The Chicago Cubs have made huge investments in ensuring that the 2025 campaign is a successful one.
The club acquired star outfielder Kyle Tucker from the Houston Astros, and they parted with a significant amount of talent to add the player they hope can complete the roster building effort they started by signing big names like Dansby Swanson, Seiya Suzuki and Shota Imanaga.
The Cubs’ lineup looks formidable with Tucker, Swanson, Suzuki, Ian Happ and impressive youngsters like Pete Crow-Armstrong and Matt Shaw leading the way. The same goes for the top two of the team’s starting rotation with Imanaga and Justin Steele.
With a strong top half of the roster, whether Chicago breaks its postseason series win drought that extends all the way back to 2017 or not will come down to the performance of its depth pieces.
Perhaps no player is more make-or-break to the team’s overall fate than starting pitcher Jameson Taillon, who is entering the third year of a four-year, $68 million pact with the Cubs.
Taillon, who was picked No. 2 overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2010 MLB draft, spent a long time battling injuries before breaking through as a full-time MLB starter in 2016.
In his first two years with the Cubs, Taillon has performed a Jekyll and Hyde act, struggling to the tune of a 4.84 ERA in 2023 before turning things around while posting a 3.27 ERA a season ago.
The difference between those numbers is basically that of an average No. 5 starter and that of a strong No. 2 starter, and which version of himself Taillon more closely mirrors in 2025 will be a massive factor for Chicago this season.
The team added Matt Boyd and Colin Rea in free agency to join Taillon in rounding out the rotation, and while those two look like a solid four-five duo, it will be Taillon’s responsibility to elevate this starting rotation toward being one of the best units in the National League.
The Florida native posted a 4.50 ERA over his first two spring outings, but he struggled mightily in his last outing before his first regular season start on Saturday.
Facing the Colorado Rockies, Taillon surrendered five earned runs over 4.2 innings of work while striking out six. He surrendered home runs to Michael Toglia and Hunter Goodman along the way.
While the performance is far from a concrete sign that 2023’s version of Taillon is the one the Cubs will get this summer, the team would certainly prefer to see him in a groove right now, especially given the fact that the team is only guaranteed one season of Tucker’s services.
