They did a decent job of pushing all their chips on the table for `26 but they lack organizational depth and had to play whack-a-mole to plug injuries. The Padres actually follow a similar script but do it better.
Other than Skubal, the rest of the starting pitcher options at the deadline were all middle-to-bottom of the rotation guys. Depth additions, not guys that you would trust to start an elimination game. Zeferjahn was a nice add that will help them out in the future but not someone who is going to flip a series.
I don't see the Cubs being a serious contender in '27. They will probably spend some money, I could even see them signing Skubal, but they have too many holes to fill and not many home grown options to fill them with.