Morning Marquee: Chicago Cubs sit at the top of the pre-season power rankings

It’s been a day since pitchers and catchers reported to training camp for the Chicago Cubs and their first workout of the 2016 campaign will be held some time tomorrow.

With clubs making their way to camps, attention is slowly making its way towards Joe Maddon and those Cubs following a huge 2015 run which was ended at the hands of the New York Mets. They’re expected to not only reach the National League Championship Series but win the World Series.

Led by Jake Arrieta and first baseman Anthony Rizzo, it’ll be exciting to see if their record will improve from last season after adding John Lackey, Jason Heyward and Ben Zobrist to their roster.

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Now according to CBS Sports, the Chicago Cubs currently sit at the top of their pre-season rankings ahead of the Kansas City Royals, New York Mets, San Francisco Giants, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays, St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates and the Texas Rangers.

It comes across as a surprise that they would be placed ahead of the defending World Series Champion especially since they’ve managed to bring back key pieces of their winning team back to the organization. As we all know, they lost Zobrist and right-hander Johnny Cueto.

Sitting outside looking in on the teams listing above are the New York Yankees. The Yankees went out and acquired All-Star shortstop Starlin Castro from the Cubs just a few months ago on top of Aroldis Chapman from the Cincinnati Reds.

Their bullpen appears to be one of the best in the American League, if not the entire league itself. If they do, in fact, reach the postseason, the Yankees will be a dangerous team from the seventh through the ninth innings.

Here are a few stories you may have missed over the week:

‘Schwarber’s bat already making noise early on‘ – Cubbies Crib

‘Cubbies Crib seeking new staff writers, Cubs fans‘ – Cubbies Crib

‘Previewing the ever dangerous N.L. Central‘ – Cubbies Crib

‘Wainwright enters spring feeling strong‘ – MLB

‘Pujols might open 2016 as DH or on DL‘ – MLB