The 2025 MLB season is almost upon us! With less than one week to go before the Cubs and Dodgers do battle in Tokyo, each team is gearing up for the long, annual 162-game grind.
Each day this week at Call To The Pen, we'll take a look at every team in every division and analyze their best and worst-case scenarios for the 2025 season. We've already looked at the AL East, NL East, and AL Central. Before heading out west, let's analyze one of baseball's most fluid divisions: the NL Central.
Chicago Cubs
Best-case scenario: Kyle Tucker demonstrates his MVP ability and tops it off by agreeing to a long-term extension. Don’t hold your breath on the latter, but Cubs fans can hope.
Pete Crow-Armstrong asserts himself as a leadoff hitter capable of producing a .350 on-base average. That leads to a 60-steal season and the kind of baserunning dynamics the Cubs haven’t seen since the glory days of Javier Baez. Rookie Matt Shaw assumes a Santo-like grip on third base.
Miguel Amaya matures into a catcher capable of directing the rotation led by Shota Imanaga and Justin Steele, who combine for 60 starts and 330 innings of quality pitching. The Cubs reach 90 wins for the first time since 2018 and justify their status as the NL Central pre-season favorite.
Worst-case scenario: The wind blows out at Wrigley for most of Imanaga’s starts, and his 2.72 home ERA of 2024 balloons to somewhere around 4.50. Steele, who only once has given the team more than 135 innings, come up sore again and misses a third of the season.
The Cubs, who face the Dodgers, Padres, Phillies and Diamondbacks for 22 of their first 29 games, start badly and never recover. When Tucker bolts for the open market in November, he leaves behind yet another 83-win season on the North Side and a fan base wondering why the Cubs weren’t more aggressive this offseason.
Most-likely scenario: Shaw is the team’s breakout star, and Tucker leads a competitive offense. But Steele misses 10 starts, Imanaga lapses toward mediocrity and the pitching staff comes up average. With that mixed picture, the Cubs compete for a postseason spot, after which Tucker bolts for big bucks.