The usual caveats apply: Something will go wrong. Something always goes wrong. The best team on paper does not always translate to the best team on the field. But walk around, and there's stuff everywhere. Enough stuff for the Cubs to cure whatever might ail them in 2016.
2.) Fangraphs projections: Cubs are best in baseball
Arguably the most informed site for baseball metrics and projections, Fangraphs lists the Cubs with the most promise of any team in 2016, selecting them to win 94 games and be the best team in baseball.
The metrics-based projections of Fangraphs are often a conservative estimate, where picking a team to surpass 100 wins is rare. Fangraphs also picks the Cubs to log a run differential of +99 this season.
The Dodgers are projected as baseball's second-best team, with a win total of 91, followed by the Mets, Nationals and Red Sox. Fangraphs also lists the White Sox to be an even .500 at 81-81.
3.) Joe Sheehan on how Cubs win the World Series: Show up
In laying out championship scenarios for each NL team, Sheehan made it pretty simple for the Cubs -- meet those lofty expectations.
Plenty has been said about the Cubs' path to a championship in 2016. Sheehan explained what the Cubs have to do in SI.com.
The simple answer to how the Cubs will win the World Series is, Show up. The betting favorite in Las Vegas, Chicago has become baseball's consensus best team by combining smart free-agency acquisitions such as Jason Heyward, Ben Zobrist and John Lackey with exciting young talent like Kris Bryant, Addison Russell and Kyle Schwarber. To build on last year's success, the Cubs will need those great young players to manage their strikeout rates; the three mentioned above whiffed a combined 425 times last year, or more than 30% of their trips to the plate. Overall, Chicago struck out 1,518 times, third most in MLB history. Other teams exploited its problems making contact in leveraged spots, as Chicago was 28th in batting average with runners in scoring position, and no team had a lower average (.237) or slugging percentage (.398) with a runner on third and less than two out. This season, more contact should lead to more runs.
4.) Fangraphs: Cubs' Rizzo, Bryant, Schwarber combine for 96 home runs
The lasting image of Kyle Schwarber's shots into Pittsburgh's Allegheny River and off the Wrigley Field scoreboard remain fresh on the minds of Cubs fans. His 2015 postseason was one filled with towering home runs and big moments. Schwarber forced his way into the Cubs' lineup and is here to stay.
Still, Fangraphs picks Schwarber to be third on the Cubs in home runs, largely because of his platoons at catcher and left field. Schwarber's picked to hit 29 home runs, trailing Anthony Rizzo at 34 and Kris Bryant at 33.
For the metrics heads, Bryant's projected by Fangraphs as the Cubs' leader in WAR with a 6.4 number, good for seventh in all of baseball.
5.) Baseball Prospectus: Cubs have 84 percent chance to make playoffs, 13 percent to win World Series
Before the Cubs can begin their pursuit of a championship, they first must make the playoffs. According to the projections of Baseball Prospectus, the Cubs have an 84 percent chance of reaching the postseason.
Even in a daunting NL Central, one that saw three teams reach the postseason in 2015 and the Cubs finish third place at a whopping 97 wins, Chicago still boasts baseball's best percentage at making the postseason, Baseball Prospectus says.
The Cubs are also listed with a 13 percent chance at winning the World Series, which is the best mark in the National League and second to only the Cleveland Indians.
When the Cubs take the field for the first time on Monday night, put the projections aside and watch how this promising season unfolds.