As I am writing this, there are only a few more hours before the deadline for the Cubs to announce their Wild Card roster. Before that happens, I wanted to address a couple of the predictions that have been made.
First off, I really respect the guys from the Athletic (Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney), and I make it a habit to read all of their stuff and always catch the North Side Territory podcast. That being said, I am perplexed by a couple of their predictions for the postseason roster, However, if they turn out to be correct, I will be sure not to doubt them again.
First off, they predicted 13 pitchers and 13 position players. With the platoon pinch-hitting they’ve done (Taylor/Happ and Shaw/Conforto), only two catchers, and the potential limitations for Alex Bregman, I can’t see the Cubs going with only 13 position players. The split is almost always 14/12 hitters to pitchers in a Wild Card round. In 2025, 6 Wild Card teams went with 12 pitchers and 2 went with only 11.
Then, when you look at the 13 pitchers they chose, Edward Cabrera, Javier Assad and Colin Rea made the cut and Aaron Civale did not. Adding Cabrera would be a Hail Mary, as he has not shown indications that he has enough command of his stuff to be effective. In his 3 relief appearances, he pitched 4 innings, giving up 5 hits, 4 walks and 4 runs.
NOTE: I just noticed today’s Mooney article on Boyd starting Game 1, confirming the Cubs will go with only 12 pitchers and that Edward Cabrera will not be one of them.
The Assad versus Rea versus CIvale versus Imanaga, with three spots available is worth some debate. They are all pitchers who have started, but only Imanaga has started a lot recently. And they are all guys who could go multiple innings if necessary. Imanaga would give them another left to use for a specific block of hitters, which gives him a small advantage. But the other three provide similar value. I’ve seen Civale left off several projections, and while he was a waiver pickup, and he’s given up runs in some recent appearances, his ERA is still a sparkling 1.72 with the Cubs as a reliever. Personally, I’d would prefer him to Rea, but we will soon find out.
With another roster spot open for a position player, there are two names I think the Cubs would consider – Gabrial Arias and Justin Dean. Both have some speed and are good defensively, but don’t provide much hitting. So they would be ideal pinch runners or late inning defensive replacements. With Bregman still a question mark defensively, I think Arias will get the nod. But if the Cubs think Bregman can play third, Dean provides more speed off of the bench.
So all that beings said, my predictions are the same as everybody else for 24 of the players. Then I have Civale over Rea (and Assad and Imanaga on the roster), and Dean over Arias, unless Bregman can’t play third base.
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