CHICAGO — Last season, the Chicago Cubs were 74-88 and finished third in the National League Central division. That was an improvement from 2021 when they finished 71-91 and were in fourth place in the division.
This offseason saw the team make some changes to its roster. Most notably, they lost long-time catcher Willson Contreras who signed their rival St. Louis Cardinals to be the heir-apparent to recently retired Yadier Molina.
Contreras was good behind the plate and good at the plate smacking at least 20 home runs in four of his seven seasons with the Cubs. But they also added some well-known faces who can keep the Cubs moving in the right direction.
Guys like Dansby Swanson, Cody Bellinger, Trey Mancini, Tucker Barnhart, and Eric Hosmer are being added on the offensive side. Plus, the Cubs added pitchers Jameson Taillon, Drew Smyly, Brad Boxberger, and Michael Fulmer to the team.
That’s a lot of new and, in some cases, exciting faces, so with all those changes being made, what defines a good season for the 2023 Chicago Cubs? Hosts Matt Cozzi and Sam Olbur of the Locked On Cubs podcast dove into this discussion on the show's latest episode.
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The rest of the Locked On hosts voted for all 30 teams in preseason power rankings. And Olbur is not happy with where the Cubs ended up—they are ranked at #22.
“I thought, ‘Why is it so low? Why does nobody think this Cubs team is going to be good?’ And then it dawned on me. It’s because they don’t have any superstars," Olbur said.
Olbur goes on to mention teams like the Angels, who have two of the biggest superstars in baseball—Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout—and finished a game behind the Cubs with a 73-89 record.
“My point is this: Baseball is a collective sport," Olbur said. "Individually, you could have a great season. I’m not as concerned about the individuals as I am about the sum of the parts. And I think the sum of the parts can be very good."
“The first barometer you need is to win more games than you lose," Cozzi said. "So the first step to me for a good season would be you win 82, and you lose 80. That’s the very bare bones, the first part of the list.”
Olbur agreed, “I was going to say the same exact thing First step if we’re just talking big league team in a vacuum without talking player development, it has to be over .500 to be considered successful.”
They also discussed the path to that possible 82-80 record would be the team still being in the mix at the All-Star break.
“You’re playing meaningful baseball in the summer.” Olbur said. “It’s not like last year by July 4th, I’m sitting there watching a single-A game.”
Cozzi said another step in the path to a successful, over. 500 season for the Cubs is not selling at the trade deadline. He joked about the last two summers being really hard for Cubs fans In 2021 they lost both Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo. And in 2022, they lost reliever, David Robertson.
So, in order for the Cubs to have a successful 2023 season, they don’t have to be barn burners and win 100+ games—though that would be nice—they just need to build themselves back up into being a team their fans want to watch through the summer, a team that could have a chance of possibly sneaking into one of the wild-card spots—depending on how the other teams in the NL do— and a team that can be ranked higher in Locked On preseason power rankings in 2024.
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