Cubs Linked to Cy Young World Series Standout as Free Agency Rumors Swirl
The 2025 MLB season is over for all but two of the league's 30 teams.
Therefore, while there's a lot of interest surrounding whether the Toronto Blue Jays can take down the Los Angeles Dodgers in this year's World Series, the fan bases of many teams are more interested in how their roster is going to improve this winter, hopefully so that they can be watching their team in the World Series this time next year.
The Chicago Cubs have many offseason decisions to make that will ultimately mold the franchise's chances of making a deep run in the 2026 postseason. Among these are whether to try and re-sign star outfielder Kyle Tucker (and how much they're willing to spend to bring him back) and which of their numerous free agent relievers they're going to pursue.
What's more, Chicago could be active in trying to bolster their starting rotation, as their current starting staff has several question marks. There are a couple of compelling free agent starting pitchers available in this year's free agency market. But the one that might be the best fit for the Cubs is still playing games
In an October 22 article, MLB.com insider Mark Feinsand listed the Cubs as one of three potential fits for Blue Jays pitcher Shane Bieber.
Bieber is a fascinating free agency target for Chicago. Just a few years ago, Bieber was one of the premier pitchers in the entire sport, which is proven by his being a two-time MLB All-Star, the 2020 AL Cy Young Award winner, and the recipient of a Triple Crown in 2020, which is when a pitcher leads the league in Wins, ERA, and Strikeouts.
The 31-year-old Bieber then suffered a torn UCL in his throwing elbow in April 2024, which kept him sidelined for over a year. The Cleveland Guardians traded him to the Blue Jays before the 2025 trade deadline (before Bieber made his return from injury). He made his 2025 season debut on August 22 and has been solid ever since, posting a 4-2 record and a 3.57 ERA in seven regular-season starts.
Bieber has been decent in three starts this postseason. However, a great World Series performance against the Dodgers would work wonders for his free agency stock and could convince the Cubs that he's worth a contract once he becomes available later this winter.
LA Dodgers manager Roberts startled by ‘villain’ question ahead of World Series
Asked whether he felt like a villain, Dave Roberts tilted his head and widened his eyes, startled that he was being categorized as some baseball equivalent of Darth Vader or Lex Luthor.
His Los Angeles Dodgers have been criticized for spending $509 million on its big league roster, more than seven times the $69 million of the big league-low Miami Marlins. The affable manager had yelled to LA fans after last week's National League pennant clincher: "They said the Dodgers are ruining baseball. Let's get four more wins and really ruin baseball!"
"I was just having a little fun with people that said that about the Dodgers," he explained Thursday, a day ahead of the World Series opener against the Toronto Blue Jays, "but I hope I'm not the villain."
Los Angeles is the first defending champion to reach the World Series since the 2009 Philadelphia Phillies, who lost to the New York Yankees. No team has won consecutive titles since the 1998-2000 Yankees took three in a row, and no NL team has achieved the feat since Cincinnati's Big Red Machine in 1975-76.
"The one thing we cannot do is look over there and say that is Goliath," Blue Jays Manager John Schneider said. "That is a beatable baseball team that has its flaws, and that has its really, really good strengths. How we expose each of them will determine who wins the series."
Led at the plate by Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts, and on the mound by Ohtani, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Dodgers are 9-1 in the postseason despite starting every series on the road. They are 14-1 over the past month.
"Just to win once is hard and now be this close to being able to do it two times in a row, I don't know if I've really grasped the weight of it," Freeman said. "Last week you're starting to get the word dynasty thrown out and things of that nature. And if that if that's being thrown out, that means the organization's doing a really, really good job."
When the World Series was last played outside of the United States, Toronto won its second straight title in 1993. Joe Carter hit a ninth-inning homer off Philadelphia's Mitch Williams in Game 6, the second Series-ending home run after Pittsburgh's Bill Mazeroski against the New York Yankees in Game 7 in 1960.
Since then, the Blue Jays became Canada's sole major league baseball team when the Montreal Expos moved to Washington, D.C., for the 2005 season.
Toronto's home was renamed from the SkyDome to Rogers Centre in 2005, a year after Rogers Communications Inc. became the Blue Jays' sole owner. The ballpark's capacity was cut from 52,000 to just less than 45,000 and more upgrades are planned ahead of 2026.
"We represent this entire country and we're this country's team, so we want to go out there and do everything we can to make this country proud of us," said Trey Yesavage, the 22-year-old who opens the Series on the mound for Toronto in just his seventh big league start.
The left-hander Snell will start Game 1 for Los Angeles in his first World Series appearance since 2020, when he started Game 6 for Tampa Bay against the Dodgers.
Trying to overcome a 3-2 deficit, Tampa Bay was ahead 1-0 when Snell allowed a one-out single to Austin Barnes in the sixth inning on his 73rd pitch. Rays Manager Kevin Cash brought in Nick Anderson, and the Dodgers rallied to win.
"Probably for like a week I was thinking about it, what could have been different, what I could have done, the ups and downs of just feelings," Snell said. "But then ultimately it led to -- if I would have done more early on in my career to gain his trust, it would have been a different outcome I think."
Given a 5-0 lead in Game 2, Snell was removed after allowing Chris Taylor's two-run homer in the fifth followed by a walk and a single.
"Learn from it and ultimately it made me a better pitcher," Snell said, "just because I understand the game more than just myself, just the pieces, the parts and how it all works."
Snell spent 2021-23 with San Diego and 2024 with San Francisco, and the two-time Cy Young Award winner signed a five-year, $182 million contract with the Dodgers.
"I've matured. I've grown up. I was kind of a kid still in 2020," said Snell, who turns 33 in December. "I know I only have so much time left. I'm not young. I don't really think about the ending. For now I'm just more appreciative of the moments, the time and what these mean for my career."
