Top MLB jersey sales tell a damning story about the 'large market' Chicago Cubs

Chicago Cubs jersey sales have plummeted nationally since 2021, when the faces of the franchise - Javier Baez, Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant - were all traded at the deadline, setting the team on a rebuilding course.

Despite beginning the 2024 season with expectations of turning the corner out of that rebuild and reaching the playoffs for the first time in a full 162-game season since 2018, the Cubs instead matched their 83-79 record from a year ago and 'wait till next year' is in full effect.

Chicago has a solid, if unspectacular, core group, anchored by the likes of Seiya Suzuki, Ian Happ, Shota Imanaga and Justin Steele. The problem, though, is the lack of a true superstar - someone who can put a team on his back - with household name recognition. The end-of-season MLB jersey sales rankings tell that story in a painfully clear way.

In his first season with the Dodgers and set to appear in the postseason for the first time, it's no surprise Shohei Ohtani leads this list. But seeing Bryce Harper, who was loosely connected to the Cubs in free agency before he signed with the Phillies prior to the 2019 season, come in at #2 will surely get folks wondering 'what might have been'.

Another name in the top 10, Juan Soto, falls in the same bucket Harper did six years ago: a young, potential future Hall of Famer who would transform not only the Cubs on the field but completely alter the perception of the franchise across the league. He could command the largest free agent guarantee in MLB history this winter, with projections already exceeding $700 million.

Cubs show no interest in handing out superstar-level contracts

The chances the Cubs are the team that gives him that deal are next to nil. Tom Ricketts has never shown the appetite to swim in that end of the pool and the on-field results reflect as much: a middle-of-the-road team that does just enough to remain relevant into September, bu is far from a legitimate contender.

Given the Braves punching their October ticket on Monday in a doubleheader against the Mets, the first nine names on this year's list play for a postseason-bound team. The last time a Cubs player cracked the top 10? 2021, when Javier Baez appeared, albeit in a combination of sales from his time in Chicago and with the Mets.

The year prior, Baez checked in inside the top 10 as well, with Anthony Rizzo cracking the top 20. The story remains the same, though. Post-2016, the Cubs had more than a few household names. Since 2022, though, that's hardly been the case - and the only one capable of remedying this seems to have no desire to.