How Many Games Can the Cubs Win in 2022?

 I hope you all had a great Christmas, as I did, and now I'm back to writing you some articles on America's favorite team...the Chicago Cubs. 

I must admit that my article title is pretty subjective and open to lots of unexpected things, but nevertheless, I'm still going to try to figure out how many games the Cubs can win in 2022.

One big factor is Carlos Correa. If the Cubs do end up getting Correa, then they might be winning a few more games than I originally thought. If they do not and settle for a high-defense shortstop (like trading for Ha-Seong Kim), then they might not win as many games as if they had Correa. So, I'm just going to go based off of the Cubs current roster and add a few things at the end.

Infield

Infield contributes a lot to winning games, as the Cubs illustrated in 2021. If you don't have good infield defense, then you allow runners to reach base. Then they end up scoring, and you end up losing the game. Not fun. Right now (without Correa), the Cubs have Schwindel at first, Madrigal at second, Hoerner at shortstop, Wisdom at third, and Contreras as catcher.

Of course, there are others, with Bote, Alcantara, Rivas, and Gomes all on the Cubs infield roster. But with the infield as it is, is it enough to help the Cubs win games? Defensively, I would say the Cubs' infield is slightly above average, but not an elite infield. Enough to be better than it was in 2021? I would say yes. Enough to be play-off ready? Probably not. But I think for 2022, it'll be sufficient. 

Offensively, there is a lot of variety. You have Schwindel, the power hitter that doesn't strikeout much. The you have Hoerner and Madrigal, who are both contact hitters, don't strikeout much, and always put pressure on the other team by constantly getting on base. You also have Wisdom, who's always striking out and hitting homers, and Contreras, who is an all-around solid hitter. As far as infield hitting goes, it'll be a pain in the neck that will certainly score some runs.

Outfield

You need a good outfield to win games too. Actually, an above average outfield sure helps. A lot. Anyways, the Cubs have about 6 outfielders right now, and a couple more will likely make their debut in 2022. They have Ortega, Happ, Heyward, Hermosillo, Ramirez, and Frazier. And every single one of them are players that aren't elite and well established. Ortega, Ramirez, Hermosillo, and Frazier are basically reclamation projects that the Cubs are *hoping* works out in 2022, and Happ is always up and down, and Heyward has majorly underperformed...so overall not an elite outfield.

Defensively, Hermosillo, Heyward are the only ones that are above average, with the others being either slightly below average (Frazier, Happ) or not very good at all (Ramirez, Ortega). So, not the best outfield defensively.

Offensively, it is a bit of a wild guess. I literally have no clue how any of them will actually do offensively. Happ might be great in 2022, or he might go through the same process of being cold and them hot at the end of the season. Heyward might be terrible again, or he might do a little better in 2022. Frazier might suddenly get hot and build on his excellent 2020, or he might continue to struggle like he did in 2021. And so on. 

I think outfield is going to be one of the big things the Cubs need to figure out in 2022. As to which of them will actually produce well offensively. Which ones can combine both good defense and offense. Which of them can contribute to the Cubs' future plans. 

With the outfield they have right now, I think it's going to be anyone's guess as to how they perform. At least they do have a variety of players in the outfield, and I really hope at least three of them excel in 2022!

Pitching

As we know, the Cubs stunk at pitching in 2021. Nothing new there. With the improved pitching, can the Cubs start to win more games in 2022? They now have Stroman, Miley, and Hendricks at the top of the rotation, and Alzolay, Steele, and Mills in the last couple spots. 

The bullpen has tons of talent as well, but the main thing is getting everyone's role and talent to its top potential. With new pitchers like Marquez, Roberts, and Kilian likely to make the bullpen, plus those like Wick, Heuer, and Rodriguez, the Cubs have potential to have a great bullpen. 

I do believe that the Cubs' pitching will win them more games this year. If the Cubs pitchers can start making the top rankings, you know that the Cubs will be benefiting from that. And that means winning games.

Summary

How many games can the Cubs actually win in 2022? Right now, without Correa or any other additions, I'm going to put them at about 82 wins. You might think that's high, and it might be, but what I see in pitching and general talent, I can see the Cubs actually reaching that. With Correa and a couple other additions, I can see them reaching maybe even 85-86 wins. 

Forgive me for being an optimistic Cubs writer when the Cubs end the season with 76 wins, but I really do think that it's realistic for the Cubs to reach that. After all, they did get to 71 wins when the team was a mess, and now it's much more organized and additions have been made, will 11 more wins be feasible? I think so. 

If you have any other comments, leave them below and as always, have a fantastic day!