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One stat for the Chicago Cubs that needs to be better in 2025
The Chicago Cubs' needs this offseason—between their pitching staff and offense—will go hand in hand.
Since Jed Hoyer took over as President of Baseball Operations for the Cubs after the 2020 season, the team has prided itself on living at the margins. That is not something that Hoyer will openly admit to, but when the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Guardians, and Tampa Bay Rays are the blueprint models of organizational success for the Cubs, it speaks to how they want to live on the fringe of being a good team and hope to get lucky.
It's essentially how the Cubs have pieced together their 2024 pitching staff. It seemed like a safe bet that even if there was regression, Justin Steele was going to prove capable of remaining at the top of the rotation and Shota Imanaga's rookie season continues to impress.
Those were safe gambles for the Cubs when it came to their pitching staff, and while you need those, a pitching staff also needs power pitching. Major League Baseball is trending toward a situation where power pitching is the difference between a great pitching staff and a good pitching staff.
MLB fourseamers thrown at 95+ MPH:
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) September 4, 2024
2011 - 17.2%
2012 - 18.3%
2013 - 20.5%
2014 - 21.3%
2015 - 26.1%
2016 - 26.5%
2017 - 27.0%
2018 - 26.3%
2019 - 27.5%
2020 - 28.1%
2021 - 31.2%
2022 - 34.0%
2023 - 37.9%
2024 - 39.6% pic.twitter.com/lbkY6CHuDv
While velocity has been an upward trend for Major League Baseball, it hasn't been for the Cubs. In a stat highlighted in The Athletic of each team's best and worst stat this season, it's no surprise that the Cubs' worst stat this season is their velocity. The Cubs' average velocity this season sits at 87.6 MPH, the worst in Major League Baseball.
That is a terrible look for the Cubs. The reason why it is a terrible look is that if the Cubs are going to pride themselves on their pitching staff and run prevention, then their execution has to be flawless. Going against the trend when constructing a pitching staff is something that will always have the Cubs needing to find luck in probabilities instead of having the assurance of a pitcher being able to blow a fastball past a hitter. If the Cubs want to be a legitimate contender next season, they will need to look for power pitching this winter.
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