Holding out hope for a Cubs 2024 postseason berth is falling for Jed Hoyer's trap

If you are a Chicago Cubs fan who is watching this team's games over the final two months of the season with the false sense that there could be a postseason run, then Jed Hoyer has a bridge to sell you.

The Cubs did have a successful weekend where they took three of four from the St. Louis Cardinals but what was the impact on the standings?

Entering play on Monday night against the Minnesota Twins, the Cubs remain 8.5 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers for first place in the National League Central. In the wild-card race, the Cubs are 6 games out of the final spot. As if being six games out of the final wild-card spot was not already a daunting task, the fact remains that the Cubs have seven teams ahead of them.

While Cubs fans are born with the motto of "I didn't hear no bell", the reason why fans can't hear the bell is because it was rung in June. Anyone sticking around, hoping for a postseason berth in 2024, fell asleep during battle and woke up without the realization it was over.

There's little reason to believe this Cubs' team can make the 2024 postseason.

From a pure standings standpoint, it's clear that the Cubs won't be making the postseason but let's dive even further. Entering play on Monday, FanGraphs has the Cubs at a 7.5% chance of reaching the postseason--3.8% chance of winning the division and 3.6% chance of clinching a wild-card spot. No, the Cubs have not mathematically been eliminated yet but hey, neither have the Chicago White Sox yet.

But, let's have a real conversation about the importance of being a serious fans.

Serious fans realize that there is no magical run that is going to happen where the Cubs make the postseason in 2024. All that false hope is doing is giving Hoyer ammunition to lie to us once again. When the Cubs season was falling off the rails during the months of May and June, Hoyer was so quick to fallback on the turnaround that the 2023 had with their run during the second-half of the season. What Hoyer casually leaves out when talking about the 2023 team is that they missed the postseason. Serious fans are aware of that omission from Hoyer.

While there are plenty of reasons that the final two months of the season are important, the idea of it being due to a postseason run has Hoyer prepared to puff out his chest even more when talking about his failures.