The 2024 season was supposed to be the "turning of the page" for the North Siders. After a winter of headlines dominated by the surprise hiring of Craig Counsell, the chicago cubs roster 2024 became a fascinating experiment in high-floor, high-ceiling roster construction. People saw the Shota Imanaga signing and the Cody Bellinger return and assumed it was a finished product. It wasn't.
Baseball is long. 162 games is a lot of time for a roster to break, heal, and transform.
Honestly, the team you saw on Opening Day in Arlington was a different species compared to the group that finished the year. You’ve got the core names everyone knows, like Dansby Swanson and Ian Happ, but the real story of the 2024 squad was the guys who came out of nowhere to hold the clubhouse together when the stars went cold. It’s kinda wild how much weight a rookie first baseman and a Japanese lefty "unknown" ended up carrying.
The Core that Defined the Chicago Cubs Roster 2024
When people look back at this specific year, they usually start with the starting rotation. It was the backbone.
Shota Imanaga wasn't just a "solid addition." He was a revelation. People were worried about how his flyball tendencies would play at a windy Wrigley Field, but he turned into "The Throwing Philosopher" and dominated the first half of the season. His presence allowed the Cubs to survive a scary early-season injury to Justin Steele, who went down on Opening Day with a hamstring issue.
Steele eventually came back and looked like his Cy Young-caliber self, but for a while, the chicago cubs roster 2024 felt like it was hanging by a thread.
The Everyday Lineup
The offense was... streaky. That’s the polite way to put it. You had Ian Happ in left field, basically a metronome of consistency. He walked, he hit double-digit homers, he played Gold Glove defense. Then you had Cody Bellinger, who stayed on the roster after a long free-agency saga, playing both center field and first base.
- Dansby Swanson (SS): The defensive anchor. Even when his bat went through those brutal cold stretches, he was still the best glove on the field.
- Nico Hoerner (2B): He’s the engine. High contact, great speed.
- Seiya Suzuki (RF/DH): When he was healthy and locked in, he was the best hitter on the team. Period.
- Michael Busch (1B): Probably the biggest win of the year. Acquired from the Dodgers, he finally got a chance to play every day and became a legitimate power threat at first.
The Catcher Conundrum
The catching situation was a rollercoaster. Yan Gomes, a veteran leader everyone loved, struggled mightily at the plate early on. It was tough to watch. Eventually, Miguel Amaya had to step up. He had a rough start too, but he worked his way into being the primary guy, showing some real pop in the second half.
Why the Bullpen Looked So Different by August
The early-season bullpen was a disaster. There’s no other way to say it. Adbert Alzolay, who was so good the year before, struggled with his command and eventually ended up on the shelf. Héctor Neris—the "Heart Attack" himself—kept games interesting, but not always in a good way.
Basically, the front office had to pivot.
They traded for Nate Pearson. They called up Porter Hodge. Hodge was a massive surprise, coming out of the minors with a high-90s heater and a wipeout slider. By the end of the year, the chicago cubs roster 2024 bullpen actually looked like a strength, which felt impossible back in May. Tyson Miller was another guy who just came in and threw strikes when nobody else could.
The Trade Deadline Shift
One of the biggest moves of the summer was the Christopher Morel trade. Morel was a fan favorite with a massive smile and even bigger power, but he didn't have a defensive home. The Cubs sent him to Tampa Bay for Isaac Paredes.
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Paredes changed the dynamic. He isn't as flashy as Morel, but he’s a professional third baseman who knows how to pull the ball for home runs at Wrigley. It signaled that the Cubs were tired of "potential" and wanted "production."
Rookies and "The PCA Effect"
You can’t talk about this roster without mentioning Pete Crow-Armstrong (PCA). For the first half of the year, he was a defensive specialist who couldn't find his footing at the plate. He got sent down, came back up, and something clicked.
He’s the fastest guy on the team. He’s arguably the best defensive center fielder in the league already. When he started hitting, the energy in the dugout changed. It made the chicago cubs roster 2024 feel younger and more dangerous.
Then there’s the pitching depth. Ben Brown and Jordan Wicks showed flashes of being top-of-the-rotation starters before injuries slowed them down. Javier Assad, though? He was the ultimate Swiss Army knife. He started, he relieved, he just got outs.
What This Roster Taught Us
The biggest misconception about the 2024 Cubs was that they were just one player away. In reality, they were a team that needed its stars to play like stars at the same time. Swanson and Bellinger had stretches where they carried the team, but they also had stretches where they disappeared.
Nuance matters here. The Cubs finished with a winning record, but they missed the postseason because of a brutal May and June. The roster was good enough to compete, but it lacked that "knockout" punch in the middle of the order for a long time.
Key Stats to Remember
- Rotation ERA: Finished as one of the best in the National League.
- Defensive Runs Saved: Thanks to Swanson, Hoerner, and PCA, they were elite.
- Strikeout Rate: The offense struggled with high K-rates during their losing skids.
How to Evaluate the 2024 Cubs Success
If you're looking at the chicago cubs roster 2024 and trying to figure out if the season was a success, you have to look at the individual growth.
- Michael Busch proved he's a long-term piece.
- Shota Imanaga is a legitimate frontline starter on a bargain contract.
- Porter Hodge is a future closer.
It wasn't a perfect year, but the foundation changed. The roster became more athletic and better defensively.
To really understand where this team is going, you should keep an eye on the development of the "Triple-A" wave in Iowa. Guys like Matt Shaw and Moises Ballesteros are knocking on the door. The 2024 roster was the bridge to what the Cubs hope will be a sustained championship window.
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Take a look at the final season stats for Shota Imanaga and Justin Steele. Their ability to go 6+ innings consistently is what kept the Cubs in the Wild Card hunt until the final weeks. If you’re building a fantasy team or just trying to win an argument at the bar, remember that the Cubs' pitching was actually top-tier—it was the timely hitting that went missing during the dog days of summer.
The next step for any fan is to track the health of the young arms like Ben Brown heading into the next camp. If they stay healthy, the 2024 "roster lessons" will pay off in a big way.