The stunning reality of a season ending takes time to sink in.
A quiet visitors clubhouse Saturday night at American Family Field saw lots of hugs, handshakes and players trying to explain what this team meant to them. In the minutes after the Cubs lost the decisive Game 5 of the National League Division Series to the Milwaukee Brewers, manager Craig Counsell addressed the players in the clubhouse.
His message resonated within the room: They represented the Cubs uniform with pride.
“There’s a lot of people in this room that are really proud to be Cubs and lot of people who love Chicago and want to bring more winning baseball to Chicago,” pitcher Jameson Taillon said. “We were (filled) with pride in the sense that this group prepared more than I’ve ever seen a group of guys prepare in the weight room, watching video, early work, all that. So just a lot to be proud of.”
Left-hander Shota Imanaga, who was not used in Game 5 despite being on normal rest, took to heart Counsell’s message to feel the pain of that loss and carry it into the offseason.
“I don’t want to forget that feeling, and that’s going to help me build to become a better player,” Imanaga said through interpreter Edwin Stanberry.
Kyle Tucker’s future in Chicago
Tucker’s penultimate at-bat this season might haunt Cubs fans in the offseason. He foul-tipped a 98.8 mph fastball that Brewers reliever Aaron Ashby threw down the middle of the plate with a 3-1 count, two on and nobody out in the sixth inning Saturday as the Cubs trailed by one run.
Yes, it was a high-stakes lefty-lefty matchup. Regardless, the Cubs paid a steep price in the offseason to acquire Tucker to do damage in big moments. Counsell discussed throughout the postseason that whichever team best capitalized on mistakes likely would prove to be the difference.
Tucker got his mistake pitch and fouled it off. On the next pitch, he struck out on a nasty, perfectly located fastball on the low outside corner in a doomed inning that torpedoed the Cubs.
Now Tucker heads to free agency, in which his time in Chicago might come to an end after one season.
Asked postgame Saturday if he wishes to return to the Cubs, Tucker said, “We’ll see what happens.”
“I don’t know what the future’s going to hold,” he said. “But if not, it was an honor playing with all these guys and I wish everyone the best of luck, whether it’s playing next year or not for them. It’s a really fun group to be a part of.
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“I don’t really know right now. I was more so worried about the game tonight. It’s get through this today and worry about that a little later.”
In the Cubs’ eight playoff games, Tucker went 7-for-27 (.259) with one home run, one RBI, five walks and five strikeouts.
“This team’s really good,” Tucker said. “All the guys that did come up from the minor leagues played a big role in our success throughout the year, whether they came up at the beginning, through the end or what. This team is really talented, a great group of guys. I can definitely see this team having a lot of success in the future.”
Tucker wasn’t 100% for much of the last six weeks after landing on the injured list in early September because of a left calf strain. He missed nearly three weeks before returning for the final regular-season series.
Once the playoffs arrived, Tucker was used solely as the designated hitter while his calf continued to heal. Though he progressed to the point during the NLDS that the Cubs could have used him in right field, Counsell preferred sticking with Seiya Suzuki in right.
“I was just doing my best, doing what I can to help this team,” Tucker said of the last few weeks. “Just keep it moving forward. I’m always out there trying to do my best. Try to go out there and put up good at-bats one after another.”
Despite the injuries that at times appeared to affect Tucker’s performance — including playing through a jammed finger and a later-revealed hairline fracture in his right hand — teammates continued to praise his impact Saturday.
“The depth that he provides in our lineup is so obvious, it’s almost stating the obvious,” shortstop Dansby Swanson said. “His ability to draw walks, his ability to hit the ball in the gap, his ability to hit the ball over the fence. Even the little things, being able to grind at-bats, can wear down pitchers.
“Hits lefties or righties. Someone you can count on every single day to show up and have professional at-bats and do things that help the team win ballgames. Anytime you can have a player like that on your team, you obviously want that.”
Elimination ends Cade Horton’s return
Horton’s sole focus the last two weeks was to heal quickly enough from his rib fracture to get back and help the Cubs at some point this postseason.
