Chicago Cubs: Three players under the most pressure in 2020

These three Chicago Cubs players are going to be feeling the pressure in 2020.

We know that this Chicago Cubs season will be wildly unlike any other as teams will only be playing 60 regular season games. Nearly 10 months after the 2019 season ended in disappointing fashion, David Ross and the Cubs will begin play next month.

Despite the different format of the season, that doesn’t change the fact that some Cubs players will be under a lot of pressure to perform this year. Here we look at three who may be under the most pressure of all.

Chicago Cubs: Kris Bryant

Will he stay or will he go? All offseason long, we were asking that question. It seems like at one point or another, about half the teams in the league were connected to Kris Bryant via trade rumors. In the end, he is still a Cub, though there is still speculation he could be dealt. Assuming he’s still here when the season begins, there might not be one Cub under more pressure to play well.

For one thing, Bryant has become a leader on the team and one of their most potent offensive weapons. This is in spite of the fact that he has a reputation for not being a clutch player, even though the numbers have said otherwise. The team is going to need a good season from him in order to contend.

Bryant did have a solid 2019 season overall. In 147 games, he scored 108 runs while hitting 31 home runs and 35 doubles. Yet he’s taken grief for only driving in 77 runs, while the strikeouts are still a concern at 145 last year. There’s room to improve, but Bryant is still a well-above average offensive player.

Yet Bryant will also need to get off to a fast start in this upcoming shortened season, as the naysayers will be out in full force, claiming the team should have dealt him while they could, if he doesn’t. Whether the Cubs couldn’t find what they thought was a good deal for Bryant this past offseason or they simply decided to hold onto him, Bryant is going to be out to prove that the front office’s decision to keep him was a good one.