Cubs Relying on Deepened Roster To Achieve Ultimate Goal of Making Postseason

The Chicago Cubs fell woefully short of expectations during the 2024 season.

After the hiring manager Craig Counsell away from the Milwaukee Brewers, many thought the franchise was ready to leap the standings. Instead, it was his old team that ran away with the National League Central title.

The Cubs finished 10 games behind Counsell’s former team, winning 83 games for the second consecutive campaign.

Nothing clicked consistently as Chicago struggled to find a rhythm throughout the year.

Early on, it was the bullpen that faltered and could not hold onto leads. The lineup was inconsistent and would not reliably produce runs, leading to some tough losses.

A playoff team they were not, but there is pressure on that to change in 2025.

The Cubs made one of the biggest acquisitions of the offseason, landing Houston Astros star right fielder Kyle Tucker in a trade.

One of the best positional players in baseball, he is capable of anchoring this lineup and having everyone play off of him. He is a three-time All-Star who will be motivated to produce and stay healthy since he is staring at a massive payday in free agency.

However, there are legitimate questions about whether or not the team did enough to be considered runaway favorites in the division.

Slashing payroll isn’t a good look for an ownership group that has been accused of being cheap in the past. There looked to have been opportunities for the team to make other upgrades to the roster, but they opted for bargain-hunting in free agency.

However, the team’s depth is improved, which will help out this year after injuries derailed the team in 2024.

“The roster looks better prepared to weather some of the injury issues that took a toll on the club in last season’s 83-win showing,” wrote Jordan Bastian of MLB.com.

Some projections barely have the team improving on that 83-win mark, which leaves very little room for error.

With so much pressure on people in the front office to build a playoff team, urgency needs to be shown during the year to turn that into a reality.

In Bastian’s opinion, making the postseason is the one thing that needs to happen for Chicago in 2025.

“Simply put: the Cubs need to make the postseason. All of the moves made by president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer this offseason pointed to a sense of urgency to return to the October stage,” he wrote.

It will be interesting to see how long until the Cubs start dipping into their impressive stable of prospects, whether it be to jumpstart the Major League lineup or use as assets to build a trade package around.

The pressure is on with Tucker set to hit free agency, as there is no guarantee he will be with the squad beyond this year.

Going out and spending a little more money during the season would go a long way to convincing him to commit long term.