The Cubs ruled out Horton for the wild-card series and NLDS but were eyeing the 24-year-old rookie getting cleared to pitch in the NL Championship Series. Horton, a game-changer in the rotation this year, passed the big, necessary hurdle for inclusion on the would-be NLCS roster: He felt great Saturday after throwing 36 pitches in his up-down bullpen session Friday.
He expected to be ready to face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS had the Cubs advanced.
“I was really planning to pitch in LA,” Horton said after Saturday’s loss. “Sometimes it’s just not the case. It sucks. It’s not the way we wanted it or envisioned it. It’s the way baseball goes. It’s a tough game.”
Horton anticipates having a normal offseason. He plans to take a couple of weeks off to ensure his rib has healed and get right back at it. Horton, who had a 1.03 ERA in his 12 second-half starts (61 1/3 innings), is taking plenty of confidence into the offseason and 2026.
“I can do what I did in the second half, go out there and win games for my team,” Horton said. “And that’s really my main focus is just going out there and helping the Cubs win.”
Drew Pomeranz doesn’t sound ready to walk away
Pomeranz hadn’t pitched in the majors since 2021 when his upward mobility clause led to an April trade from the Seattle Mariners, who had him in Triple A, to the Cubs.
Six months later, he got the Game 5 start as an opener and had a streak of 17 consecutive batters retired to begin the postseason until William Contreras took him deep. For as painfully as Saturday’s game ended, Pomeranz couldn’t contain the joy in his voice describing his journey.
“I really just wanted to pitch one more time,” he said. “One time became two times and three times and I just kept pushing through and I just surprised myself every day. Actually, I felt great. … I feel like I pitched a lot.
“This is why I wanted to keep pushing. I could have just as easily not gotten an opportunity, but they gave me a really good opportunity here in a really good city on a really good team, and it was just a special year for me.”
As for whether his performance this year — a 2.17 ERA in 57 regular-season games — has him hungry for another season, Pomeranz, who turns 37 in November, said he will see what happens but “if you’d asked me that last year and I’d been like, ah, I’ll play for a little bit, but I felt great this year. … I surprised myself.”
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Said Counsell: “He’s not a young man in terms of the baseball world. He spent a long time in the minor leagues continuing to try to, as he says, just get one more chance, and it turns out that that one more chance, he’s earned this and earned a big role on this team.
“He could have gone home and he would have had a great career and nobody would have thought twice of it. Nobody would have thought he gave up at all. But he kept doing it because he’s doing what he loves to do.”
Playoff risers emerge for Cubs
The Cubs built a deep lineup that, for the first half of the season, produced the best offense in baseball.
In the NLDS, the group too often was lacking consistency. The Cubs went 4-for-27 (.148) with runners in scoring position, left 34 on base and struck out 46 times compared with 18 walks against the Brewers. Michael Busch ended the postseason with two leadoff home runs, tying a postseason record with four other players.
“Obviously the good, the bad, reflecting on it all and try to learn from everything that you can,” Busch said. “I’m just happy to take this postseason experience and use it for my benefit.”
A trio of Cubs rose to the moment in their first major-league postseason. Busch, Suzuki and Nico Hoerner became constants for the team’s offensive production in its two playoff series.
Suzuki finished with six extra-base hits (three doubles and three home runs), five RBIs and an .863 OPS. Busch and Hoerner were the only Cubs to reach base multiple times in Saturday’s loss. Busch put up a .296/.387/.741 slash line and four home runs in the postseason, while Hoerner tallied a hit in all eight games, including four multihit performances, for a .419 average and .972 OPS.
“I do think being a Cub, we have an advantage,” Taillon said. “We play in front of huge crowds every single day, and every game feels so important. But the playoffs are obviously a different level. The quality of pitching you’re seeing is incredible. So for those offensive guys to put up the at-bats they did and the results they did against those arms, it’s super impressive.
“Experience in the playoffs is great, but also you never get experience unless you start somewhere. And so for those guys it’s fun to watch them build off of that going forward.”
The Tribune’s LaMond Pope and Paul Sullivan contributed.