Chicago Cubs Opening Day Roster Predictions

There’s one more week of Cactus League games before the Cubs head to Arlington to open their season against the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers. If you want to be the champs, you must beat them, right? Opening weekend will be an excellent early test for the Cubs, even if it’s only such in our minds.

The Cubs have World Series aspirations of their own. The money says so. They didn’t go out and woo Craig Counsell from Milwaukee by making him the highest-paid manager in baseball for any other reason. Now it’s time to see how Counsell wants to line things up when they take on the Texas Rangers eight days from today.

So, let’s take a swing at what the Cubs Opening Day roster will look like and discuss what might not be decided yet.

But first, here is a quick piece of advice. Craig Counsell said something we should all remember when doing these exercises or critiquing the roster he chooses to take to Arlington next week: "You’re not going to get through it with 26 guys.”

Baseball’s 162-game schedule is a grind. The roster will morph into multiple iterations this summer, so keep that in mind.

Chicago Cubs 2024 Opening Day Lineup Prediction

You shouldn’t expect to see a fixed lineup this season. That’s not Craig Counsell’s style. In 2023 with the Brewers, Counsell used 135 different lineup combinations, with his most common lineup only used four times. Last season, he also used ten different starting pitchers and deployed a six-man rotation at various points.

But let’s try to throw a dart here and come up with something we might see in some capacity more often than not this season for the Cubs.

1. Ian Happ LF

2. Seiya Suzuki RF

3. Cody Bellinger CF

4. Christopher Morel 3B

5. Dansby Swanson SS

6. Michael Busch 1B

7. Nico Hoerner 2B

8. DH

9. Yan Gomes C

Again, there’s not much stock that can be put into that other than the visualization of what things might look like more often than not. Counsell is going to play the matchups, and he’s going to move guys around.

So, looking at the roster from an in-depth chart standpoint is probably more beneficial.

Chicago Cubs 2024 Opening Day Roster Prediction