{"id":163718,"date":"2026-03-13T16:04:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T16:04:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=163718"},"modified":"2026-03-13T16:04:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T16:04:49","slug":"cubs-chaos-mode-activated-massive-roster-purge-blockbuster-additions-drop-as-opening-day-looms-chicago-just-flipped-the-script-on-their-2025-roster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=163718","title":{"rendered":"CUBS CHAOS MODE ACTIVATED! Massive Roster Purge &#038; Blockbuster Additions Drop as Opening Day Looms\u2014Chicago Just FLIPPED the Script on Their 2025 Roster!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wp.clutchpoints.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Craig-Counsell_691832.jpg?w=1200\" alt=\"Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell watches as Alex Bergman is introduced as a new Cubs player at a press conference at Wrigley Field.\" \/><\/p>\n<article id=\"article-3733090\">The Chicago Cubs are currently taking part in spring training as they gear up for the upcoming 2026 season. The Cubs are looking to bounce back after losing to the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLDS to end their season in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, as spring training continues, the team announced a slew of moves they made along their roster.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Chicago Cubs today reduced the spring training roster from 53 to 46 players,\u201d the team reported on X, formerly Twitter, before going into specifics on the transactions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOutfielder Justin Dean and left-handed pitchers Ryan Rolison and Luke Little have been optioned to Triple-A Iowa. Catchers Ariel Almas and Casey Opitz and outfielder Brett Bateman and right-handed pitcher Vince Velasquez have been returned to minor league camp,\u201d they concluded.<\/p>\n<p>Some fans in the comment section were surprised at some of the announcements, particularly regarding Little, the 6&#8217;8\u2033 pitcher who was selected by the team back in the 2020 MLB Draft, making his major league debut in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>The Cubs are hoping to continue the success of last season, which saw the team win 92 games and earn a spot in the divisional round against Milwaukee after defeating the San Diego Padres in the Wild Card round. That marked the first Cubs&#8217; postseason appearance since the 2020 season, and the team has won just one playoff series outside the Wild Card since their 2016 World Series championship victory.<\/p>\n<p>In any case, the Cubs&#8217; regular season is slated to get underway later this month with a home series against the Washington Nationals, beginning on March 26.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Chicago Cubs are currently taking part in spring training as they gear up for the upcoming 2026 season. The Cubs are looking to bounce back after&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163719,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-163718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>CUBS CHAOS MODE ACTIVATED! Massive Roster Purge &amp; Blockbuster Additions Drop as Opening Day Looms\u2014Chicago Just FLIPPED the Script on Their 2025 Roster! - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=163718\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CUBS CHAOS MODE ACTIVATED! Massive Roster Purge &amp; Blockbuster Additions Drop as Opening Day Looms\u2014Chicago Just FLIPPED the Script on Their 2025 Roster! - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Chicago Cubs are currently taking part in spring training as they gear up for the upcoming 2026 season. 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Massive Roster Purge & Blockbuster Additions Drop as Opening Day Looms\u2014Chicago Just FLIPPED the Script on Their 2025 Roster! - NEWS USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=163718#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=163718#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rinrin-22-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-13T16:04:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-13T16:04:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ac862d5ceb335ec8f1e374ed4bdb0c06\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=163718#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=163718\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=163718#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rinrin-22-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rinrin-22-1.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":1000},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=163718#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"CUBS CHAOS MODE ACTIVATED! 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Massive Roster Purge & Blockbuster Additions Drop as Opening Day Looms\u2014Chicago Just FLIPPED the Script on Their 2025 Roster! - NEWS USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=163718","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"CUBS CHAOS MODE ACTIVATED! Massive Roster Purge & Blockbuster Additions Drop as Opening Day Looms\u2014Chicago Just FLIPPED the Script on Their 2025 Roster! - NEWS USA","og_description":"The Chicago Cubs are currently taking part in spring training as they gear up for the upcoming 2026 season. 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