NLCS appearance just the start for well-built Chicago Cubs
Add “Chicago Cubs win the World Series” to the list of things Back to the Future got wrong about the year 2015. After completing the sweep over the long-time lovable losers, the New York Mets will instead represent the National League in this year’s Fall Classic.
But this is hardly the last we’ll see of Joe Maddon‘s bunch. With the only notable departures this seeing being a group of career-revived relievers (Fernando Rodney, Clayton Richard, Trevor Cahill and Jason Motte), a group that won 97 games in 2015 will remain largely intact next season, and potentially with some new star power to go with it.
The Cubs showed their age against the Mets in the NLCS. After clubbing their way deep into the postseason, the Chicago bats seemed to run out of gas and couldn’t figure out the New York rotation.
But outside of actually bringing a Series title home to Chicago, the season played out as well as it possibly could have for the Cubs. Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, Addison Russell and Jorge Soler each got a serious taste of the postseason in their rookie seasons, while key contributors Jake Arrieta and Anthony Rizzo will also enter 2016 with a playoff go under their belts. While experience sometimes gets overlooked, just look at how the previously-inexperienced Kansas City Royals responded after falling in the World Series last year.
Jon Lester also struggled at times early on in 2015 during his transition to a new club and a new league, but enters 2016 riding a string of strong outings to end season. Pairing that with having Bryant, Schwarber, Russell and Soler in the fold out of the gate next time around and that should only help spell more wins for the Cubs next season.
A strong offseason could only further push Chicago in the right direction, as they’ve been mentioned as suitors for top free agents such as David Price and Jason Heyward. A mid-tier signing like a Mike Leake or Ben Zobrist could still go a long way as well, and Chicago will also likely receive mid-season reinforcements in the form of prospects Albert Almora and/or Jeimer Candelario, each of whom has a shot to see their first big-league action in 2016. And with Starlin Castro on the trade block and a healthy prospect pool of talent to deal from, Theo Epstein will likely be adding help on the trade market as well this offseason.
Back to the Future references aside, this wasn’t supposed to be the year for the Cubs. Yet they still came darn close to shocking the baseball world, and only stand to improve around a young core that is in place for the long haul. This isn’t the last we’ve heard from Chicago; it’s hardly the beginning.