The bullpen was a clear area of need for the Chicago Cubs in 2019 given their lack of clutch pitching. The team suffered 28 blown saves and 31 losses in relief despite recording a 3.98 ERA: good for eighth in all of baseball.
Certainly, it didn’t help that the team’s mid-season acquisition of Craig Kimbrel didn’t go as planned. Despite only being with the team for 23 games, Kimbrel gave up more home runs than any year he was in the majors while recording an unsightly 6.53 ERA and 8.