The 2014 Chicago Cubs weren’t an excellent baseball staff. They completed 73-89, final place within the Nationwide League Central. There are all kinds of unmemorable gamers who bought many at-bats for that staff, from Arismendy Alcantara to Junior Lake to Justin Ruggiano. There aren’t many Cubs followers who look again at 2014 and say, “Ah, these had been the times.”
However you might see the seeds of what the Cubs had been going to be — and what they’d finally be capable to accomplish — on that roster. There was a 24-year-old Anthony Rizzo; a 21-year-old Javier Báez; a 24-year-old Kyle Hendricks; a 28-year-old Jake Arrieta, who lastly began to determine it out after years of battle in Baltimore. And that staff began to emerge after the Commerce Deadline. The Cubs went 28-27 after the Deadline handed, actually not an earth-shattering file, however after what the Cubs had been within the years earlier than that (96 losses in 2013, 101 in 2012, 91 in 2011), an above-.500 closeout to the season felt like an enormous victory. And most significantly: It was a window into what was coming.
Within the following offseason, the Cubs signed Jon Lester and traded for Dexter Fowler, and in 2015 they promoted Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber … after which they had been off. They’d win 97 video games that season, beating the Pirates within the NL Wild Card Recreation and the Cardinals within the NLDS earlier than being swept by the Mets within the NLCS. And you will have some obscure recollections of how 2016 labored out for them.
The purpose is, the 2014 Cubs are the type of staff, over the past two months of the season, you retain a watch out for: A younger staff that isn’t contending this 12 months however is beginning to present indicators that they might be prepared to take action quickly. They’re the up-and-comers, the groups who will look to slingshot out of a stable last two months into an emergent 2024 season.
Who’re one of the best 2014 Cubs-like candidates down the stretch? Listed below are some potential suspects.
The Pirates made one other first nod to the wave that’s coming by calling up pitching prospect Quinn Priesterone other cog in a machine that’s simply getting began. Henry Davis, Liover Peguero, Nick Gonzales and Endy Rodríguez are able to be lineup mainstays, and whereas their current rising pains have been a part of the explanation the Pirates have light after their sizzling begin, there’s clearly tons of expertise right here working its means into type. The Pirates have six regulars 25 years or youthful, with extra developing by means of the system, and Oneil Cruz needs to be again wholesome subsequent season.
The Pirates, in some ways, are the greatest instance of what we’re speaking about with the 2014 Cubs … or a minimum of they might be if the Reds hadn’t overwhelmed them to it.
You recognize, the Rockies made the playoffs for the second consecutive season solely 5 years in the past. It’s not unimaginable, even in that division. And whereas the Rockies have their justifiable share of issues, there are some indicators of hope. The emergence of Nolan Jones has been useful to a lineup that wants each hit it could get, and Zac Veen, amongst others, is winding his means by means of the system.
However what you wish to see right here is upside, which is why Ezequiel Tovar is a man to control over the past two months. He’s younger, he’s going to play day-after-day and he’s bursting with expertise. Can he put it collectively to provide this staff one thing to construct round? This division is hard, and that is fairly optimistic for the Rockies. However you gotta begin someplace.
After the tough 2022 season, you may be forgiven for writing off the Tigers proper from the get-go. However whereas they’re hardly tearing the league aside this 12 months, the AL Central’s mediocrity has stored them a minimum of inside hanging distance of the division lead. That will not actually matter, as a result of the Tigers are beginning to, a minimum of, see a little bit little bit of fruit from their prospects. Riley Greene has recovered from his damage — an damage that certainly price him an All-Star bid — and appears like a mainstay of this lineup for years to return. However maybe most encouraging has been the rebound of Spencer Torkelson, who has come on over the past two months, climbing all the way in which as much as a 100 OPS+. Which may not sound like a lot — it marks him as a league-average hitter — nevertheless it’s an indication of how far he has come … and the way a lot additional he may need left to go.
There are some good gamers of their 20s on this roster: Greene, Torkelson, Matt Vierling, Kerry Carpenter, even. Akil Baddoo continues to be simply 24. They might ship out some expertise on the Deadline, however none of it is going to be younger, and people gamers can have loads of alternatives to proceed to make their mark. And hey, you by no means know: On this division, they may fiddle and truly win the factor this 12 months.
OK, so it might sound very unusual to place the Cardinals right here, contemplating this has been maybe their most depressing season in twenty years they usually’re about to be buying and selling away something that’s not nailed down in an specific try to usher in as a lot pitching as attainable. However as we’ve seen because the All-Star break — the Cardinals won five in a row heading into their sequence at Wrigley Discipline — it is a prideful franchise stuffed with gamers who are usually not used to having little to play for down the stretch … and need very a lot to put some groundwork for 2024.
However whereas veterans like Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt are protecting the Cardinals afloat, the younger gamers are those who give motive to get enthusiastic about this staff heading into subsequent 12 months. After the preliminary hype, Jordan Walker has settled into being probably the most constant younger hitters within the recreation, and gamers like Brendan Donovan (who has been improbable for a month now), Lars Nootbaar and Iván Herrera are making their instances for being linchpins shifting ahead as properly. If the Cardinals find yourself buying and selling Paul DeJong, as many suspect, top prospect Masyn Winn may very well be put in because the shortstop for the remainder of the 12 months, too. The Cardinals aren’t going away, regardless of the frustration of this season. They’ll wish to present, these final two months, what they are often in 2024. (Now, about that pitching …)
Almost a decade later, why can’t the original-recipe Cubs repeat what the 2014 Cubs set in movement? This belies the Cubs’ constructive strides this 12 months — this stays, in any case, the one staff within the division with a constructive run differential — however that 7 1/2-game deficit is substantial. What makes you most excited in regards to the Cubs? There’s the proof of idea that their plan for this 12 months — shore up the protection and get extra athletic — has labored: One of many foremost causes Justin Steele and Marcus Stroman have had success is as a result of they’ve had that protection behind them.
There are additionally the younger gamers who’ve already stepped ahead, particularly Christopher Morel and Miguel Amaya. And there are the blokes who’re coming, together with Pete Crow-Armstrong, who may very well be referred to as up any day now. This division is up within the air over the following few years, and the Cubs appear well-positioned to reap the benefits of it.
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Printed : 2023-07-21 03:27:12
