Cards ranked ahead of Cubs in ESPN's Future Power Rankings
Ken Blaze - USA Today Sports

Cards ranked ahead of Cubs in ESPN's Future Power Rankings


by - Senior Editor -

CHICAGO -- USA TODAY released their latest article with their major league power rankings and had the Chicago Cubs ranked No. 6 overall behind the Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers, Cleveland Indians, Washington Nationals, and New York Yankees.

"Hoping slimmed-down Kyle Schwarber can produce," the website said.

The teams in the National League Central rankings were No. 8 Milwaukee Brewers, No. 12 St. Louis Cardinals, No. 24 Pittsburgh Pirates, No. 28 Cincinnati Reds.

In a more interesting ranking, ESPN released their MLB Future Power rankings with a forecast of the best teams over the next five years and had the Cubs again at surprisingly low No. 6 overall.

However, the top five teams changed were the New Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Houston Astros, ST. LOUIS CARDINALS, and Atlanta Braves. The rankings were determined by the following factors: current talent (25 percent), future talent (45 percent), financial support (25 percent), and front office (10 percent).

Are you kidding me with the St. Louis Cardinals' ranking? I understand that they have some decent prospects coming down the pipeline, but they have an aging crop of players with their veteran captain Yadier Molina and some of their starting pitchers like Adam Wainwright. The Redbirds at No. 5 are a head scratcher for sure as the Cubs have a ton of positional talent that will all be in their baseball prime in the next few years.

I understand that the Cubs will eventually have to dole out some big-time money to Kris Bryant, Kyle Hendricks, Addison Russell, Javier Baez, and others but these guys are some of the youngest experienced talents out there. Remember these guys have already won a World Series ring and that will only help in the next five years. This is what is great about sports projections; we can agree or disagree and eventually watch it all unfold in front of our eyes. My money is on the Cubs the next five years over the Redbirds.

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