2024 season preview: Cubs talk up clubhouse connection while eyeing playoffs

MESA, Ariz. — The Cubs held a series of Q&A sessions in the clubhouse during spring training, each featuring a veteran and a younger player until they’d made it most of the way through the room.

Much of the content — players opening up to teammates about their experiences and careers — was meant to be kept within the group. The intent of the exercise was clear.

“We’re going to have to use this whole room, so that goes back to all being in it together,” veteran right-hander Kyle Hendricks told the Sun-Times. “When a guy does get brought up [from the minors], he’s going to be asked to be in big situations, so just to have that familiarity with the group, already to feel connected, that we’re all in it together — it’s just super important to winning games.”

Said veteran catcher Yan Gomes: “The clubhouse is such a sacred place, and if you can’t get comfortable here, we’re not getting the best out of you. And I think that’s the biggest thing that [manager Craig] Counsell and the rest of us are trying to do.”

The Cubs broke camp Tuesday, heading west to Arlington, Texas, where they’ll open the season Thursday night against the Rangers at Globe Life Field. They go into it with a group similar to the one that fell a game short of the playoffs in 2023. After growing together and individually last year, they added key reinforcements over the offseason, including starting pitcher Shota Imanaga, veteran reliever Hector Neris and outfielder Cody Bellinger, who re-signed during spring training. And they now have a renowned manager at the helm.

“You’re excited about it because we’re at the start of something fun,” Counsell said. “But we have to start writing the story on Thursday.”

The Cubs aren’t a favorite to win the World Series, but they should be pushing for the National League Central title against competition includes the snakebit Cardinals and Reds and Pirates teams made up of a lot of young talent. There’s excitement but also uncertainty.

“We have a lot of good players, which we did last year, and I just feel like those good players have gotten better,” shortstop Dansby Swanson said. “We don’t ever put enough stock into that — that players can get better. We just kind of see them for what they were last year, or what we think they are, when in reality, what matters most is what each player thinks they are. We have a lot of guys in here that believe in themselves and make necessary adjustments to get better and to make a difference for our club.”

The bullpen has a chance to take a big step forward. Last year’s back-end trio — Adbert Alzolay, Mark Leiter Jr. and Julian Merry-weather — were in uncharted waters in those roles last season. Now they have not just experience but also Neris and another veteran, Yency Almonte, to lean on.

The offense has Seiya Suzuki, who has had a hot bat all spring, and Christopher Morel, each entering his third year in the majors and capable of providing a real boost to the lineup. The Cubs also traded for first baseman Michael Busch, who, as team president Jed Hoyer put it, doesn’t have any more to prove in Triple-A. He’ll have the runway to show what he can do at the big-league level.

Some players are bound to regress — it happens on every team. But the Cubs’ balance of youth and experience promises upside. And if they perform well in the first half, they can always add at the trade deadline, ideally avoiding the mad dash they had to pull off last year to scrape their way into contention just in time to be considered buyers.

“We went through things last year that were very valuable,” second baseman Nico Hoerner said when asked about team identity. “And I think we’re closer to having a sense of that. But I think something that Counsell’s done a nice job of is talking about setting good standards and things that we value as a group, but also being open to [the idea that] the season is really what brings those things out of a group, and every year is different. And what this group is going to be is going to be determined by how we respond to things as the year goes on.

“I do think we have a very resil-ient group. We’re consistent, this and that, but as far as what this team is going to be, [it’s] just up
to us and what we do throughout the year.”

Hendricks, the only player left on the roster from the 2016 World Series team, sees some parallels between the group that broke the curse and this group that’s trying to make the Cubs a championship contender again.

“We had so many guys [then] that just loved baseball, loved being here, wanted the ball, just loved playing, wanted to be in that big moment,” Hendricks said.

Added Gomes, who won a World Series with the Nationals in 2019: “In a way, you’re trying to create to where guys love being around this group, love coming here — which is just going to lead to, when we step on the field, to be able to back each other up. I’ve seen, through some teams that I’ve played on, that’s the stuff that makes a difference.”