Entering the 2024 season, the Cubs felt pretty confident about their rotation.

They had a clear ace who garned NL Cy Young votes in 2023 (Justin Steele), an intriguing free agent who was essentially an unknown (Shota Imanaga), a reliable veteran (Kyle Hendricks) and plenty of depth from Drew Smyly to Javier Assad.

As is often the case in baseball seasons, the preseason plan didn’t play out exactly as the Cubs had anticipated.

Steele got hurt on Opening Day and missed a month. Imanaga was a major question mark but immediately found success and represented the team in the All-Star Game.

Meanwhile, Hendricks struggled out of the gate to a major degree and eventually moved to the bullpen for the first time in his career. Smyly – who entered the year with 179 starts over his 11-year career – ended up spending the entire season in the bullpen and didn’t make a single start.

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Assad has been solid all year while youngsters Hayden Wesneski, Ben Brown and Jordan Wicks have battled injuries.

Despite all that, the Cubs have turned in a Top 10 starting staff this season – they enter the final weekend of the season ranked 8th in MLB with a 3.79 rotation ERA.

A big part of that has been the quiet consistency of veteran Jameson Taillon.

[WATCH: Jameson Taillon reflects on his 2024 season]

In his first year with the Cubs last season, Taillon struggled and ended up turning in the worst season of his career (4.84 ERA, 1.28 WHIP). But he ended the 2023 campaign on a good stretch and has picked up right where he left off.

Taillon did get a slow start on this season, as a back injury derailed him in Spring Training and delayed his first outing until a few weeks into the year.

Since then, he has been a reliable force that has mostly flown under the radar while Imanaga and Steele have garnered much of the attention.

“I think that’s the right word – consistent,” Craig Counsell said. “And he’s been on a really good run here.”

Taillon will make his final start of the season Friday as the Cubs welcome in the Reds to close out the year at Wrigley Field.

He is 11-8 with a 3.41 ERA and 1.14 WHIP, averaging nearly 6 innings per start.

“To Jamo’s credit, the work that he’s put in to get back the consistency of what he felt like he’s been in his career,” pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said. “The funny part last year was he was throwing harder – he felt like he was in a better place.

“And this year, we had the back thing pop up right in Spring Training. We felt almost like at the beginning of the year, we were in survival mode. It’s like, OK, can we get through the beginning part of the season so he’s feeling better?”

[WATCH: Tommy Hottovy on Hendricks, Assad, young pitchers and more]

Taillon’s velocity is at an all-time low throughout his career, as his fastball has averaged 92.3 mph with his cutter at 86.5 mph.

But he’s been as effective as ever with his lowest ERA since 2018 and has been worth 2.2 WAR.

“I know he knows his velo wasn’t where he wanted it this year, but he proved that even with a tick down of velo and stuff, he can compete at a high level,” Hottovy said. “His execution was outstanding this year. He mixes pitches really well. His blend of what we were working on in second half of the season last year and then unleashing some things.

“He had a great sinker. He came up throwing sinkers with the Pirates and kind of revamping that pitch, bringing it back, putting it in the mix and just keeping hitters off balance is something he did really well this year.”

It remains to be seen if the Cubs will be in the market for one of the top free agent starters this winter but they will head into the offseason with a strong 3-headed monster heading up their 2025 rotation in Imanaga, Steele and Taillon.