There was no big press release when Jorge López signed with the Cubs.

Tyson Miller was acquired via trade after he had been designated for assignment by Seattle.

Porter Hodge started the year in Double-A, had to wait 5 days after his first call-up to make his debut and was optioned shortly after.

All three have picked up crucial outs for the Cubs out of the bullpen.

Jed Hoyer and the Cubs front office have worked at giving Craig Counsell and pitching coach Tommy Hottovy plenty of options to piece together the final outs of ball games.

It’s a lesson — and a reminder — that bullpens aren’t always built in the flashiest of manners. It can feel like a game of darts; you throw a bunch at the board and hope you can hit some bullseyes or triple 20s.

“We’ve tried really hard as a front office to keep bringing guys in and have a chance to help, and I think he’s done a really good job of mixing those guys in and creating that,” Hoyer said last week.

The Cubs entered the season with an intriguing bullpen setup. They brought back three key relievers from 2023 — Julian Merryweather, Mark Leiter Jr. and Adbert Alzolay, who had developed into the team’s closer.

In the offseason, they had added Héctor Neris — arguably the second-best reliever on the free-agent market after Josh Hader — and Yency Almonte in the Michael Busch trade from the Dodgers.

Just a couple of weeks into May and Merryweather, Alzolay and Almonte were all on the IL. And as the summer ramped up, Leiter and Neris began to struggle, and the bullpen was the Cubs’ bugaboo.

That’s when Hoyer and the Cubs began making more throws at the dart board. Some missed the mark — Vinny Nittoli never made an appearance for the team; Richard Lovelady had a 7.94 ERA in 7 appearances and Jesús Tinoco made just 2 appearances for the team.

But others like Miller, Hodge and López were bullseyes. Luke Little had developed into a solid lefty option before an injury cut his season short. Nate Pearson, a trade deadline acquisition from Toronto has been a leverage option for Counsell. Drew Smyly, the lone member of the Opening Day bullpen still on the active roster, has a 3.56 ERA in 45 games this season.

Since June 27, the Cubs bullpen ranks 2nd in the majors in ERA (2.56) and they have the third-fewest blown saves (6). Before that, they had the second-most blown saves (17) and the 6th-worst ERA (4.52)

It’s a lesson for the front office that their formula must be found quicker and their eyes need to always be on the lookout for a dart that could be on the mark.

Even this late in the season, they’re looking for options. Friday, they claimed righty reliever Jimmy Herget from Atlanta.

Herget or other late-season claims like Trey Wingenter and Shawn Armstrong may or may not be factors this season and beyond, but the volatility of bullpens requires the Cubs to keep as many darts in their pockets as possible.

Because, for as many options as they had when they entered the season, they still were searching for more. Next year, that could repeat itself and Hoyer and the rest of the front office are hopeful they can keep jumping the gun.

“Certainly for a long for a period when we’re struggling, that was a weakness, and for a long period of the season, it’s been a strength,” Hoyer said. “So, I think they’ve done a nice job, and I think that the goal for next year will be kind of to get to that quicker.

“It took us a little while to get there, but once we did, I felt like it flowed pretty smoothly.”