Chicago Cubs: Team preview and prediction for 2020 season
The 2016 World Series champions find themselves at a crossroads in 2020. Can the Chicago Cubs fight their way back and stay in the playoff hunt?
The Chicago Cubs are a team nobody expects much from in 2020. Due in part to under-performing in 2019, the loss of Joe Maddon, and their failure to add on this offseason, the Cubbies are certainly not on anyone’s radar to make an impact. But this is still a team that has a lot of fight in it, and going into 2020 with zero expectations might just play heavily in their favor. This might be one of the major surprises in 2020.
The Cubs have all sorts of issues, don’t get me wrong. They had a rough ending to their 2019 season and lost one of the premier managers in the game in Joe Maddon. Then they had the whole arbitration debacle with Kris Bryant that is still lingering over them to this day.
There was the Addison Russell domestic abuse case. And on top of that, after the season they went through in 2019, they weren’t very active in the offseason making only a few moves.
But when I look at this Cubs roster, do they not still have one of the strongest and deepest lineups in the league? Do they not have a solid top four in their rotation?
They added Jeremy Jeffress, re-signed Brandon Morrow, and still have Craig Kimbrel, after all. If those guys are right, is that not a fantastic trio at the back end of your bullpen?
I don’t know, guys. I think the Cubbies are getting drastically overlooked.
Chicago Cubs: 2020 Preview and Prediction
Yes, their bullpen is a major concern with a bunch of guys nobody really knows and stars either having injury concerns (Morrow) or aren’t the players they once were (Kimbrel and Jeffress). But to me, it doesn’t seem like any different a situation for the Chicago Cubs than they’ve had in the recent past.
And until last season, they were a playoff team the previous four seasons, so this has been an organization that has developed a bit of a culture of winning after being the lovable losers for the better part of a century.
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What’s really going to come out of nowhere with this team is just how well they’ll mesh with David Ross being the manager of the team, and how well the pitching staff could perform. Ross was the backup catcher and Jon Lester‘s personal catcher during the Cubs’ 2016 World Series run.
Not only will Ross bring needed energy to the clubhouse to fill the shoes of a giant like Joe Maddon, but he will once again prove just how effective former catchers are in managerial positions.
We’ve seen it with guys like Joe Girardi and Kevin Cash of late, but the list goes on with big names like Bruce Bochy, Mike Scioscia, Joe Torre, and Bob Melvin (among so many others) all being former big-league catchers-turned-managers. Catchers know the game inside and out, and more specifically, how to call a game and manage a bullpen.
Bringing on a guy like David Ross is going to go under-the-radar, but this could very well be a situation where we look up mid-August and the Cubs are in a playoff hunt playing inspired baseball to everyone’s amazement. That’ll be in large part due to who’s at the helm.
1-4 in the Cub rotation isn’t by any means “elite,” but it’s worth mentioning just how solid it is, and how it can stack up to just about any rotation in baseball.
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I’ve already mentioned Jon Lester who has actually turned in two very nice seasons in 2018 and 2019 since he’s had to shift to pitching more to contact. Lester is a guy to certainly watch with his buddy and former personal catcher back on the scene with him. He won’t be pitching to Ross, but just having him there to consult with is going to do wonders. I would even go as far as to say Lester might be a dark horse CY Young candidate.
After Lester, Kyle Hendricks has done nothing but win games as a member of the Cubs. Nobody really talks about Hendricks because he doesn’t throw hard and pitches more to contact with his sinkerball, but this is a guy who’s 20 games over .500 in his career record (63-43) and has a career ERA of 3.14. Jose Quintana is in a very similar boat as he’s 83-77 in his career with a 3.72 ERA. Neither guy has ever had a losing season with the Cubs.
As for Yu Darvish, look… he’s definitely taken a dip since the 2017 World Series where he got absolutely shelled. But he showed flashes last year of regaining his form and velocity, so even though he’s a big question mark, he still has a high enough ceiling (and now a recent catcher he competed against as his manager) that he can burst back onto the scene in 2020. I would seriously watch this Cubs rotation to all have great seasons.
Chicago Cubs: 2020 Preview and Prediction
As for the Cubbies’ lineup, need not forget they were top ten in runs last season and that’s with everything they had going wrong for them. Yes, this is a bunch that can get a little strikeout-happy at times, and Kris Bryant getting back to upwards of 150 punch-outs in 2019 concerns me, but this is still a very potent lineup with three perennial MVP candidates leading the way in Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, and Javier Baez.
Their secondary stars also put up big-time numbers like Kyle Schwarber with the power numbers he posts and Willson Contreras who’s quickly becoming the best hitting catcher in baseball.
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And one thing that goes unnoticed is just how shaped the Chicago Cubs lineup is with ample utility guys like Ian Happ, Hernan Perez, David Bote, Nico Hoerner, and Robel Garcia, plus outfield help in Jason Heyward, Steven Souza Jr., and Albert Almora Jr. Not only is the Cubs roster jam-packed with impact players, but all of these guys are still relatively young, paving the way for this team to thrive not just now but for years to come.
What is going to potentially hurt them is losing Kris Bryant or Willson Contreras, both of whom have been popular trade candidates dating back to last season. Hopefully, everything can get sorted out and this team can stay together to get back to a World Series or two.
But as it sits now, everybody is staying put, and that gives the Cubs another top ten offense in the game.
So, how do the Cubs fare in 2020? I think they seriously surprise and get themselves to second place in the loaded NL Central (83-79 before the delayed opening). Their lineup is still legit, their starting pitching is about as reliable as you can ask for with known veterans who do nothing but win, and they’ll have one of the breakout managerial stars in David Ross leading the way and inspiring this club.
The NL Central will be hotly contested this season with four of the five teams vying to win the division. I think three of the four are very close to each other (the Cubs, Reds, and Brewers), but only small differences will set them apart. I love aspects of all three teams, but I also have some big problems with all three teams. To me, the Cubs seem the most reliable of the three, so I think they get the edge. I like their culture more than the Reds’ and I like their roster more than the Brewers’.
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I say the Cubbies miss out on a postseason berth, but they’ll still open a lot of eyes and set themselves up nicely for the next few seasons. Don’t sleep on the Cubs. This is still a very good team.