The Chicago Cubs enter the 2018 season with one very clear goal in mind and that’s to win the World Series for the second time in three years.
The Chicago Cubs have left the “Lovable Loser” persona in the dust over the past few seasons. 2015 saw them make the playoffs as a Wild Card team and they’ve now won consecutive N.L. Central titles. They broke the longest championship drought in pro sports in 2016 with a World Series. Even though they bowed out to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NCLS last year, Chicago is back in 2018 and looking for more.
On paper, they appear to be one of the top teams in baseball. The rotation is strong with Jon Lester, Jose Quintana, and free agent prize Yu Darvish all in the fold. Once they round it out with Kyle Hendricks and Tyler Chatwood, it’s going to make life difficult on opposing offenses. Lester, in particular, is looking to bounce back after a sub-par 2017 season. It’s good to be a team like Chicago since they can lose a player like Jake Arrieta and bring in a Darvish type pitcher to replace him.
The offense is totally loaded and it’s tough to find too many spots to pick on. The Cubbies finished fourth in runs last year and will now boast a slimmed-down version of Kyle Schwarber and a full season from Ian Happ, who hit 24 home runs in just 115 games last year. Add that to perennial All-Star first baseman Anthony Rizzo, young stud catcher Wilson Contreras, and former N.L. MVP third baseman Kris Bryant and there’s going to be a lot of fireworks in Wrigley in 2018. The Cubs enter the year as one of the few teams that could topple the Houston Astros for a championship.
Best Case Scenario
The Cubs should be a good team almost no matter what, but if things go right they should win over 100 games. Lester could be among the top National League pitchers if he can get back to some career normal levels of production. He may not even have to be the ace anymore because Darvish could wear that mantle. Quintana is an excellent number three while Hendricks is steady as a rock. Chatwood was an under the radar signing that could pay huge dividends for the Cubs. His stats away from Coors Field are very encouraging. There aren’t many teams that could match this rotation if they all have a good season at the same time.
The offense could wind up leading the majors in runs scored. Bryant and Rizzo are almost locks for hitting 30 home runs. Schwarber did it last year and only hit .211. Players like Contreras, Happ, and Javier Baez could all hit 25 or more. When two-thirds of your everyday lineup should hit 25 bombs, that’s a pretty good spot for a team to start in. Even shortstop Addison Russell has a 21 homer season on his resume. He also just turned 24 and w may not have seen the best of him yet. The power potential of this team is through the roof and their a very difficult offense to pitch against.
Worst Case Scenario
Offensively, it could be a feast or famine style run production team. When the lineup is hitting home runs, they’ll seem invincible. When they aren’t, the Cubs could slump offensively. The home runs could come in bunches which could lead to a lot of blowouts when they win and a lot of one or two run losses because the homers aren’t there that night. It’s possible young players like Russell and Baez have already hit their ceiling and maybe Happ has a sophomore slump. If skinny Schwarber loses his power stroke and doesn’t raise the batting average, there aren’t a lot of redeeming factors there. As good as Rizzo and Bryant are, they can’t carry the offense by themselves every game.
The bullpen could ultimately be the undoing of this team. They lack a truly elite closer, which isn’t always a necessity. However, they don’t really have a true go-to guy when the game is tight. The closest is probably Carl Edwards, Jr. Chicago seems like an early front-runner as far as teams looking to add bullpen help near the trade deadline.
Their rotation does carry some considerable downside. Lester is on the back nine of his career and could be just an average guy at this point. They sunk a lot of money into Darvish after the Astros used him as a piñata in the World Series. Was that a blip or the start of a trend? Quintana is fine but he isn’t an ace on a championship caliber team. It’s kind of the same thing with Hendricks and Chatwood. They can be very good in their role but if they’re asked to do more, it could get ugly.
Team MVP
Kris Bryant – 3B
Bryant is on the short list of favorites to take home his second N.L. MVP award in 2018 so he’s a natural choice for the team MVP. 2017 saw a dip in his home runs and a significant drop in RBI. That seems to just be a weird coincidence as Bryant once again walked more and cut down his strikeouts last year. He’s going to hit near the top of a very dangerous lineup, plays solid defense, and there is almost no flaws in his game. At age 26, Bryant is primed for potentially one of the best seasons in his career.
Prediction
The N.L. Central may have gotten better but the Cubs are still the top dog and one of the teams to beat in the entire National League. They have a dynamite offense, pitching that should be plenty good enough, and the pockets to go get whatever they need as the season wears on. Barring any type of major disaster or being ravaged by injuries, Chicago should be division champs once again and will be a difficult team to play against in October.