Latest MLB Network rankings make the Cubs' strongest position painfully clear

Need to understand just how potent the Chicago Cubs' offense could be in 2025? A huge piece of that puzzle shined brightly on Thursday night as MLB Network unveiled its Top 10 right fielders heading into the 2025 season, with some big-time surprises in the mix.

Baseball's best right fielder, according to MLB Network, is New York Yankees slugger and two-time AL MVP Aaron Judge, who is coming off a 10.8 bWAR season in the Bronx after slugging 58 home runs and driving in 144 runs in a campaign reminiscent of Sammy Sosa's peak years on the North Side in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

From there, though, things get weird - in the best way if you're a Cubs fan. One might assume that the man who just signed the richest contract in baseball history would be second - but they'd be wrong. The #2 spot on the leaderboard belongs to none other than new Chicago right fielder Kyle Tucker.

The difference between the two has to be their defensive abilities. Tucker is, hands down, a far superior defender to the Mets' new right fielder - and is a more complete all-around player, capable of impacting the game at the plate, on the basepaths and in the outfield. Fans in Queens might not love to hear that, but it's the truth.

Soto checks in at #3, followed by the San Diego Padres' Fernando Tatis Jr., who - like Tucker - missed considerable time in 2024 due to injury. But the big shocker on the list comes in at #5 in another Cubs outfielder (now full-time DH) Seiya Suzuki. Suzuki was quietly one of the best offensive players in the league last year, but it's clear that his bat makes up a huge chunk of the value he offers.

Cubs have something special in Seiya Suzuki and Kyle Tucker

That didn't seem to matter much to MLB Network's The Shredder, though, which ranked Suzuki higher than former NL Rookie of the Year Corbin Carroll and former National League MVP Ronald Acuna Jr., who made history as baseball's first 40/70 man in 2023 before missing almost the entire 2024 campaign due to a knee injury.

Acuna Jr.'s checkered past on the injury front is definitely a key factor here, as he's missed considerable time in all but two of his seven MLB seasons. When he's at 100 percent, he's a generational talent - the question moving forward is whether or not he can stay on the field enough to make that sort of impact.

The fact the Cubs carry 40 percent of the top 5 in right field heading into the season makes one thing clear: together, Tucker and Suzuki could take the team's offense to new heights in 2025 - not to mention Tucker in right with Pete Crow-Armstrong and Ian Happ rounding out the mix might be the best defensive outfield in the league.

If that duo produces as expected, we should see the Cubs take a major step forward and finally live up to the bare minimum threshold for success this year: winning the National League Central in a full season for the first time since 2017.