MILWAUKEE — On the final day of the 2022 regular season, David Ross was clear about where he wanted his Cubs team to end up.

“It would be nice popping champagne at some point,” Ross said.

He’ll have to wait another year for that celebration.

The Miami Marlins clinched the final NL Wild Card spot with a win over the Pirates in Pittsburgh, eliminating the Cubs despite Ross’ squad climbing back into the win column with a 10-6 victory over the Brewers.

It was not long ago that the Cubs seemed like a lock for the postseason.

After wrapping up their sweep of the Giants at Wrigley Field on Sept. 6, the Cubs were 12 games over .500 and had a 92.4% chance of making the playoffs (per FanGraphs). They held the 2nd Wild Card spot and had a 4-game lead over the Diamondbacks for a playoff position.

The Cubs were also just 1.5 games behind the Brewers in the division at that time.

But the wheels fell off from there, as the Cubs won only 6 of the next 20 games.

Even beginning this week, the Cubs still held a 58% chance of making the playoffs before dropping 4 straight games in Atlanta and Milwaukee.

“You earn your right to go to the postseason,” Ross said before Saturday’s game. “We have not played postseason caliber baseball for a team that deserves to be in the postseason as of late. That’s just a fact. To get into the big dance, you gotta play well and you gotta play well when it matters. We haven’t.”

So for the 3rd straight season, the Cubs will be at home on their couches watching the MLB postseason unfold.

“It definitely hurts to come up short, which is what we did,” Nico Hoerner said. “We were in a really strong place to go to the postseason recently and did not play our best in the final two weeks, which obviously left us short.

“I think that part is really real and stings. Both things can be true where I do see the direction that we’re headed and I’m really excited and optimistic but what I’m feeling in the moment is definitely stronger.”

The Cubs are obviously disappointed with how they faded down the stretch. But Ross also wanted to keep the big picture in mind.

With Saturday’s win, the Cubs are now 83-78 on the season. And they woke up on the penultimate day of the regular season still alive in the postseason race.

“We’ve gotta be great consistently in this game if you want to get to the postseason and the World Series,” Ross said. “I think we know that. We fell short of that. We took a step forward from last year and we got more steps to take.”

The fact the Cubs made it this far in the playoff race is an accomplishment no matter how it ended.

This team was 10 games under .500 on June 8 and looked to be clear sellers at the trade deadline. But they battled back from the brink and went 50-28 from June 8 through Sept. 6.

“It stinks, man,” said Yan Gomes, who hit a grand slam and drove in 5 runs Saturday night. “It’s gonna be a little bit of a sour note but there’s a lot of positives to take from this year. That’s where we’re turning our heads to. We definitely dug ourselves out of a hole from the middle of the year and gave ourselves a chance to be in this position.

“It’s gonna be sour because we’re out of it on the second-to-last game but at the same time, there’s a lot of positive things to take from this year.”

The Cubs will have plenty of questions to ponder in the offseason, including potentially re-signing Cody Bellinger, awaiting Marcus Stroman’s opt-in/out decision and determining a direction on Kyle Hendricks’ $16 million team option.

This team has a strong core of players returning next season — Hoerner, Dansby Swanson, Ian Happ, Justin Steele, Seiya Suzuki, Christopher Morel, Adbert Alzolay — and have a wave of prospects who have already made an impact at the big league level (led by Jordan Wicks and Miguel Amaya).

Jameson Taillon threw 4 shutout innings in relief Saturday night to pick up his 1st career save. He lowered his ERA to 4.84 in the process and he will be a key figure next season if the Cubs are going to take a leap forward. The team invested $68 million in Taillon over 4 years and he had an inconsistent season, though he finished strong (1.67 ERA over his final 27 innings). 

“It stinks,” Taillon said. “I was just thinking this would be a real fun team to compete with in the playoffs and pop champagne with. This is a great group. This was probably the most challenging year of my career and just showing up every day was so much fun here. It’s a great crew from the clubhouse staff to the coaches to the players — all the way through.

“Definitely hurts. But we made our bed and we have to lie in it.”

Expectations should be high heading into 2024, with playoffs as a clear goal for this Cubs team.

“We’re gonna have to come back next year and be tested all over again and have to improve on a lot of areas,” Ross said. “But right now, just disappointment. I think we can all feel that. We can all soak that in, remember how that feels, use that this offseason to get better, continue to grow and come back next year and take another step forward.”