On Tuesday night, the Cubs beat the Cardinals to win their first Postseason series since 2003 and their first series ever at home. While it was an exciting series with plemty of home runs and a lot of drama, the season is far from over for the team from the North Side of Chicago. When the season does end for the Cubs, it’s safe to say this run was not a fluke. The Cubs have the youth and talent to win for a long time, just as the Cardinals have done for the last decade. This raises an important question: is there a changing of the guard in the National League Central? Has the Reign of the Red Bird finally met it’s end?
While it’s easy to think of the Cubs because they are fresh in everyone’s minds, let’s not forget about the Pirates. This team has made the playoffs three years in a row and finished with the second-best record in baseball this season. With stars like Andrew McCutchen and Pedro Alvarez and solid sidekicks in Gregory Polanco and Starling Marte, the Pirates are far from returning to baseball obscurity. Age-wise, the Pirates currently average 28.2 years old which is about on par with the Cardinals (28.4), but with the exception of Sean Rodriguez, all of their everyday position players are under 30 years old. Ace Gerrit Cole is 24 years old and no members of their bullpen nucleus are above 30.
Furthermore, no one is going anywhere this offseason. Only A.J. Burnett, Aramis Ramirez, and Corey Hart are free agents come November and none of those three are realistically a major cogs in the wheel for the future. The Pirates have build a solid foundation of players. While there are been disappointments the last three years in October, the team is hungry and will continue to improve. The Jolly Roger is only rising higher.
The Cardinals, meanwhile, are in a different boat. While their average age is comparable to the Pirates, several of their big name players are creeping into their mid-thirties. Yadier Molina (32) is still as good as a catcher as there is, but unless your name is Carlton Fisk or Ivan Rodriguez, your career as a catcher rarely reaches age 40. Molina is an old 32 also – since breaking into the majors in 2004, he has played 1,436 games behind the plate (12,026 innings, second behind A.J. Pierzynski among active catchers) and has tacked on an additional 89 games in the Postseason. That’s a lot of miles.
Jhonny Peralta is 33 years old, Mark Reynolds is 31, Adam Wainwright is 33, Matt Holliday is 35, John Lackey is 36, and Randy Choate is 39, though Reynolds, Lackey, and Choate are all free agents. This team as it’s currently constructed won’t win forever. That being said, the team did win 100 games this season despite dealing with injuries all season.. Furthermore, they have plenty of young talent to offset aging and departing veterans. Guys like Kolten Wong, Matt Carpenter, Matt Adams, Tommy Pham, Randal Grichuk, and nearly-postseason-hero Stephen Piscotty are all under 30 years of age. So the Cardinals aren’t going anywhere. The names may have changed, but the results won’t differ much. The only difference is, they will continue to have stiff competition.
Last but not least, the Cubs are proving to be the prototype on how to build a team. President of Baseball Ops Theo Epstein has made a living of taking long-suffering franchises and making them competitive again. Whether he accomplishes what he did in Boston remains to be seen, but he’s well on his way.
The list of players, their ages, and the impact they had on the Cubs this season and more importantly in the postseason is mind-boggling. First baseman Anthony Rizzo is 25 (31 HR, .899 OPS), shortstop Addison Russell is 21 (13, .696), shortstop turned second baseman Starlin Castro is 25, .671), third baseman Kris Bryant is 23 (26, .858), outfielder Kyle Schwarber is 22 (16, .842), and rightfielder Jorge Soler is 23 (10, .723); it’s almost not fair.
Additionally on the mound, Jake Arrieta is 29, Jon Lester is still only 31, and Kyle Hendricks is 25.
If anyone watched the NLDS against the Cardinals, it’s clear that this team is unlike any Cubs team of recent memory. Whereas the 2003 team was a one-hit wonder, and the 1984 squad couldn’t capture the pennant, the 2015 edition is making usually cautious Cubs fans bubble with optimism. Epstein has constructed this team with a good mixture of homegrown talent (Bryant, Soler, Schwarber, and Castro), free agency (Chris Coghlan, Jason Hammel, Lester), Rule 5 Draft (Hector Rondon), and trades (Russell, Miguel Montero, Dexter Fowler, Anthony Rizzo, Jake Arrieta). Many believe that if the Cubs win the World Series, Epstein will be a lock for Cooperstown someday, and it’s hard to argue against that.
Whether they win it all and end the 107 year drought or don’t, the Cubs will be heard from again. Of course, until someone unseats them, this is still technically the Cardinals’s division, but just try to tell that to the Cubs fans who watched their team dismantle the hated team in red.
