CHICAGO — Matt Shaw entered October with plenty of optimism from Cubs fans.  

He carried an .839 OPS in the second half and looked destined to be a key cog at the bottom of the lineup come playoffs. That didn’t happen.

Shaw hit .118 in the postseason, with both his hits coming in the penultimate game and he struck out seven times in his 23 plate appearances.

That doesn’t mean the time was invaluable.

“How to make the moments smaller,” Shaw said of the lessons he learned. “Obviously, you’re trying to perform at the highest level and understanding that the pitching gets better in the postseason, guys are throwing harder, the adrenaline, the environment.

“There’s a lot of little takeaways from the postseason. You look back and try to find little things that can make it better for the next time around.”

Shaw gained that experience firsthand as the team’s everyday third baseman. There were moments he’d undoubtedly like back, no question.

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One such moment came in Game 3 of the NL Wild Card Series during the Cubs’ two-run second inning after Dansby Swanson drew a bases-loaded walk from Padres reliever Jeremiah Estrada. Swanson was the first batter the right-hander faced as he relieved starter Yu Darvish. That sent the Wrigley Field crowd into euphoria and brought Shaw up with a chance to break the game open.

But instead of being patient against a reliever who was trying to find his control, Shaw swung and missed at three pitches that were outside of the zone. The moment rose and Shaw was a bit trigger-happy.

“I think experience is always a good thing for understanding how you feel, the nerves and all that stuff in the postseason,” Shaw said. “You hope the next time you go through, you have a better understanding of that stuff.”

That lesson appeals broadly to his 2025 campaign. He started the year as the team’s Opening Day third baseman, but struggles meant he was sent down to Triple-A for a month. He returned in May and finally began to find his footing at the plate after the All-Star Game.

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“Gosh, I mean, I feel like I’m four years older than when the season started,” Shaw said. “There’s a lot I’m taking in the offseason, all sorts of things – mentally, mechanically, physically – you learn a lot from a full season in the big leagues and the postseason.”

The hope for Shaw and the Cubs is the next time he’s taking playoff at-bats, he can draw on that experience he had this season – and it can lead to more success. And not just the two-hit day in Game 4 of the NLDS, but the strikeouts and the stinging loss of Game 5 to the Milwaukee Brewers, too.

It was part of the message Craig Counsell delivered to Shaw and the rest of the Cubs in the aftermath of the loss. And it’s what the rookie third baseman is taking with him into the winter.

“We really had a great team and we grinded, we played really well to put ourselves in this position. You kind of pray that you get another opportunity to be in this situation again, because it’s not easy to get here,” Shaw said. “We obviously have a lot of guys coming back and that’s really exciting. It takes a lot to get here, so I think the experience is always helpful and hopefully we just can continue building off this for next year.”