Bill James is widely regarded as one of the best baseball minds in the business. Year after year, James releases his handbook, not only analyzing the past season and looking into he best players in the league, but also projecting out stats for the coming year.
There is no way to know if James was actually wearing a Cubs jersey or holding a betting slip for a Cubs 2016 World Series, but after seeing the numbers neither would be a surprise. James is, to put it mildly, excited about the Cubs coming season.
James goes through each player on the Cubs, giving a full stat line that includes average, slugging, RBI and home runs, among others.
If the Cubs offensive production comes anywhere near James’ projections, the Cubs will be one of the most exciting teams in baseball. Across the board production like this would have opposing pitchers terrified.
James’ projections are a bit more lofty than those from Steamer, another of the top baseball projections outlets. Steamer’s numbers for Bryant, Rizzo and Schwarber are much more similar to their production from 2015. While repeating this past year’s production would almost certainly have the Cubs in the playoff race, these new numbers would make the Cubs a clear favorite.
