This season hasn’t been what Kyle Hendricks or the Cubs would have drawn up.

But Sunday, he looked more like the pitcher he’s been in his decade-plus in the majors.

The 34-year-old turned in the fourth quality start of his season, allowing just 1 run on 2 hits in 6 innings in the Cubs’ 6-2 win over the Rockies.

Hendricks is one of three players Cubs fans will want to keep an eye on over the final 13 games of the season. He has had the worst season of his career — he entered Sunday with a 6.51 ERA in 26 games. His struggles were so pronounced, in mid-May he was shifted to the bullpen and had his start skipped in August.

“They just kept giving me opportunities that I didn’t deserve, to be honest with you,” Hendricks told reporters after the win. “I just can’t thank everybody enough.”

But just a year ago, Hendricks had posted a 3.74 ERA in 24 starts, in line with his career norms, and had done so after returning from a capsular tear that forced him to miss the end of the 2022 season and start 2023 on the IL.

That’s what makes the final two weeks of the season so interesting for Hendricks. He’s a free agent at the end of the year and a return to Chicago is far from a guarantee. Could two more strong outings to end the year increase the likelihood of a reunion? Does a reunion even make sense with the young pitching options the Cubs have in the big leagues or on the horizon (Jordan Wicks, Hayden Wesneski, Ben Brown and Cade Horton)?

There’s a scenario where Hendricks, the last member of the historic 2016 World Series winning team, plays his final game as a Cub in the coming days.

That makes his starts must-watch TV down the stretch, regardless of how 2024 has gone.

Cody Bellinger

There was such a desire on both sides to reunite ahead of the 2024 season. Midway through Spring Training, the reunion finally occurred, when the Cubs and Cody Bellinger agreed on a 3-year contract that included two player options after the first two seasons.

Bellinger, 29, has been solid this year — he carries a .269/.332/.438 slash line with a 114 weighted runs created plus, 18 home runs and 69 RBI. But it hasn’t been the level he was at last season (.307/.356/.525/136 wRC+ 26 home runs, 97 RBI) when he received down-ballot votes. Part of that has been injuries that have limited him to just 118 games, but it hasn’t been the game-changing offense that he had last season.

“We don’t have any one player having the type of season that Cody had for us last year,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said during the last homestand. “It felt like, at times, he was just kind of carrying our offense. Every big hit, he was in the middle of everything.”

Does that slight drop in production keep him from opting out of the contract? Or does a so-so free agent class — Bellinger would likely be the best left-handed bat not named Juan Soto — make him test the market once again?

A strong finish over the last two weeks could make that decision simpler, and this road trip has been fruitful to Bellinger. On the 6-game West Coast trip, Bellinger was 9-for-25 (.320) with a 1.113 OPS, 3 home runs and 9 RBI.

Isaac Paredes

If Bellinger opts out and doesn’t return, the Cubs will have an offensive hole to fill — and the option might be on the roster already. For as good as Bellinger was in 2023, Isaac Paredes had similar production that same season in Tampa Bay.

Last season, Paredes slashed .250/.352/.488/136 wRC+ with 31 home runs and 98 RBI. He hasn’t performed to that level with the Cubs — .216/.321/.317/87 wRC+ with 3 home runs and 19 RBI, but part of those struggles might be ballpark-related — and that could apply to the whole team.

On the road, Paredes is hitting .325 with a .911 OPS and 159 wRC+. At home, Paredes is 5-for-62 (.081).

It’s a trend the Cubs overall have noticed — Wrigley Field has been a haven for pitchers. On the road, the Cubs have a team OPS of .746 with 90 home runs and an average of 5.12 runs per game. At home, their OPS drops to .669 with 69 home runs and 4.00 runs per game. Wrigley Field ranks 29th in park factor among MLB parks at 92, 8 points below the league average. Last season, it was 9th at 101.

“It’s probably an October conversation not now, but I think trying to figure out what that means for our offense going forward,” Hoyer said. “And it’s a very complicated thing to try to figure out because I don’t think either way it’s that obvious because of the nature of how our offense has been this season.”

Of the final 13 games this season, 10 are at home, so Paredes will be a key player to keep an eye on down the stretch because he’ll be a key factor in 2025 for the Cubs.