Chicago Cubs top three reasons they win in 2020

The Chicago Cubs have been put through the wringer by the critics, models, projections, and sportswriters since before spring training. What are the top three signs the Cubs will defy those predictions?

Predictions can be fun for fans, especially if they reveal that your favorite team is predicted to be at the top of the standings. Chicago Cubs fans have not had a lot to cheer about when looking at these predictions and all the sports chat on television and online. Before spring training even began, the word around MLB was that the Cubs would finish fourth in the division and range somewhere around 80-83 wins for the 2020 season.

I’m not a big fan of these predictions, mainly because they start with data that is not entirely accurate. Most of these predictions come from machines that are fed stats, games, players and all sorts of data. Once the data has been loaded, an algorithm sorts the data and matches it against stats of all MLB teams and presto – a prediction is born.

Now let say that these models were run 30 days before spring training begins. What if a key player gets injured on opening day or before the spring games start?  A key player like Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant or shortstop Javier Baez would certainly skew the results to the negative. The same can be said if a new player was not accounted for in the computer model and joined the team later; the prediction would be skewed.

Most of the models don’t even take into consideration the manager and coaches. So the arrival of David Ross to manage the Cubs, which most agree is a significant addition and complete game-changer for the Cubs, wouldn’t even count in some of these prediction models.  So unless these computer models are taking into consideration all of the variances of a professional baseball team? The numbers are going to be off.

I don’t need to tell Chicago Cubs fans that if the numbers are off, and are not even accounting for the coaching and managing, so are the predictions.  So here are the top three reasons that the Cubs will win in 2020 and beat the model predictions that said they would not be any good – you be the judge.