SAN DIEGO -- This was not how this Cubs’ season was supposed to end. This script offered the ballclub the same path through October as a year ago, giving the North Siders a shot at redemption after last fall’s postseason exit against the rival Brewers.
This was the 10th anniversary of the 2016 triumph and a year featuring an MVP-caliber performance from Pete Crow-Armstrong. It was a season in which the front office went all in over the winter and again at the Trade Deadline. A deep run was the expectation, but the Padres never flipped through the first draft of Chicago’s story.
“None of it feels good,” Crow-Armstrong said.
On Wednesday night, the Padres sent the Cubs into an early offseason with a 4-1 victory that completed a sweep in the National League Wild Card Series at Petco Park. And now Chicago’s players, staff and roster builders will get to work on dissecting how a team with baseball’s best defense and highest-scoring offense was sent packing so soon.
Meanwhile, it will be the Padres who head to Milwaukee for the National League Division Series.
In the final game of what will go down as a season of missed opportunity, the Cubs’ dynamic duo of Crow-Armstrong and Alex Bregman was silenced by San Diego’s pitching staff for a second straight game. They combined to go 0-for-15 with eight strikeouts in the two losses.
“We didn’t play well enough,” Bregman said. “It’s time to look in the mirror and get better. I know myself and a lot of these guys will be thinking about it every day of the offseason. We’ll let it fuel us. Just not good enough. We need to get better. That’s all there is.”
Cubs righty Kevin Gausman -- one of the marquee additions at the Deadline -- worked into the fourth in an outing of mixed results, much like his brief tenure with the team.
And the biggest blow arrived in the fourth inning, when Cubs reliever Daniel Palencia unleashed a 100.8 mph fastball and watched pinch-hitter Gavin Sheets send it rocketing into the right-field stands for a two-run homer. The Petco Park crowd erupted and the odds were swiftly stacked against the Cubs, given the elite arms the Padres would roll out of their bullpen.
“Any time you get swept in the postseason, it’s not fun,” Gausman said. “It’s always going to kind of leave a sour taste in your mouth. But you can’t forget how this group was. There’s an MVP in this room, and a lot of guys who had incredible seasons. As hard as it is, you try to kind of look at the bright side of things. A lot of these guys are coming back.”
That is true when it comes to a group of the Cubs’ core. Each of the veteran infield trio of Bregman, Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner is on a long-term deal. Crow-Armstrong is locked in via an extension he signed at the start of this season. There are plenty of important pieces under team control.
That said, there is also a pile of potential free agents, including corner outfield mainstays Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki. Happ, specifically, is Chicago’s longest-tenured player on the active roster and has spent a decade in the Majors with the only team he has known. That explained why teammates around the visitors’ clubhouse were emotional when asked about his possible exit.
“He’s meant a lot to me,” said Swanson, fighting back tears. “He embodies the Cubs more than anyone I know.”
Players like Happ thought they would have several more weeks before needing to think much about their uncertain futures.
“It’s emotional. It’s tough,” Happ said. “It’s such a good group in this room. I can’t begin to kind of explain the character of the people and the relationships here. That makes it hurt, makes it sting worse.”
Over the winter, the Jed Hoyer-led front office signed Bregman to a five-year, $175 million deal in free agency as the headline of a busy winter. Hoerner and Crow-Armstrong were signed to six-year extensions. Gausman and Clay Holmes were among the additions at the Trade Deadline to boost a pitching staff riddled by injuries.
The team led the NL Central as late as May 18, slipped in the standings, but was in strong position with a 7 1/2-game lead for the NL Wild Card on Aug. 12. The North Siders could not hold the line, sliding into the second Wild Card spot in the final weekend of the regular season, losing the ability to head home to Wrigley Field for this series.
“It stings to not have played there in the playoffs,” Hoerner said. “Everyone feels that. We left a lot of wins on the table in the last month of the season. That hurts. But, I haven’t really gotten super reflective on the year, yet.”
All the Cubs know right now is that this was not the ending they envisioned.
“Look, we're trying to accomplish something. We didn't. That hurts, and that leaves you unfulfilled,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “We did accomplish some really good things, and I think, collectively, we gave our fans a lot of joy throughout the course of the season.
“Yeah, we're going to have to wait to accomplish the thing we really want to accomplish. There's steps to success, and you're on a path to success. We didn't finish it this year and hope that this has to be part of the journey to the ultimate prize.”