Chicago Cubs: Early Favorites for 2025 Division Title

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00:00Now perhaps the most complete team, at least in my opinion, the favorite right now early on to win

00:04this division is the Chicago Cubs. Now you look at the Cubs lineup, much deeper top to bottom,

00:10big-time acquisition in the offseason, Kyle Tucker, a game-changing type player. As George

00:13said though, you know, playing for a contract, sometimes there's pressure on guys. We'll see how

00:18he performs under that circumstance. Switching over leagues too, you know, he's going to see

00:22some different pitchers a little bit more. So Ian Happ at the top of this lineup, strong offensive

00:27player, then Tucker in the two spots, Seiya Suzuki, Michael Bush hitting in cleanup. D'Anse

00:32B. Swanson, another solid player. You'd like to have a little bit of a bounce back, Nico Horner,

00:35certainly a terror on the base path, so is Pete Crow Armstrong. Matt Shaw, hopefully a healthy

00:42spring really could go a long way for him. I think he's going to play more games at third

00:46base this year for the big club than in the minor leagues. And Miguel Amaya here at catcher. So if

00:51Shaw hits like he did in the minor leagues, this is a very formidable lineup. And you've got two

00:57guys at the top of this rotation I think you can count on. Shota Imanaga, terrific season in 2024.

01:02Justin Steele continues to show he has number one type moments. The problem for him is health,

01:08and it hasn't been arm issues. It's been hamstring. It's been weird other injuries.

01:13So the arm is good. The arm is intact for Justin Steele. Jameson Tyon, a decent number three here.

01:19Matthew Boyd, an offseason acquisition who finished very well for the Detroit Tigers.

01:24Lefty, who has struggled with ERA. He's bounced around for a while. He's had a lot of upside,

01:30never really lived up to the hype until the end of last season with the Tigers. And then Colin

01:35Ray here at the end of this rotation. They also brought in Ryan Presley to close games here. So

01:39the Cubs feel like they've gone all in, pushed their chips into the middle because it is a

01:44weaker division. The Cardinals are not the same. We'll get to the Pirates in a second.

01:49We already talked that are missing from the Reds and missing from some of the other teams in this

01:54division, like the Milwaukee Brewers. Are the Cubs the favorite, and do you think they can

01:59live up to the expectations in 2025? I think they deserve to be the favorite,

02:05but you use the term all in. They're all in with Kingpin. All right. I mean, there's no aces here

02:12as far as, oh my God, they're a great team. Their lineup is deeper than the other teams that we've

02:15gone over, but it's not, listen, it's not a scary lineup. I mean, Swanson was terrible last year.

02:20Horner's already hurt. We'll see what we get from PCA. And even Deshaw is a big if. Suzuki is a good

02:25player, but there's not, like I said, there's nothing special here. I love Tucker, by the way.

02:29I'm the Yankee fan. I hope he's the Yankee next year. But like I said, it's just deeper than the

02:34other teams. They do have two legitimate, you know, number ones. And I think that's what separates

02:38them as well here, because you've got Steele. And you're right, by the way, it's always weird

02:41injuries with this guy, but maybe he puts it together and it's still better than what the

02:44other teams have. And Manoj was great last year. Other than that, the rest of the rotation is,

02:48you know, like everybody else. Talley and Boyd is just a major league pitchers,

02:52but nothing special here. Do I think they're better? Sure. Immensely better? No. I would

02:56have them in the 83 to 87 wins, which once again is probably enough. If they reach 87,

03:01it's probably enough to win this division, but not by, you know, they're not going to win the

03:04division by 10 games. They're not that good.