Chicago Cubs Have Shockingly High Odds To Make Postseason This Year
The Chicago Cubs are playing well above expectations and are trending towards being serious contenders.
It's not that the Chicago Cubs weren't expected to be good this season, but being this good might be a little bit shocking to some.
As MLB.com's Thomas Harrigan looked around at the league's biggest risers in the playoff race, the Cubs came in second behind the Baltimore Orioles.
At the start of 2024, Chicago had a 41.3% chance to make the postseason.
Now, 25 games in, they are looking at a much better 58.9%.
They currently sit just half a game behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the race for the NL Central and are two ahead of the field for a spot in the Wild Card.
How did this happen, despite dealing with injuries to a couple of key starters in Justin Steele and Seiya Suzuki early into the year?
The emergence of two rookies that are performing well above expectations has been highlighted as one of the reasons.
Shota Imanaga, among pitchers with at least 20 innings under their belt, has the third-best ERA in baseball sitting at just 0.84. He leads that group in FIP and is second in BB/9. The 30-year-old has simply been dominant.
He was a star pitcher in Japan for years before coming to the MLB, but few expected his game to translate as well as it has. His emergence as an ace made the loss of Steele sting a bit less and will make his return even more exciting.
On offense, leading NL Rookie of the Year candidate Michael Busch has also found a lot of success.
The Cubs traded for Busch and Yency Almonte from the Los Angeles Dodgers back in January and are already getting wonderful returns on investment.
His bat is much more lively than expected so far, sitting with an .865 OPS as he leads the team in home runs and is second in RBIs.
Obviously, two players don't magically turn a team into contenders, but it certainly doesn't hurt.
The Cubs have been a very solid team so far and continue to get tested as Cody Bellinger just hit the 10-day IL.
Once they are fully healthy, they could be one of baseball's scariest teams.
