The Rundown: Cubs Have Plenty of Offseason Work Ahead, 2027 Qualifying Offer Set, White Sox Hoping to Clinch at Home

The Brewers, Dodgers, and Rays punched their tickets to the league championship series, with Tampa Bay waiting to see if they’ll play the White Sox or Guardians for the right to represent the American League in this year’s World Series. With that in mind, let’s look at the strengths of each remaining team to see where the Cubs compare — or fall short, as it were — and what they’ll need to do this winter.

1. Brewers – Milwaukee has a great rotation, led by Jacob Misiorowski, Kyle Harrison, and Logan Henderson. Their bullpen is a lot better than you might think, too. Brewers’ starters finished the season with a 3.65 ERA and their relievers were a tad better (3.40). Their high-contact offense finished second in the majors with 832 runs, and led MLB in BA (.258), walk rate (10.6%), and OBP (.341). They rarely swing at pitches outside the zone, which is why they manhandled the Cubs this year.
2. Dodgers – Like Milwaukee, Los Angeles boasts one of the best rotations in baseball, even without Shohei Ohtani. Tyler Glasnow would be an ace on almost any other team, but he’s topped in the pecking order by Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tarik Skubal, with Justin Wrobleski right there, too. L.A.’s offensive ceiling is equally massive, with Ohtani leading the pack. Andy Pages, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and Max Muncy are big-time threats, and nobody is as clutch in October as Enrique Hernandez. The Dodgers have made the playoffs for 14 straight seasons, so they’re unmatched when it comes to handling high-stakes pressure.
3. Rays – The Rays are another team with elite pitching. The rotation, anchored by Cy Young candidates Drew Rasmussen and Nick Martinez, plus Freddy Peralta and Griffin Jax, led the majors with a 3.03 ERA. That’s insane in this offensive era of baseball. Like Milwaukee, Tampa Bay aggressively prioritizes high contact and low strikeout rates over raw power. They tied the Brewers with a .258 team batting average. The Rays also ranked second overall in stolen bases and featured one of the lowest collective whiff rates in baseball.
4. Guardians – Cleveland’s rotation is very thin beyond No. 1 starter Gavin Williams. The Guardians will beat you with plate discipline and speed, and high-leverage bullpen arms Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis, and Erik Sabrowski. The team is young and enjoyed significant contributions from rookies Chase DeLauter, Travis Bazzana, Angel Genao, and Parker Messick. Cleveland’s offense is also carried by contact over power.
5. White Sox – The South Siders lack the pitching to compete with the other remaining teams. Their team ERA of 4.64 was fourth-worst in baseball, and a 1.34 WHIP means plenty of congestion on the basepaths. Chicago’s starters threw the fewest innings in baseball, forcing heavy reliance on multi-inning bridges from their bullpen. The White Sox beat you with run production, period. Miguel Vargas, Munetaka Murakami, and Colson Montgomery all hit 30 or more home runs, but their combined batting average is .219 with 569 strikeouts.

As you can see, the Cubs were built a lot more like the White Sox than any of the other contenders, though elite defense was the difference-maker on the North Side this season. The Cubs are expected to look much different in 2027, and you can bet your ass that Jed Hoyer will target high-contact outfielders to potentially replace Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki. Hoyer also has to completely rebuild his rotation and bullpen, and in that respect, the Cubs still seem to be light years behind the Brewers, Dodgers, and Rays. The front office is going to have an extremely busy offseason with more than $100 million coming off the books.

