Recap of Chicago Cubs Simulated 2020 World Series Season, Including Stats and Highlight Video

If you were following along with our 2020 simulation season, you’ve figured out by now that we’ve stopped running daily recaps. When Major League Baseball and the MLBPA came to an agreement last week on restarting training camp and playing a truncated 60-game season this summer, we decided there was no need to continue with the Fake Cubs.

But we didn’t want to leave you hanging, so here is a short recap of what happened the rest of the season. There’s a pretty neat highlight video that you should check out down below, as well as the final stats and award winners for the year.

Kris Bryant continued his hot streak through the All-Star Game, where he was the highest vote-getter in the league and started at third base for the NL. Bryant also edged out Los Angeles Dodgers star Justin Turner in the Home Run Derby, winning the crown for the first time in his career.

The Cubs stayed red-hot, finishing the year with a record of 110-52 and winning the NL Central over the 100-win Cincinnati Reds. Anthony Rizzo put together an insane second half, lapping Bryant in the home run category and finishing with a career-best 48. Bryant ended the season with 44 homers, just ahead of Ian Happ and his 43.

In the pitching category, Kyle Hendricks had a torrid stretch in the second half that helped him finish with a team-best 18 wins to go along with a 3.71 ERA in 213 1/3 innings. Craig Kimbrel led the league with 46 saves, letting just three opportunities slip away.

The Cubs had no trouble against the Atlanta Braves in the playoffs, sweeping them in the NLDS. They played against the Reds in the NLCS, winning in five to advance to the World Series against the Houston Astros. The Cubs took Game 1 in Chicago, then walked off against the Astros in Game 2. A win in Game 3 set them up to sweep and they came from behind in Game 4 to win 9-8 and close out the series.

2020 Season Stats:

C Contreras – 471 AB, 30 HR, 93 RBI, .285/.356/.550, 5.4 WAR
C Caratini – 241 AB, 14 HR, 41 RBI, .266/.347/.477, 2.5 WAR
C Phegley – 102 AB, 6 HR, 11 RBI, .275/.303/.490, 0.6 WAR
1B Rizzo – 569 AB, 48 HR, 125 RBI, .295/.382/.601, 4.9 WAR
2B Kipnis – 96 AB, 2 HR, 6 RBI, .135/.252/.240, 0.0 WAR
2B García – 44 AB, 2 HR, 8 RBI, .273/.304/.455, 0.0 WAR
2B Hoerner – 410 AB, 11 HR, 38 RBI, .256/.306/.407, 1.9 WAR, 21-26 SB
SS Báez – 549 AB, 30 HR, 98 RBI, .317/.379/.576, 8.1 WAR, 19-25 SB
3B Bryant – 587 AB, 44 HR, 110 RBI, .332/.424/.642, 8.7 WAR
3B Bote – 377 AB, 19 HR, 58 RBI, .260/.364/.464, 3.9 WAR
OF Schwarber – 531 AB, 21 HR, 71 RBI, .290/.378/.452, 4.0 WAR
OF Happ – 501 AB, 43 HR, 121 RBI, .281/.360/.613, 6.8 WAR
OF Almora – 213 AB, 6 HR, 26 RBI, .225/.284/.385, 0.4 WAR
OF Miller – 37 AB, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .189/.268/.243, 0.1 WAR, 2-2 SB
OF Heyward – 459 AB, 23 HR, 65 RBI, .303/.382/.499, 3.4 WAR
OF Souza – 142 AB, 4 HR, 16 RBI, .261/.338/.373, -0.2 WAR
OF Zagunis – 3 AB, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .333/.500/.333, 0.0 WAR

SP Hendricks – 33 GS, 213.1 IP, 18-4, 3.71 ERA, 169 K
SP Quintana – 32 GS, 198.1 IP, 15-8, 3.40 ERA, 185 K
SP Mills – 21 GS (42 G), 152.1 IP, 11-9, 4.08 ERA, 145 K
SP Darvish – 33 GS, 196.2 IP, 14-6, 4.21 ERA, 223 K
SP Lester – 31 GS, 184.1 IP, 14-9, 3.52 ERA, 157 K

RP Chatwood – 43 G (12 GS), 92 IP, 3.82 ERA, 96 K, 1-1 S
RP Stewart – 8 G, 12.2 IP, 4.97 ERA, 13 K, 0-0 S
RP Alzolay – 25 G, 36.2 IP, 4.66 ERA, 30 K, 1-2 S
RP Cotton – 6 G, 8 IP, 1.13 ERA, 6 K, 0-0 S
RP Wick – 38 G, 37 IP, 3.41 ERA, 40 K, 0-3 S
RP Wieck – 44 G, 44.2 IP, 1.81 ERA, 55 K, 0-1 S
RP Devenski – 46 G, 57.1 IP, 4.08 ERA, 63 K, 0-1 S (Cubs/Astros)
RP Maples – 11 G, 12 IP, 6.00 ERA, 13 K, 0-0 S
RP Winkler – 11 G, 8 IP, 11.25 ERA, 7 K, 0-1 S
RP Sadler – 13 G, 13 IP, 3.46 ERA, 5 K, 0-1 S
RP Tepera – 16 G, 17.2 IP, 4.58 ERA, 13 K, 0-0 S
RP Hultzen – 21 G, 15.2 IP, 4.60 ERA, 18 K, 0-1 S
RP Morrow – 34 G, 32.1 IP, 1.67 ERA, 36 K, 4-6 S
RP Ryan – 50 G, 39.1 IP, 3.43 ERA, 36 K, 0-5 S
RP Jeffress – 62 G, 58.1 IP, 4.47 ERA, 71 K, 0-2 S
RP Kimbrel – 65 G, 58.2 IP, 1.84 ERA, 73 K, 46-49 S

MVP – Eugenio Suárez (.295, 52 HR, 133 RBI)
Cy Young – Walker Buehler (20-3, 2.19 ERA, 256 K)
Batting Title – Omar Narváez (.351)
Reliever of the Year – Craig Kimbrel (46 S)
Rookie of the Year – Zack Brown (17-4, 4.34 ERA, 115 K)
Hank Aaron Award – Christian Yelich (.344, 52 HR, 118 RBI)

Gold Gloves:
P – Miles Mikolas
C – Jorge Alfaro
1B – Freddie Freeman
2B – Adam Frazier
SS – Miguel Rojas
3B – Nolan Arenado
LF – David Peralta
|CF – Víctor Robles
RF – Adam Eaton

Silver Sluggers:
P – Jon Lester (.173, 2 HR, 9 RBI)
C – Willson Contreras (.285, 30 HR, 93 RBI)
1B – Anthony Rizzo (.295, 48 HR, 125 RBI)
2B – Mike Moustakas (.255, 36 HR, 99 RBI)
SS – Fernando Tatis Jr. (.285, 36 HR, 103 RBI)
3B – Eugenio Suarez (.295, 52 HR, 133 RBI)
LF – Christian Yelich (.344, 52 HR, 118 RBI)
CF – Ian Happ (.281, 43 HR, 121 RBI)
RF – Bryce Harper (.290, 34 HR, 114 RBI)

Postseason MVP – Jason Heyward (.395, 2 HR, 14 RBI)
World Series MVP – Javier Báez (.467, 1 HR, 3 RBI)