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.

Chicago Cubs: Yu Darvish

Yu Darvish has quickly become a fan favorite on the north side of Chicago. He had a great second half of 2019, while his personality and posts on Twitter have provided entertainment for many Cubs fans this past offseason.

Yet let’s not forget that it wasn’t that long ago that many Cubs fans had deemed the Darvish signing to be a disaster. After signing a big six-year deal with the club, he was ineffective in 2018 before going down with injury. Then, he put together a second half in which he posted a 2.76 ERA in 13 starts, but not before posting a 5.01 ERA in 18 first half starts.

So Darvish has basically had less than half a season of great pitching following one and a half years of injuries and ineffectiveness. I’m not trying to rain on the parade that is Cubs fans’ love for Darvish, but especially with Darvish about to turn 34, it’s far from a guarantee that he will continue to pitch like he did down the stretch late last year.

With Jon Lester appearing to be in the twilight of his career and Jose Quintana not living up to expectations after the big trade for him in 2017, the expectations will be very high for Darvish this season. The Cubs have to have a great season from him; if he stumbles out of the gate and starts walking people at a high rate again, the love fest for Darvish could quickly come to an end.

I hope it doesn’t happen and that Darvish has a great 12 or 13 start season for the Cubs in 2020. All I’m saying is that the fans will be expecting him to continue his dominance from late last year, and if it doesn’t happen, the Cubs’ shortened season could quickly turn south. So though we may not realize it at first, the sky-high expectations for Darvish mean the pressure will be on.