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Ranking the 5 most painful games blown late by the 2024 Cubs
The Chicago Cubs bullpen gave away far too many games this
One of the main themes of the 2024 Cubs was blown games. Every team will blow games late in a season, but it happened far too many times for a squad that was aiming to play beyond 162. Here is a top five list of the most painful games the team coughed up this year and let me say, it was not easy to pick a top five and it's certainly up for debate.
5.) Saturday, April 20: Miami Marlins 3 - Chicago Cubs 2
A painful loss to the Marlins at Wrigley Field? Never seen that before, right?...It was a cold Saturday afternoon and the Cubs had a doubleheader against The Fish. The lowly Marlins were a team the Cubs should have handled, but sadly the Cubs would see this one slip away. Carrying a 2-1 lead into the top of the ninth, Adbert Alzolay came on to try to lock it down. After getting the first out, he surrendered a hit then a go-ahead two run homer to Bryan De La Cruz. Fans booed as De La Cruz pumped his fist around the bases. It was another blown save for a struggling Alzolay.
To make things more frustrating, the Cubs led off the bottom of the ninth with back-to-back singles by Mike Tauchman and Nick Madrigal. After Miguel Amaya laid down a successful sac-bunt, they had two chances to tie or win the game but Alexander Canario struck out and Nico Hoerner grounded out.
4.) Monday, June 17: San Francisco Giants 7 - Chicago Cubs 6
How could a game with an epic rally end in such a bitter defeat? In a game at home against the Giants, the Cubs experienced just that. Trailing 3-2 in the seventh inning, Chicago took a 6-3 lead on a game-tying RBI double by Seiya Suzuki and a go-ahead three-run homer by Ian Happ. Wrigley was rocking. The Giants got a solo home run from Patrick Bailey in the top of the eighth, but the Cubs still held on to a 6-4 lead heading into the top of the ninth.
Hector Neris came on to try to lock it down, quickly retiring the first batter on a groundout to Hoerner. Then, a catcher's interference call on Miguel Amaya let former Cub Jorge Soler reach, followed by a walk to Mike Yastrzemski—two on, one out for Thairo Estrada. The first pitch was whacked into the left field bleachers to give the Giants the lead back leaving the 36,048 fans at Wrigley Field in stunned silence. The Cubs did not put up much of a fight in the bottom of the ninth, going down in order. Cubs Nation did not seem to curse out the team but sat there in utter speechlessness.
3.) Monday, September 2: Pittsburgh Pirates 5 - Chicago Cubs 3
This could be considered the game that extinguished any remaining hope the Cubs had to get into the postseason. After returning home from the insane 8-1 road trip in which the offense scored 89 runs, Chicago was within 3 1/2 of the final wild-card spot in the NL. Wrigley Field was buzzing as the team still had some life. It all seemed good when the Cubs had a 3-0 lead by the top of the eighth, needing just six more outs to secure another victory.
Jorge Lopez, who had been very good since coming to Chicago but was a bit banged up, got the eighth inning. He surrendered back-to-back singles before giving up a game-tying three-run homer to Bryan Reynolds. In the blink of an eye, the lead was gone. After finally getting an out, longtime Cubs killer Andrew McCutchen gave the North Siders another groin kick with a go-ahead solo shot to left. The lead was gone, but the Cubs offense was hot and the Pirates bullpen was horrific. Cody Bellinger and Patrick Wisdom came close to bringing Wrigley back to life with some deep fly balls, but neither quite got over the fence. The Pirates added a run in the top of the ninth and the Cubs went down quietly in the bottom of the inning to close it out.
No matter how a Cubs fan felt about their postseason chances, this game was a massive blow to any sort of hope. There are arguably worse blown games than this one, but the weight it carried got it on the list.
2.) Saturday, August 3: St. Louis Cardinals 5 - Chicago Cubs 4
In a series in which the Cubs took three out of four from their biggest rivals at home, the one loss was very painful. Normally taking three of four is a big accomplishment, but the Cubs were in a position where they kind of had to sweep all four considering their position in the standings.
The Cubs took an early 4-1 lead by the end of the second inning. Jameson Taillon pitched six strong innings and things were looking good. With the score remaining 4-1 in the eighth, Porter Hodge came in and gave up a walk and hit a batter to put two on, one out. Paul Goldschmidt hit a bullet to center, but it landed in Pete Crow-Armstrong's glove. Hodge got Brendan Donovan to hit a slow grounder to third, but Isaac Paredes made an ill-advised throw and it went wild, allowing a run to score.
With Chicago clinging to a 4-3 lead, Nolan Arenado stepped up. The Cardinals third baseman popped up a ball to shallow center on a 1-1 pitch. Cubs fans sighed in relief as Hoerner drifted under it - but at the last second, Crow-Armstrong called him off, sliding to try and make the catch. The ball dropped in and St. Louis tied the ballgame on what should have ended the inning.
A rookie moment that came at an awful time. The Cubs got out of the inning tied, but they could not re-take the lead in the bottom of the eighth and Neris came in and gave up a leadoff triple to Tommy Pham and sac fly to Lars Nootbar in the top of the ninth. The Cubs went down quietly in the bottom of the ninth.
(Dis)honorable mentions:
Before getting to number one, there are PLENTY of others that did not quite make the list...but probably could have.
- Opening Night: Rangers 4 - Cubs 3
- Tuesday, April 16: Diamondbacks 12 - Cubs 11
- Thursday, May 2: Mets 7 - Cubs 6
- Saturday, May 25: Cardinals 7 - Cubs 6
- Tuesday, June 11: Rays 5 - Cubs 2
- Monday, June 24: Giants 5 - Cubs 4
- Saturday, September 14: Rockies 5 - Cubs 4
And now, *drum roll* for the number one worst blown game of the year:
1.) Monday, April 8: San Diego Padres 9 - Chicago Cubs 8
This was not only the worst blown game of the year, it was one of the worst regular season losses in Cubs history. That Monday night at Petco Park stuck with fans all season and was in a way a precursor of what was to come in 2024.
Cubs fans were having fun when their team jumped out to an early 8-0 lead, tagging old friend Yu Darvish pretty good. The Cubs bats were spraying hits all over the ballpark and Javier Assad was in cruise control through five. Heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, the Cubs had a 99% chance to win the game. Then, things fell apart...quickly.
Assad gave up a walk and a homer to Jake Cronenworth, ending his night. 8-2, no biggie right? Well, in came Jose Cuas (remember him?) and what would follow was three straight hits, an RBI groundout, and another hit. With the score now 8-5, Counsell pulled Cuas for Luke Little. With two outs, Xander Bogaerts hit a two-run homer to make it 8-7. Uh...well, they still have the lead. Little and Neris got through the seventh unscathed, then came the fateful bottom of the eighth. Neris, still pitching, walked the leadoff man and got a flyout. Counsell went to Alzolay for a five-out save. He got Bogaerts to fan, setting up one on and two outs for Fernando Tatis Jr.
Wham. Tatis stood and watched the ball sail over the left field wall to give the Padres a 9-8 lead. The Cubs had one shot to tie or re-take the lead in the top of the ninth but went down in order. Unbelievable. The crazy thing is since it was a West Coast game, many fans had gone to bed when it was 8-0, only to wake up and see what had happened.
Jed, figure the bullpen out for 2025. We can't keep doing this.
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