace Seiya Suzuki with Matt Shaw because you believe he can take some steps forward. Go out and be truly competitive because these fans deserve it.

Until Cubs Con,

Jack

Revisiting My 2026 Season Preview Predictions:

• Michael Busch All-Star ❌

• PCA MVP ❎

• The Cubs Will Score the Most Runs in the League ❎

• Bregman Captain ❓