Chicago Cubs: This is the perfect rotation for the 2021 season

The Chicago Cubs saw Adbert Alzolay take another big step in 2020. He made his MLB debut in 2019 but struggled at times like any first-year starter. After getting a few opportunities in 2020, he was very good. He made four starts and appeared in an extra two games beyond that. It wasn’t the biggest sample size but he pitched pretty well in those games. He had a 2.95 ERA and a 1.172 WHIP. He had 29 strikeouts over his 21.1 innings pitched which was really nice.

Alzolay, at this point, deserves some steady playing time for the Cubs in 2021. He deserves to be a part of the rotation. In a perfect world, he starts as the fifth starter because they added another great one to sit behind Darvish, Hendricks, and Mills. If they don’t add one, don’t be surprised to see Alzolay get an even bigger role handed to him.

He has shown progression as he has come along and his short 2020 season suggests that even further. It should be enough for Jed Hoyer and David Ross to look at his numbers and deem him ready to be a part of the rotation going forward. If he is able to keep up numbers like that going forward and perhaps even improve, the Cubs will have a really good pitcher on their hands. If this is what their rotation looks like in 2021 and they are all healthy, they should have some really good pitching numbers as a unit.