The Cubs’ season ended Wednesday in San Diego, a two-game Wild Card Series sweep that came too quickly for a team with this much talent. The disappointment is real. So is the season that came before it, and it is worth looking at both, because most of what made the 2026 Cubs good is still in place for 2027.

A record-setting offense

Chicago finished 89-73 and scored 850 runs, the most in the major leagues. That is the second-highest total for any Cubs team since 1930, behind only the 855 scored in 2008. The lineup also drew a franchise-record 674 walks, breaking the mark set by the 2016 champions, and hit 220 home runs, third in baseball.

The walks deserve a closer look. A walk does not show up in batting average, but it puts a runner on base without making an out, and outs are the one resource an offense cannot get back. A lineup that refuses to chase pitches outside the zone wears down starting pitchers and reaches the bullpen early, which is a big part of how this team kept scoring.

Run differential tells the real story

The Cubs allowed 703 runs, giving them a run differential of plus-147. Run differential, runs scored minus runs allowed, is one of the best predictors of how good a team actually is, because it is less affected by luck in close games than the win-loss record is. A margin near plus-150 belongs to a genuine contender, and it came with what MLB.com described as the best defense in the sport, with Pete Crow-Armstrong covering center field.

It came despite a long list of pitching injuries that kept the bullpen in near-constant rotation through the summer. Holding a playoff place through that churn says a lot about the depth the front office assembled.

Why October was so short

Two things went against the Cubs at the end. In the final week of the season they slipped out of the top National League Wild Card spot, which handed home field to San Diego. And in the series itself, the Padres’ pitching held Chicago to a single run across two games, with Nico Hoerner collecting half of the team’s eight hits. Short series reward whichever team’s pitching is hottest, and this week that was San Diego.

The front office invested heavily over the winter and again at the trade deadline, adding veterans including Alex Bregman and Kevin Gausman, and Chicago reached the postseason for a second straight year. Building on that foundation, rather than replacing it, is the task ahead.

What’s next

The offseason begins now, with decisions on the pitching staff likely to lead the agenda. The centerpiece is already locked in: Crow-Armstrong, who produced one of the finest seasons in franchise history, signed a six-year, $115 million extension before this season and is 24 years old. Opening Day 2027 is next spring.