Cubs News & Notes

• The qualifying offer has increased roughly 5% over last year, and those offers will go out ahead of any potential work stoppage. This year’s figure is $23.15 million per Joel Sherman of the NY Post. Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki will be tendered in all likelihood. Happ should accept and Suzuki should not, at least in my opinion.
• Hoyer will most likely buy out 36-year-old lefty Matthew Boyd for $2 million as his expiring deal was for two years and $29 million plus a $15 million mutual option for ’27. The Cubs and Boyd could also agree on a new two-year contract instead. That would benefit both parties given the unknown future state of the game.
• The Cubs also have 12 arbitration-eligible players to consider. Braxton Garrett, Ethan Roberts, Gabriel Arias, and Tyler Austin are the likely non-tenders.
• Hoyer doesn’t have a lot of are tradeable assets, but Matt Shaw is one. Though moving him weakens the bench, Shaw could depart if the Cubs have an opportunity to pursue someone like Reid Detmers.
• Chicago will need to sign at least one free agent starter, and probably two or three, and Clay Holmes has a $12 million option that probably won’t be exercised. The two sides could agree on a multi-year deal before the righty hits free agency. I have no inside information, but I don’t think Holmes has much desire to work with Chicago’s pitching infrastructure. I’m solely basing that on his work last offseason with Ben Brown and Holmes’ regression after joining the team.
• Hoyer will certainly kick the tires on Holmes, and probably Kevin Gausman, too. Gausman, however, seems likely to return to the Blue Jays this winter. Other pitchers that Chicago’s front office will pursue in free agency include Peralta, Martinez, Michael King, Casey Mize, and Robbie Ray.
• What will the Cubs do with Edward Cabrera? Armed with an upper-90s fastball, he is exactly what the team needs. His curveball is nearly unhittable when he’s on. He took a big step back this summer, going from dominant to pedestrian, especially with the curve. It’s worth wondering why Cabrera, Holmes, and Gausman all regressed after coming to the Cubs. What’s the cause, especially when you consider all the pitching injuries this season?
• Hoyer will definitely address the team’s injury problem. The roster churn this season could best be described as turbulent. The Cubs had 31 injury list placements this season, accounting for well over 2,000 lost days, fifth-most in baseball.

A Stat That Matters

The Cubs were 13-7 in walk-off affairs, but also blew leads in 34 of the 73 games they lost.

Ball Four

A 14-year postseason run will generally attenuate any celebration that is not a World Series clincher.

Dodgers celebrate beating the Braves like it’s a Tuesday in July pic.twitter.com/MmGQm3Fn17

— Peter Appel (@PeterAppel23) October 8, 2026

Playoff News & Notes

The Brewers are hoping to avenge the Dodgers after getting swept in last year’s NLCS. Expect a lot of underdog quotes from Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy.

Game 1 of that series will be played Sunday night and is expected to be a “duel for the ages” with Misiorowski facing Skubal.

Misiorowski was warming up last night to potentially enter as a reliever against the Padres. His bullpen catcher said it seemed like he was throwing 110 mph.

The bottom of the order was responsible for propelling the Dodgers over the Braves and into the NLCS.

Atlanta struggled offensively, and its front office has some very tough questions to answer before next season.

The Yankees won 25 championships last century. The Rays extended New York’s ongoing drought to 17 seasons.

Aaron Judge is demanding changes after New York was eliminated by Tampa Bay. He said he does want Aaron Boone to return, however.

White Sox fans are still hoping to witness a home clincher. That hasn’t happened since 1906.

How About That!

MLB’s latest proposal suggests trimming the regular season to 154 games, which was standard until 1962. That would allow the league to increase the divisional playoff round to seven games.

The league is also proposing a cushier playoff path that is hand-picked by the higher-seeded teams. That will make for some great clubhouse speeches, especially from Murphy.

While Major League Baseball publicly celebrates its postseason this month, the league’s central office is internally laying out exactly what the looming lockout will look like, including a plan to once again scrub player images from the league website and largely ban contact between club officials and players.

Business matters aside, here is the most recently updated list of 2026-27 free agents.

Donald Trump said he is awarding Roger Clemens the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Extra Innings

Anthony Rizzo says there is nothing wrong with being a Cubs fan who supports the White Sox. In fact, Rizzo believes it’s a near-obligation.

.@ARizzo44 just might make an appearance to the White Sox-Guardians game on Wednesday 👀😂 pic.twitter.com/dGHkIhs08L

— Ross and Rizzo Unfiltered (@RossAndRizzo) October 6, 2026

Apropos of Nothing

The Brewers optimize both spin rate and velocity increases through their advanced pitching lab, rather than targeting just one in isolation. The Cubs optimize spin efficiency. Because the latter relies more on grip and seam orientation, I can’t help but wonder if that makes Chicago’s pitchers more prone to injury. One might think that the biomechanical adjustments required by extreme pitch design — specifically targeting grip alterations to optimize shape — place unique and more unnatural stress on the arm.

I’m no pitching expert, but I can tell you which of the two theories above provides better results. The proof is in the standings.

Son of Apropos

One blogger is here to help if you need a handy reference of the Cubs’ history of regular-season collapses.

They Said It

• “We struggled with Edward [Cabrera]. Edward has had a lot of success in the big leagues. He’s a really good big-league pitcher. We have to think about what things contributed to him struggling and look at ourselves.” – Hoyer

Thursday Walk-Up Song

A little Steve Winwood to brighten your mood.