Cubs: 3 biggest takeaways from the team’s first 21 games

We’re three weeks into the 2021 regular season and, so far, the Chicago Cubs have been pretty much what we expected them to be: a team capable of going off one day and plating a dozen runs only to fail to score the very next.

Chicago enters Monday’s series opener with Atlanta at 10-11 on the year after getting dominated by Brandon Woodruff for the third time this month. The club looks like a pretty middle-of-the-road team whose future will be determined by how they play over the next two months.

A continued slow start could see the Cubs selling off pieces as early as June, according to Buster Olney, while a first-half hot streak could prompt the team to add one more time at the deadline in hopes of trying to pull a rabbit out of its hat before Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Javier Baez hit free agency at year’s end.

Speaking of Bryant, the former National League MVP is off to a strong start, slashing .292/.373/.597 with a 160 wRC+ on the year. Obviously, seeing him healthy and productive is huge for the Cubs – especially after learning he was playing through some pretty serious injuries last season.

The odds of him re-signing with Chicago seem slim-to-none, but him recapturing some value before the deadline could go a long way in shaping the team’s future in the form of an improved return in any Kris Bryant trade this summer. For now, it’s been nice to see the slugger healthy and dominant on the diamond.