Chicago Cubs: Lack of predictability will make 2019 more enjoyable

If nothing else, offseason storylines and multiple projection systems made one thing very clear: the 2019 Chicago Cubs will be an unpredictable journey.

Heading into the 2016 season, the Chicago Cubs were World Series favorites and lived up to those lofty preseason ambitions. In both 2017 and 2018, Chicago was still seen as a clear favorite to emerge from the scrum hoisting the National League pennant.

But last year ended in disappointment, and now the self-appointed “reckoning” has begun in Chicago, from the front office right down to the training and coaching staff.

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Given that Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer made minimal moves this winter and kept the focus on internal improvements, this roster is already full of intrigue and burning questions with Opening Day upon us.

The majority of lineup – save for Javier Baez, Anthony Rizzo and Ben Zobrist – looked totally flummoxed at the plate last year. Was this merely part of the learning curve for a young Cubs core, or will the likes of Willson Contreras and Kris Bryant continue to struggle in 2019?

Chicago led the league in runs saved in 2016 with a staggering 160. That number has since dropped to 43 in 2018. On paper the Cubs are still as talented and versatile on defense as ever, but can they produce behind a pitching staff that will pitch to contact and rely on control and savvy over velocity?

And then there is the pitching staff. Is age really as big a factor as PECOTA thinks it will be? Yu Darvish has looked confident and his stuff was good this spring, but he is coming off a second procedure to his throwing elbow, which is always a wild card especially for someone of his age (turning 33 in August).

When will Brandon Morrow be back, and how healthy can he be over the course of the season? How will the bullpen respond in his absence? Will manager Joe Maddon feel more comfortable including Carl Edwards Jr. and Brandon Kintzler in his “circle of trust”?

OK, so by now you get it. There is a general sentiment of skepticism surrounding this Cubs team, something that has hardly been present the past three years.

Remember that the 2015 Cubs probably outperformed every metric in the book by winning 97 games. That club established a winning culture and never looked back. Even in a year of “disappointment,” Chicago won 95 games.

The level of scrutiny each player on the roster (as well as Maddon and the front office) faces this year is unparalleled, but it also means that Cubs fans will get to see if this team is actually for real.

Now that success is not necessarily the expected norm, it would make it that much sweeter should Kyle Schwarber break out to hit 40 homers, or Albert Almora seize the opportunity of receiving more playing time by making the National League All-Star team, etc.

The bottom line is that – especially in a reloaded NL Central – anything can happen this season. But just as baseball is better for the increased parity, so too are the Cubs likely to be more fun to watch in 2019.