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Chicago Cubs: 2016 has the potential to be the best season in baseball history
By David Miniel
For a while, the Chicago Cubs sat at the bottom of the division while the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates and occasionally, the Milwaukee Brewers, fought it out for the N.L. Central crown.
This time around, the tide has changed for three teams. The Cubs, as we all know, have themselves a roster full of young players with plenty of up and coming stars making their way throughout the minor league circuit.
Theo Epstein’s rebuilding plan came to life, resulting in the North Siders reaching the National League Championship Series for the first time since the dreaded 2003 campaign. And from the looks of it, they plan on going back again each season.
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As for the Cardinals and Pirates — well, they’re hoping to knock-off the Anthony Rizzo leading Cubs from playoff contention. All three teams finished with the best records in baseball while the Reds and Brewers fought for fourth place in the division.
Chicago went out and signed Jason Heyward, John Lackey, and Ben Zobrist aside from adding to their already strong bullpen.
Both Cincinnati and Milwaukee are currently in rebuild mode and have made a handful of key trades that netted them prospects.
Earlier today, MLB Trade Rumors reported that reliever Aroldis Chapman was traded to the New York Yankees for multiple prospects, including two of their very best.
New York has brought both Chapman and Starlin Castro together after they battled it out for the past six years as members of the Reds and Cubs.
It’s safe to assume that the Yankees are the heavy favorite in the A.L. East despite the Boston Red Sox signing free agent southpaw David Price to a massive contract this past offseason.
Hopefully, it’ll be the Yankees taking on the Cubs in the World Series. A bitter-sweet match-up that would bring Starlin Castro back to where it all began.
But for right now, these two clubs need to fight their way through the regular season. For the Cubs, the N.L. West has become a problem with the Arizona Diamondbacks picking up Zack Greinke and the Los Angeles Dodgers, are well, still the Dodgers.
Plenty of power and Clayton Kershaw still has what it takes to keep this team in playoff contention.
If you were to ask me, I’d say 2016 could go down as one of the greatest seasons in baseball history. Now wake me up when it’s time for each team to report to training camp in February.