Cubs poised to pick higher than even the White Sox in the 2025 MLB Draft

At this point, the 2024 season is an unmitigated failure. The Chicago Cubs entered Thursday in last place in the NL Central, 11 games back of the first-place Brewers and five games out of a wild card spot in the National League.

With some exceptions in the starting rotation, the entire roster, more or less, has underperformed and Jed Hoyer has drawn withering criticism of late because of it. Yes, there is time to turn things around, but Chicago will need to play at a blistering rate down the stretch to even have a chance at sneaking into the postseason at this point.

As much as I don't want to think about an ongoing season in such terms, it's worth looking ahead to next year's MLB Draft and what the Cubs' poor showing in 2024 could mean regarding the team's draft position. As things currently stand, Chicago has the fifth-best lottery odds, with an 8.21% chance of snagging the top overall pick.

At this point, we shouldn't be talking about the Cubs' draft position

In those odds, they trail just the Rockies, Marlins, Angels and Blue Jays. Remember, this is a relatively new system - part of the current CBA. Teams that don't make the postseason (which the Cubs look like they'll be) are entered into a lottery for the top six picks in the draft. In a few short weeks, Chicago will pick 14th overall in the 2024 MLB Draft, so they're poised for a major jump in position heading into next year.

Of course, the bigger story is that the Cubs are even in this conversation after heading into the season with an oft-stated goal of winning the NL Central. Instead, they're looking up at Craig Counsell's former team running away with the division, left begging for scraps in a heap of other less-than-deserving postseason hopefuls.