With the start of the season underway for the Chicago Cubs, the team will be getting set to try and meet some lofty expectations.
Coming in 2025, there are few teams in baseball that improved as much as the Cubs did on paper over the winter. However, Chicago unfortunately ran into one of them in Japan against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Despite a tough start to the year, the Cubs should still be very optimistic about what the team can accomplish this season.
The strong winter has resulted in Chicago being the team to beat in the National League Central, and a big reason for that was because of how they handled the trade market.
Getting a superstar from the Houston Astros was a massive boost to the team and has changed their trajectory for at least this campaign.
Jesse Rogers of ESPN.com (paid subscription required) recently polled 18 MLB executives about who could win the National League MVP if not Shohei Ohtani. Two executives chose Cubs outfielder, Kyle Tucker.
"Might be a long shot in a league of stars, but Kyle Tucker is entering his free agent year and was on his way to some MVP votes last year before he got hurt. I'll go with him," another NL exec said.
Excluding Ohtani from the discussion is a wise move. If he’s healthy, it’s hard to imagine anyone else winning the MVP, especially if he starts pitching again.
However, while the talented two-way player from the Dodgers is the best player in baseball, there are a lot of talented players in the National League.
Tucker might be new to the league, but he is certainly one of the best players. After being traded to Chicago, he seemingly started to get the credit that he deserved as one of the best all-around outfielders in the game.
The three-time All-Star was heading toward a special year in 2024 before being sidelined with an injury. Last campaign, he slashed .289/.408/.585 with 23 home runs and 49 RBI in just 78 games.
If he was able to play an entire season, he would have been in the mix with Aaron Judge and Bobby Witt for the American League MVP.
So far in his career, Tucker has one Top-5 finish in the MVP voting back in 2023. However, the young slugger is just seemingly hitting his prime and he could be poised for an MVP-caliber year.
While dethroning Ohtani will be a challenge, the slugger is one of the players in the league who deserves to be considered as a contender early on for the award. However, the award is still certainly Ohtani’s to lose.
