¿Son competitivos los Cubs a nivel de playoffs de la MLB?

The Major League Baseball season is approaching and all 30 teams are preparing to win the World Series.

One of the candidates to reach the playoffs for his team is the Chicago Cubs, who did not qualify the previous season.

1- Are the 2024 Chicago Cubs competitive at the playoff level?
After missing the 2023 postseason by just one game: 83-79 to the Arizona Diamondbacks’ 84-78, the Cubs retained slugger Cody Bellinger on a three-year, $80 million contract and “snatched” him Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig. Counsell, considered by many specialists as one of the best, if not the best, manager in major league baseball.

These improvements are positive signs that place them as contenders to win the National League Central division. While they were unable to snag any of the free-agent bigs, namely Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, they brought in Shota Imanaga, a 30-year-old pitcher with eight years of experience in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), where he won . 74 and lost 55, but the most striking thing was his excellent ERA of 2.96 and the number of strikeouts delivered 1183 in 1129.2 innings.

Imanaga is not Ohtani or Yamamoto, but he could be the weapon that allows the Windy City team to achieve the victories that would leave it in a better position for 2023. The Cubs’ other bet, the young players on their farms, are a picture of surprises, but if they manage to live up to expectations, they could very well become the team to beat in their division.

2- A number or statistic of the Cubs for 2024.
4.4. Cody Bellinger’s WAR in the 2023 season, modest compared to the 8.6 of his MVP season in 2019, but very encouraging for him and the Cubs, heading into 2024. After averaging .278 with an offensive line of .369/. 559/.928, OPS+ of 144 and WAR of 16.7, with the Rookie of the Year award in 2017 and the Most Valuable Player in 2019, Bellinger deflated in the following three seasons (.203 and a weak offensive line of /.272 /.376/.648 and OPS of 76 and 1.0 WAR from 2020 to 2022). His lowest point was in 2022, when he hit .210 and his .265 on-base average was the lowest among hitters who qualified for plate appearances.

From prospect to superstar, he became a throwaway for the Dodgers and a save for the Cubs. Under these conditions, he signed a one-year contract with a joint option and responded with a season of redemption: .307, 26 home runs, 97 runs batted in, 95 runs scored and a line of .356 / .525 / .881. and OPS+ of 133, which led him to rescind the option to sign a new extension to remain in Wrigleyville. Anything between what he did in 2023 and what he accomplished in his first three seasons will be a win for Chicago.

3- What is the main strength and main weakness of the Cubs?
The Cubs are a well-structured team, so they should be in the fight for the central division of the National League from the first day of the season. They have a balanced offense, which overall finished fifth in the National League in batting average (.254), fourth in OPS (.751) and was in the top five in several major offensive categories.

However, this team’s main weapon is its speed. The Cubs stole 140 bases (fourths) in 2023 and were only caught 40 times, the third team that was eliminated the fewest times in steal attempts in the “old circuit.” He also had four players who ran in 4.3 seconds or less from home plate to first base (Cody Bellinger, Nick Madrigal, Dansby Swanson and Miles Mastrobuoni), which is extremely positive.

The team’s main problem is the ability to strike out its starters, remaining below the MLB average in 2023 and without having made significant additions for next season, which, like last year, will create a dependency on the work of the defense, which although played well, shows that the Cubs’ pitchers constantly need help to get outs.