Here’s why you can call Ian Happ ‘Mr. Consistent’

A lot has changed for the Cubs since 2022. They’ve climbed from 74 to 92 wins and back to the postseason. They’ve switched managers. Franchise cornerstones have departed, and new ones have emerged. Kyle Tucker came and went.

One thing that has stayed remarkably the same during that time? Ian Happ’s performance.

No, seriously: The left fielder has been a human metronome over the past four seasons, at least as far as year-to-year performance goes. In fact, he might be the most consistent -- or at least the most consistently good -- regular player in the Majors over that span.

Let’s take a closer look at the player the Cubs hope will once again be a rock in their lineup in 2026.

First, there’s the fact that Happ has been available in the first place. That’s an underrated skill. He’s stayed quite healthy over the years, and since the start of the 2022 season has been on the injured list just once. That came in May 2025, when he missed just nine games with an oblique strain.

Happ has played in 619 games over those four seasons, the 10th most in the Majors over that span. That includes 590 games in left field, which is the most (by a wide margin) over Cleveland’s Steven Kwan (542).

But it’s really Happ’s production, with the bat in particular, that stands out here -- for the way no one season stands out from the others.

Happ’s highs & lows in key categories, 2022-25

• Games: 158 (2022-23), 150 (2025)
• Hits: 155 (2022), 138 (2025)
• Home runs: 25 (2024), 17 (2022)
• Total bases: 252 (2022), 239 (2025)
• OBP: .360 (2023), .341 (2024)
• SLG: .441 (2024), .420 (2025)
• OPS+: 120 (2024-25), 117 (2022)
• WAR^: 4.3 (2022), 3.5 (2023)
^(per Baseball-Reference)

With Happ, the Cubs have enjoyed the luxury of knowing exactly what they are going to get. Although those stats may not be the gaudiest, they are plenty good. Of the 93 players with at least 2,000 plate appearances since 2022, Happ is tied for 37th in OPS+ (119). Over that span, he is tied for 32nd among position players in bWAR (15.7).

Just how consistent has Happ been, relative to others? Here’s one way to look at it:

There are 44 position players who have collected enough plate appearances to qualify in each of the past four seasons. Of those, Happ has far and away the tightest range between his top and bottom ends in the two stats mentioned above.

Tightest OPS+ range
Qualified each season, 2022-24

1. Ian Happ (CHC): 3 points (117 to 120)
2. Ryan McMahon (NYY): 11 points (87 to 98)
3. Nico Hoerner (CHC): 13 points (101 to 114)

Tightest bWAR range
Qualified each season, 2022-24

1. Ian Happ (CHC): 0.8 WAR (3.5 to 4.3)
2. Ryan McMahon (NYY): 0.9 WAR (2.3 to 3.2)
3. Rafael Devers (BOS): 1.0 WAR (3.5 to 4.5)

Especially in terms of offense, there is nobody close to Happ, or least nobody with a comparable amount of playing time. The closest is McMahon, but he’s been a below-league-average hitter, with a top-end WAR that’s below Happ’s bottom end.

Of course, none of that guarantees Happ’s consistency will continue through 2026. No streak lasts forever. But the Cubs no doubt hope it will. (That being said, they surely wouldn’t mind if Happ significantly outperformed that level of play.)

There is one other potential source of change on the horizon, though. The three-year-extension Happ signed in April 2023 runs out at the end of 2026, meaning that he enters his 10th big league season as a pending free agent. There’s a chance that this is the 31-year-old’s final season on the North Side unless he and the Cubs once again agree to extend their relationship.

But for this year, at least, we can be reasonably confident we know what the future holds for Chicago’s “Mr. Consistent.”