During the Braves run of participating in 14 consecutive post seasons,* Atlanta kept the team strong by identifying a weak link on the team and improving that one position. They bring up Chipper Jones or David Justice. They sign Greg Maddux. They trade for Fred McGriff. They did a great job of pushing out a weak player for a better player.

*Not counting the strike year of 1994

It was not enough for the Cubs to break their World Series jinx, they are in a position to dominate the league for many years. When a team wins, it is easy to stand pat and let that group play on. By staying ahead of weaknesses, a team like the Cubs can prevent a regression back to second or third place in the division.

On offense, the weak links were shortstop and rightfield. Addison Russell is still very young, however, and his defense more than makes up for his bat at this point. Jason Heyward hit poorly in rightfield, but played great defense. He’s also signed to a long-term contract and is in the middle of his prime. The Cubs will give him another year to straighten out, as 2016 could have been a fluke. Heyward plays 2017 as a 27-year-old, a great age for a peak season. Kyle Schwarber returning could give the Cubs an offensive/defensive platoon in the outfield in a worst case scenario.

The Cubs may already have made the move to improve by letting Jason Hammel go to free agency. He would play 2017 as a 34-year-old, so he is well past his prime. While he pitched well in 2016, he was the worst of the five regular starters. Bringing in someone younger lowers the age of an old rotation. I suspect over the next few years to see lowering the age of that group the main concern of the Cubs front office.