Tom Ricketts pens letters to Cubs fans, promising 'championship-caliber' baseball

Continuing what's become an annual tradition, Chicago Cubs owner Tom Ricketts sent out his end-of-season letter to fans on Friday morning, saying the time has come to, 'get to work to bring championship-caliber baseball back to Wrigley Field.'

As we're all well too aware, the Cubs finished the 2024 season with the same record as the year prior, 83-79, despite having a new (and the game's highest-paid) manager in Craig Counsell. There were some bright spots, as Ricketts points out in his letter, including the contributions of rookies Pete Crow-Armstrong, Shota Imanaga, Michael Busch and Porter Hodge.

For the second time in as many years, the Cubs' improved farm system got its own section - and that's no surprise. It's no secret that Ricketts and his president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer believe that a steady prospect pipeline is the key to building a sustainable winner. If it doesn't help the Cubs reach the postseason in 2025, though, repeating that same message in next fall's letter will fall on deaf ears.

The work is underway to close the gap to make the Cubs a perennial playoff team. Our baseball operations staff is redoubling its efforts to build a team that consistently plays in the postseason and delivers the promise of sustained success to Cubs fans.

Fans will need to see actions taken by Hoyer and ownership to back these statements up. They're tired of improvements around the margins and expecting players to outperform expectations. Building a contender means raising the collective floor of the roster - and adding impact free agents or swinging major trades is a good way to go about doing so.

All told, there's nothing in the letter that's surprising. Ricketts is committed to the fans, the past, present and future of the organization and the Cubs' charitable efforts off the field. Now, it's time to see if this group can snap a postseason winless streak that dates back to 2017. Because, at the end of the day, that's all that matters.