We’re coming up on Spring Training, which means it’s time to start prognosticating. For us here at Bleacher Nation, it means our series of posts about why each team in the National League Central is going to suck (are you getting excited?).
But Baseball Prospectus has jumped the gun on projecting the entire NL Central to suck this year, including the Chicago Cubs. BP puts together projected W/L records for every team in the majors based on the component pieces of their team.
The good news is that BP sees the St. Louis Cardinals winning just 79 games, and the Brewers winning just 81. The bad news is that they see the Cubs winning just 76 games – finishing 10 games under .500. They’ve got the Brewers winning the division with their .500 record, topping the Cardinals, Reds, Cubs, Astros, and Pirates, in that order.
The key to the Cubs’ projected struggles? Nope, not the offense, which they project to be average. It’s the pitching and defense: the Cubs are expected to give up the third most runs in the entire National League. Finally someone has noticed the potential pitching disaster looming for the Cubs.