Over at the main site, Wrigleyville’s Editor-in-Chief, Rian Watt, previewed the Cubs’ 2016 season as part of the “Winter Is Leaving” series. We thought you’d enjoy this selection from that piece.
You know the Cubs are young. I mean, everybody has spent all offseason telling you that. But do you fully appreciate just how young they are? I don’t think you do. I don’t think you’ve spent enough time considering just how recently these young men came into this ever-turning world. This piece will change all of that, and it’ll also introduce a bold new projection system into a world sorely lacking more duplicative effort.
We’re going to project the 2016 season for seven young Cubs—all currently under the age of 26, and under the watchful eye of Joe Maddon—using two highly scientific methods. The first is PECOTA. You already know about that one, and so we won’t speak of it further. The other is this: We’ll identify the number one song on the Billboard Hot 100 on the day each of these young men was born, and use it to project the season to come. I recognize this is a novel method. But each revolution has its trailblazers, and I intend to be a trailblazer of this Sonic Projection System (SPS). Come with me, then, on a journey into some truly regrettable musical choices. You may remember a few of these songs …
Anthony Rizzo
August 8th, 1989
Prince, “Batdance”
What PECOTA Says: .264/.353/.489, 31 HR, .301 TAv, 3.7 WARP
What The Beat Says: Let’s get this out of the way right up top. Prince is weird. Prince is also awesome, but it’s important to never let his awesomness draw attention away from his weirdness, which is where attention rightly belongs, when it comes to Prince. Judging from this song, which was the ninth and final track on the Batman soundtrack, it’s pretty clear that Anthony Rizzo’s 2016 will be weird in some odd, heretofore unexpected way. Perhaps he’ll steal 30 bases. Perhaps he’ll triple more often than he homers. Perhaps he’ll pitch an inning or two. The song’s funky message is clear: “You can do anything / you want to.” The question then becomes this: What does Rizzo want to do with this, his fourth full season in the majors?
For the full piece, please head on over to Baseball Prospectus.
Lead photo courtesy Joe Camporeale—USA Today Sports.