Chicago Cubs: A review of the 2015 season

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Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

Anthony Rizzo sets the tone for the season

Anthony Rizzo is the leader of the Chicago Cubs. He is the team DJ. He gets the team going.

He sets the tone.

That last one was exactly what he did in January during the Cubs Convention.

Rizzo, playing on a team that finished in last place his entire time there, went out on a limb when he predicted that his Chicago Cubs were going to win the National League Central.

His prediction caused a few chuckles among the experts. Cubs Nation loved it, but I doubt few thought reasonably that prediction would come true.

You know the old adage that says if you reach for the stars, you may not get there, but you’ll be surprised at how high you can go, right? Well, the Cubs did not win the division. They finished third, although they had 97 wins. It just happened that the two teams in their own division had 100 and 98 wins.

What did happen, however, was that the Cubs beat both the Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Pirates in the playoffs to reach the NLCS. That adage was on the money, huh?

Rizzo set that tone with that prediction.

He didn’t only do it with his mouth, he also did it with his play. He hit .278/.387/.512, with 31 home runs and 101 RBI. He led the league in games, playing in 160 of them. He had an OPS+ of 144 and he was hit an amazing 30 times.

Whether it was getting a key hit, or making a big defensive play, Rizzo did everything he could to help the Cubs get a victory.

Rizzo, along with Maddon and Lester were part of the Chicago Cubs’ leadership that got the rest of the team thinking of high places in 2015. They did not get to the highest place in baseball, but they went further than anyone thought at the start of the season.

Along the way, there was plenty of magic that was created.

Next: Chicago Cubs Handbook For Their New Fans

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