6 Cubs who failed to live up to expectations in 2024

4: Cody Bellinger couldn't replicate his bounceback 2023 numbers

The Chicago Cubs waited out the market, eventually bringing back Cody Bellinger in the final hours of the offseason via a three-year, $80 million deal with opt-outs after the first and second seasons.

En route to NL Comeback Player of the Year honors in 2023, the former Rookie of the Year and MVP put up a 139 OPS+ and narrowly missed out on a 30-100 campaign while also playing elite defense at multiple positions. This year, although still an above-average player, he was hardly the offensive force from the year prior.

Bellinger finished the year at 2.2 fWAR, making him Chicago's seventh-most valuable position player. That's not what the Cubs envisioned when they paid him $27.5 million. Maybe the conditions at Wrigley cooled his end-of-year numbers (.700 OPS at home, .797 on the road) - but regardless, the team needed more from him offensively and the power just never came to be.