Cubs exec Jed Hoyer regrets late
collapse, says offseason focus will be on pitching upgrades
[October 03, 2026]
By LUKE DeCOCK
CHICAGO (AP) — At the end of a summer Jed Hoyer called “unlike any
season I've been through,” the Chicago Cubs president of baseball
operations said the team's late-season fade and postseason collapse
were difficult to swallow.
“Ultimately, as we sit here today, it feels like we let something
slip away," Hoyer said Friday during his postseason media
availability. “That's the hardest thing. I think these fans deserve
home playoff games and we let it slip away in September, especially
the last week."
Long before a two-game postseason sweep at San Diego, the Cubs were
within three games of the Brewers in the NL Central and in the first
wild-card position on Aug. 12 but closed out the season 18-23,
including a 2-5 record against the Brewers and a 2-4 finish that
helped cost them home-field advantage.
Even with the best offense and arguably the best defense in
baseball, injuries to starting pitchers, an erratic bullpen and
hot-and-cold hitting all contributed to the Cubs' inability to keep
pace with the Brewers. The late fade was in keeping with a wild
season that saw the Cubs post two 10-game winning streaks and a
10-game losing streak en route to 89 wins, the second-most for the
franchise since 2018.
The Cubs led MLB with 850 runs in the regular season, got the team's
first ever 40-40 season from presumptive MVP Pete Crow-Armstrong and
enjoyed a red-hot finish by Alex Bregman after a painfully slow
start — no one hit more home runs after July 27 than Bregman's 18,
out of his 28 on the season — but managed just one run on eight hits
in the two losses at the Padres.
“We have to work really hard to get back to that place,” Hoyer said.
"Obviously I think losses like this are really motivating, but in
the moment, right now, I feel for the fans who supported this team
so much because I feel like they deserved a long run this year."
Projected rotation starters Kade Horton and Justin Steele both
missed the entire season and Edward Cabrera and Matthew Boyd both
spent time on the injured list. Cabrera, a major offseason
acquisition, had the worst season of his career when healthy. The
Cubs added starters Kevin Gausman and Clay Holmes at the deadline,
to no avail.
Only the A's gave up more home runs in 2026 than the 231 the Cubs
allowed and Hoyer acknowledged his team has done a better job
developing hitters and position players than pitchers, to the point
where it's holding back the franchise.
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“From a pitching standpoint this year, we sort of
struggled from the get-go,” Hoyer said. “Some of that was based on
injuries to some guys we were really counting on, but some of it was
based on poor performance. Some of it was some poor acquisitions. I
think that's something we need to look at. Right now, we are out of
balance, and how do we balance that out?”
The pitching struggles only underline the
frustration at being unable to keep pace with the Brewers despite
the Cubs' advantage in resources and market size, even hiring
manager Craig Counsell away from them ahead of the 2024 season.
“Go ask the rest of Major League Baseball. That's hard to keep up
with,” Counsell said ahead of the first of the seven late-season
games against the Brewers. "They're having a fabulous season.
Disappointed isn't the right word. They're a good team. I'm not
surprised by that. I'm not surprised at all. We're a good team. I
mean, we're not a 100-win team. We're not going to be a hundred-win
team this year.”
Hoyer acknowledged that the Cubs have a financial advantage in the
NL Central but argued that's not necessarily true across the
National League. Still, the Brewers have set a standard the Cubs are
failing to meet despite a $248 million payroll, the eighth largest
in MLB, that's nearly twice as large as Milwaukee's.
Changes are likely regardless, with 10 potential free agents,
including popular outfielders Seiya Suzuki and Ian Happ, going into
an offseason when Hoyer said the heavy focus would be on improving
the pitching staff.
“The team’s going to look and feel different next year,” Hoyer said.
“In a lot of ways, that’s a good thing.”
Hoyer said there were times during the season that he thought the
Cubs were the best team in baseball, which led to the decision to
try to bolster the rotation at the deadline.
“We believed in this group,” Hoyer said. “We think we have the best
player in baseball. We have an exceptional position playing group.
We believed in this group and we fell short. We let that opportunity
slip away and that’s the part that will gnaw at us for a long time.”
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