"The Drama Club", the story of the 2024 Chicago Cubs

If a cardiologist put heart monitors on a group of Cubs fans, the collective heart rate readings would spike come the late innings of pretty much any given game. The 2024 Cubs have been involved in very few easy contests. Some games they have barely hung onto, and others saw wins slip through their fingers. Bullpen meltdowns, fake rallies and warning track flyouts have taken a toll on Cubs fans. It has become expected that things will get messy and aggravating late in games at this point. It's never easy.

It was nice to see the Cubs win a three-game series for the first time since Mother's Day on Wednesday, but what should have been an easy game ended up being another nail-biter. The game went from the Cubs being up 6-1 in the eighth inning to just getting by 6-5 with the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position. The opener and finale of the series against the Giants were microcosms of the season, a brutal bullpen loss and a win hanging on by a thread. The Cubs 5-2 win on Tuesday was only the second 3-run victory for the team since May 28th.

Life hasn't been easy for the Chicago Cubs this season.

The Cubs have 16 blown saves as a team and have only won a game by 3+ runs three times since mid-May. They have not won a game by 5+ runs since May 15 when they beat the Braves 7-1, over a month ago. There have been countless 1-2-run games that had little to no margin for error. Even when the bullpen was not pitching terribly, just one or two mistakes to hitters were enough to lose the handful of games they did not score many runs.

To put it in perspective, the Cubs have played in 75 games and 31 of them have been one-run games. That makes for a lot of drama, both good and bad.

Right now the Cubs are looking for a consistent offense and going through a closer crisis. The 1.65 WHIP and 6.8 BB/9 Hector Neris has seen things blow up on him over the past few weeks. Not to mention the Neris experiment came after Adbert Alzolay (who is now hurt) blew five of nine save opportunities to start the year. This all comes with a bullpen that has been hurt and inconsistent. Even guys like Mark Leiter Jr and Hayden Wesneski have struggled lately.

It feels like the drama is here to stay. Buckle up because there is more to come.