Wake up, Cubs fans, spring training is practically here!
The Cubs are the first team to report to spring training, with their first workout for pitchers and catchers scheduled on Sunday. Full-squad workouts begin Feb. 14.
They’re starting early because their series against the Dodgers in Tokyo will open the season more than a week before MLB’s stateside Opening Day. The Dodgers, who went through a similar schedule last spring as part of the Seoul Series, will be the second team to begin formal workouts.
Scheduling spring training around international travel in March is new for this Cubs squad. They’ve adjusted offseason programs accordingly, making this spring training much easier to plan for than the pandemic-interrupted summer camp in 2020 or the lockout-delayed spring in 2022.
The change in time zones is bound to be disruptive, even with the Cubs playing in Arizona and Sacramento after returning from Tokyo. But they’ll also get to start the season with a unique experience, leading into a year of high expectations.
Here’s what you need to know as camp kicks off:
Important dates
Sunday – First workout for pitchers and catchers
Feb. 14 – First full-squad workout
Feb. 20 – Cubs open Cactus League play against Dodgers at Camelback Ranch
March 14, 16 – Exhibition games in Tokyo
March 18-19 – Tokyo Series against Dodgers
March 21-25 – Cubs resume spring training
March 27 – Stateside Opening Day at Diamondbacks
Injuries to keep an eye on
Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner, who make up the Cubs’ staunch middle-infield duo, both underwent offseason surgeries.
Swanson (sports hernia surgery) said at Cubs Convention last month that he’d been dealing with the ailment for over a year and first tried to address it with rehab. But with the timing of the October operation, he isn’t expected to miss time.
“Getting a procedure done gives you an opportunity to get reset, refocus on the things that you need to do in order to be healthy and stay healthy,” Swanson said.
Hoerner, too, was optimistic about the eventual payoff of his right forearm surgery. But it’s less clear whether he’ll be ready for Opening Day.
“You take playing as many games in the season as possible into consideration, and it’s obviously a huge source of motivation,” Hoerner said last month, before he began a throwing program. “But both for myself and for the team, making sure that I’m in a place not only just to get back to being able to play, but actually being able to be myself.”
The injury reshaped Hoerner’s offseason work. But he’s looking to the fall of 2018 for inspiration when he received a platelet-rich plasma injection in his left elbow to address a UCL injury and said he only had a couple weeks to build up for the Arizona Fall League. Then he hit .337, with nine extra-base hits in 21 games.
“It was a time that I really feel like, for my own confidence, put me in a place where I knew I was on the track to be a good big-leaguer and playing in professional baseball, really, for the first time,” Hoerner said. “And so that gives me a lot of confidence that I don’t need three or four months to get ready for a season.”
Season expectations
After the Brewers claimed the National League Central title last September, Cubs manager Craig Counsell said his new organization should be trying to build 90-win teams.
“That’s the playoff standard,” Counsell said.
Well, according to PECOTA’s latest projections, they have the Cubs winning the division with 90.5 wins and a 87.1% chance of making the playoffs.
The offseason moves — including acquiring right fielder Kyle Tucker, high-leverage reliever Ryan Pressly and left-handed starter Matthew Boyd — paired with the trajectory of the Brewers and Cardinals make them the clear favorite to win the division.
That much will likely remain true even as projections fluctuate with transactions through the rest of the offseason and spring training. Then it’s up to the Cubs to prove they deserve the vote of confidence.