The Cubs made the postseason again, but that doesn’t erase a season that fell short of the standard in Chicago. An 89-73 finish was a step backward, the club ended up 14 games behind Milwaukee in the division, and a sub-.500 September helped drag the year into a shaky close.
Pete Crow-Armstrong gave them a season for the ages. Too many others did not.
Moises Ballesteros is the first name that jumps out. For a while, he looked like he might be forcing his way into a long-term role, and the early numbers were loud: .338/.392/.620 through the end of April.
But the bat went cold after that fast start, and by the end of it all he had been dealt to the Angels at the deadline. Ballesteros entered the year as one of the Cubs’ top prospects with the simple expectation that his hit tool would carry over.
Instead, he finished with an OPS just over .600 and a 72 OPS+ between Chicago and Los Angeles.
Edward Cabrera gets the top spot on any disappointment list from this group. The Cubs brought him in from the Marlins in January, and the buzz around him was that he was about to grow into an ace.
That never happened. Cabrera posted a 5.96 ERA, landed on the injured list multiple times, and never found any kind of steady footing.
Chicago now has him under team control for two more years, which only sharpens the urgency to figure out what comes next.
Phil Maton also fell well short of the role the Cubs clearly had in mind. The veteran reliever got a multi-year deal, a notable move for a bullpen arm on the North Side, and the expectation was that he’d be a dependable out-getter.
Instead, he struggled to retire hitters and spent enough time on the IL with a knee issue that his season eventually ended with knee surgery. If Maton had delivered, the bullpen picture might have looked a lot less chaotic.
Then there’s Michael Busch, whose final line looks better at first glance than the season really was. Twenty homers, 27 doubles and 77 RBI are useful numbers, but they don’t match what he showed in 2025, when he looked capable of producing like one of the game’s best first basemen.
This year, the power dipped, his slugging percentage settled at .393, and he struck out in roughly a quarter of his at-bats. After the kind of heater he put together last season, the expectation was higher.
With Jackson Ferris and Zyhir Hope moving closer to the majors, the pressure on Busch is only going to grow.
In Other News...
Cubs Front Office Could Soon Face A Loss Fans Should Notice
The Athletics search for a new general manager is moving quickly, and it has already put a familiar Cubs name in the mix. Chicago assistant general manager Jared Banner is among the candidates being considered for the job, a development that matters for a front office that has leaned on continuity and internal expertise as it has tried to keep its own operation stable.
Oakland fired David Forst in early August and has had interim GM Dan Feinstein running baseball operations since then, with the vacancy expected to be filled this week. Banner is part of a broader list that also includes Phillies executive Sam Fuld, former Astros GM James Click and Nationals president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo, so the Cubs could be watching one of their own become a serious option elsewhere before long. [Read more 🡒]
Steven Kwan Could Be The Cubs' Winter Outfield Dilemma
The Cubs are heading into an offseason where the outfield could use some sorting out, and Steven Kwan has already emerged as a name to watch. Cleveland may eventually have to decide whether to keep the left fielder through his final year of arbitration or move him while there is still value to extract, and Chicago fits naturally into that conversation with outfield uncertainty of its own and a broader push to keep adding pitching.
For the Cubs, Kwan would make sense as a short-term answer because he brings stability to a spot that could change before Opening Day. One reported framework would send pitching prospect Jaxon Wiggins and infield prospect James Triantos to the Guardians, though nothing has been finalized, and the larger question for Chicago is whether it would make that kind of move for a player who could help right away while the club keeps balancing present needs with future depth. [Read more 🡒]
Cubs Face An Unsettling Reality About Their 2027 Rotation
The Cubs can talk all they want about building around young pitching, but the picture for 2027 already looks awfully thin. Cade Horton is the only starter who can be called a sure thing in that rotation at the moment, and the rest of the group is wrapped in uncertainty as Chicago tries to sort out who can stay healthy and who can hold up in a major-league role.
Justin Steele, Ben Brown and Edward Cabrera are all part of that clouded mix, each carrying questions tied to injury history or uneven performance. So the Cubs are leaning hard into the long view, hoping recent draft picks and a stronger pipeline can give them the kind of homegrown depth this staff will need if it is going to become something more reliable than a patchwork plan. [Read more 🡒]