The 2023 Chicago Cubs had a wild ride of a season. From a hot start to a May plummet and back on top of the division in August and lastly a collapse in late September. Lots of new faces from the beginning of the season fans became quite fond of, namely Cody Bellinger and Dansby Swanson. Although the Cubs may have come up short of the main goal, it was certainly a season to remember.
Diving into the best moment from this season, the one that comes to mind is Christopher Morel’s walk-off homer against the White Sox on Aug. 16. Morel came to the plate with the Cubs down 3-1 and two runners on. The 24-year-old crushed a fastball over the right-center field fence for the Cub’s first walk-off home run since 2021. Morel proceeded to sprint around the bases throwing his helmet and his teammates mobbed him at home plate celebrating the crazy ending.
Some of the best stats for the 2023 Cubs would be Cody Bellinger batting .301 on the season and winning July NL Player of the Month batting .400 with 8 home runs in the month. Bellinger was a big offseason pickup for the Cubs even when it seemed like he was on a downward spiral in his career. The hitting staff for the Cubs seemed to have fixed his swing and approach at the plate which caused an upgrade from a .265 on-base percentage to a .356. Bellinger’s comeback season is a huge reason why the Cubs were in the playoff race in late September, to begin with.
Another huge stat for the Cubs is starting pitcher Justin Steele finished the season with a 3.06 ERA, good enough for a top-six finish in the NL-ERA standings. Steele also finished with a record of 16-5 which got him third in the NL standings for wins. Steele was dominant early starting 6-0 and continued his dominance basically to the end of the season. He had the biggest impact on the Cubs pitching staff throughout 2023 and especially carried the group with Marcus Stroman’s injury in September.
The outlier in this season for the Cubs would be the month of September, although not the worst monthly record they would have, it stung the most. They won just two series, swept the Giants and the Rockies respectively, and split two series. The final record on the month would be 12-16, after coming off their best month of the year in August. With key injuries to Marcus Stroman, closer Adbert Alzolay, and utility man Jeimer Candelario, that would hurt them down the stretch. It’s tough to win under those circumstances and that showed quickly.
The 2023 Chicago Cubs were an interesting team that fans believed would make the playoffs but the ball didn’t bounce their way this year, but there’s always next year.
