I’ll give myself half credit here for saying Alzolay would become the closer.

My feeling is that Craig Counsell would have done that. Even considering he might have blown some opportunities, I’ll stand by my claim that he, and the Cubs, would have done better if he’d been named closer on Opening Day. That computes to 50 saves in a full season. Thus he posted 19 saves in 61 team games his last save happened August 29, after which he pitched in only four more games. His third save was posted June 9 against the Giants in the Cubs’ 69th game. On the other hand, Alzolay was basically anointed closer in early June, just about the time the Cubs started turning the season around. Yes, I know he got hurt late and that prevented him from posting more than 22 saves, his final total. if David Ross had just taken my advice and made Alzolay the closer from Opening Day, maybe he would have posted 40 saves. Adbert Alzolay will become the Cubs closer and post 40 saves Since you’ve probably forgotten about those - I had, until now! - let’s take a look and see how I did. Last January, I posted five bold predictions for the 2023 Cubs.

Mlb opening day estimated lines