The 2015 Cubs surprised the world by going 97-65. They ended 20 games better than my pre-season prediction. The Pythagorean record for the Cubs this year was 90-72. I equate the difference in manager Joe Maddon, who would get a 7.0 WAR, for his unique style of getting a team of veterans and youngsters to gel in such a short period of time.
But the Cubs team was really dominated by their starting players, with three who really carried the team on their backs and into the playoffs.
Regular season position players/WAR:
Montero, c 1.8
Rizzo, lf 6.3
Russell, ss 3.4
Castro, 2b 0.7
Bryant, 3b 6.0
Coghlan, lf 1.9
Fowler, cf 2.2
Soler, rf (0.1)
Position starters totaled 22.2 WAR of the team total 23.3 WAR, or 95.3% of total offense WAR.
Regular season starting pitchers and closer/WAR:
Arrieta, sp 8.6
Lester, sp 2.9
Hendricks, sp 1.7
Hammel, sp 1.6
Haren, sp 0.2
Rondon, cl 2.1
These key pitchers totalled 17.1 WAR of the team total 18.5 WAR or 92.4% of total pitching WAR.
Arrieta's individual WAR was 50.3 % of the total team pitching WAR.
Rizzo's individual WAR was 27% of the total team offense WAR.
Bryant's individual WAR was 25.75% of the total team offense WAR.
Arrieta, Rizzo and Bryant carried more than half their position team WAR.
Combined, these three players had 50% of total team WAR.
