The 2021 Chicago Cubs season was the 150th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 146th in the National League, and the Cubs' 106th season at Wrigley Field. The Cubs were managed by David Ross, in his second year as Cubs manager, and played their home games at Wrigley Field as members of Major League Baseball's National League Central Division.
The Cubs began the season at home versus the Pittsburgh Pirates on April 1 and finished the season on the road on October 3 against their rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals. They finished the season 71–91 to finish in fourth place in the Central Division, 24 games out of first place. This marked only the second time the Cubs had failed to make the playoffs since 2014. The season also marked the first time since 2014 that the Cubs finished with a losing record and the first time since 2013 that the Cubs had lost 91 games.
The season marked the end of an era as the Cubs traded core members of the team that won the 2016 World Series (Javier Báez, Kris Bryant, and Anthony Rizzo) at the trade deadline. The Cubs set an MLB record for most players used in a season by a single team as 69 different players appeared for the Cubs.
Previous season
The Cubs finished the 2020 season, which was limited due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, with a record of 34–26 to win the Central Division by three games, marking the fifth time the Cubs had made the playoffs in the previous six years. As the No. 3 seed in the newly expanded playoffs, the Cubs were swept in the Wild Card Series by the Miami Marlins.
COVID-19 effects on season
On February 9, 2021, MLB announced that the protocols in place for the season due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.
Rule changes
The season was similar to the prior season in that the following rules would be used due to COVID-19:
Doubleheaders were two seven-inning games. In extra inning games, each team got a runner on second to start every inning. Active roster limit was limited to 26 and expanded to 28 in September. Each team was permitted to carry up to five additional taxi squad players on all road trips.
There was no universal designated hitter or expanded playoffs.
Television broadcasts
On December 4, 2020, the team announced that longtime TV play-by-play broadcaster, Len Kasper, was leaving the broadcast booth to join the Chicago White Sox radio booth. Marquee Sports Network announced they would conduct a search to replace Kasper. On January 4, 2021, the Cubs announced that Jon "Boog" Sciambi would join color analyst Jim Deshaies as the play-by-play man in the Cubs booth. Due to Sciambi's national radio obligations, the team announced that Chris Myers, Beth Mowins, and Pat Hughes would act as fill-ins for Sciambi. On May 8, Mowins became the first woman to broadcast regular season games for the Cubs.
Offseason
Front office changes
On November 17, 2020, President of Baseball Operations, Theo Epstein announced his resignation effective November 20. General manager Jed Hoyer took over Epstein's duties. Hoyer signed a five-year extension as the president of baseball operations on November 23. The Cubs promoted Jeff Greenberg and Craig Breslow to assistant general manager positions, but Hoyer announced the club would not hire a general manager prior to the 2021 season due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Transactions
On December 3, the Cubs announced that they would not tender a contract to OFs Kyle Schwarber and Albert Almora Jr. Schwarber later signed a one-year deal with the Washington Nationals. On December 28, the Cubs traded P Yu Darvish and C Víctor Caratini to the San Diego Padres for P Zach Davies and prospects.