MLB Network makes bold prediction Chicago Cubs fans will love heading into 2025

The Chicago Cubs haven't won more than 83 games in a season since 2019 (84). They've posted the same 83-79 record in each of the last two years, missing the postseason in both. In 2024, they finished a distant 10 games back of the first-place Milwaukee Brewers, even after poaching their longtime manager, Craig Counsell, in the offseason.

This winter has brought excitement Cubs fans haven't felt in some time, thanks to the Kyle Tucker trade that adds the badly-needed impact bat the offense has lacked for years. Whether the All-Star is only here for 2025 or becomes a new franchise cornerstone via a record-setting contract extension, the buzz around his arrival is very real.

He, no doubt, plays a big part in MLB Network's preseason prediction for the Cubs: winning a postseason game.

Now, in a large market like Chicago, simply winning a postseason game shouldn't be the end goal. But when you're the Cubs, who haven't won a playoff contest since the 2017 NLCS, it feels like very substantive progress.

This is an organization that last sniffed October baseball on the heels of the fan-less, shortened 2020 season. The 2020 NL Central champs squared off against the Miami Marlins at an empty Wrigley Field in the Wild Card round - and were promptly swept out of the playoff picture by Don Mattingly's club. The following year, a mid-season fire-sale marked the start of yet another rebuild - and this is the year the team should finally turn the corner.

With roughly $50 million left to spend before the first CBT threshold, there's no reason this roster should be anywhere close to complete - and all signs point to Jed Hoyer adding more arms and refreshing the bench after cutting ties with Patrick Wisdom, Nick Madrigal, Miles Mastrobuoni and Mike Tauchman this winter.

A number of high-profile relievers are still available outside of Tanner Scott, who could fetch a deal in excess of $60 million over four years, giving the Cubs a real chance of solidifying the bullpen. Tucker is the big move of the winter - the biggest of Hoyer's career. If he can make the most of the next 4-6 weeks, it may not only push Chicago back into the postseason, but it may save his job, as well.