Chicago Cubs ‘Biggest Weakness’ Used To Be Their Biggest Strength

The Chicago Cubs should look to address this problem in the offseason.

Aug 30, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Chicago Cubs right fielder Cody Bellinger (24) hits a two-run home run during the second inning against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. / daniel kucin jr.-usa today sports

The Chicago Cubs dropped a tough game on Monday night to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-3. Still, despite the early struggles, with just under a month left in the regular season, they still have a chance to make the postseason.

3.5 games out in the National League Wild Card, the Cubs are right in the mix. It'll take another month of excellent play after doing so in August.

However, as a whole, this year hasn't been a good one for Chicago. While the pitching could've been better, mostly in the bullpen, their offense has been the reason for their struggles.

The Cubs rank 19th in home runs, 14th in doubles, 19th in batting average, and 18th in OPS. Those are all average to below-average marks, and with how the game has changed, scoring runs via the long ball is more important than ever.

Chicago, simply put, has a lack of power issue they'll need to address during the offseason.

Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report explained the issue, highlighting how much power their former teams used to have.

"The Cubs kept the home runs coming in bunches for the better part of the 2010s, ranking within the top five of the NL in long balls six times between 2013 and 2019. And between Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber and Javier Báez, much of that power was homegrown. This already feels like a long time ago, as they are now on track to rank in the bottom half of the NL in homers for the fourth time in five seasons. They haven't had a hitter reach 30 homers in this span, whereas that happened nine times between 2014 and 2019."

As those Cubs teams saw, hitting home runs is the easiest way to find success as an offensive unit.

While being a home run or bust team has its problems, it's better to be that type of team rather than one that doesn't hit any.

Over the past 30 days, Chicago has hit the fourth most home runs, and that just so happens to be when they're playing the best baseball they have all season. They also rank third in slugging percentage and third in runs scored over that span.

If the offense had swung the bats the way they have over the past month throughout the campaign, things would be much different. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, and the front office shouldn't think this August changed that.

One month of above-average power numbers doesn't excuse the first five months of a below-average showing, so it's something to focus on this winter.