Chicago Cubs: Four position players who must excel in 2018

Which Chicago Cubs can either bounce back or step up from their 2017 performances and help the North Siders compete for another title?

By no means was 2017 a bad season for the Chicago Cubs.

After all, they did win the National League Central Division and made it to the NLCS, where they lost to an obviously superior Los Angeles Dodgers team.

That said, now that this franchise truly has the potential to compete for a World Series every season, close doesn’t satisfy anyone.

Last season was good, but it didn’t achieve its end.

In 2018, the Chicago Cubs need to find their championship formula again.

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They’ve certainly done their part to try and shore up their pitching staff, especially in adding Yu Darvish to their starting rotation. Furthermore, they have a lot of depth in the bullpen and will hope for more consistency from guys like Carl Edwards Jr. (we’ll get to that in another post).

But if they want to end up in the World Series again, they need big years from a few position players as well.

Of course, we expect big things from Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo. But they can’t do everything by themselves.

Which members of their supporting cast need to step up their game to make the Chicago Cubs’ lineup more dangerous?