Sports fans are ap make comparisons whenever and aside from Yours Truly, it’s not to share new analogies. When we try and make sense of our teams, specific players and eventual outcomes, we like to draw on the familiar. And save for a few devoted web pages, it’s not all about stats.

Luckily, the Cubs won in tall in 2016 and as a result we don’t have to compare contemporary teams that fell short like the ’69, ’84, ’89, and “98 versions. A lot has changed in the game since 2016, but we can still draw useful parallels. And because the NL Central is up for grabs, I think there’s a lot more of the 2015 Cubs in the current iteration.

Someone correctly stated that the infusion of veterans on this initial roster wasn’t as similar as it first appeared to the ’98 team. That team famously acquired veterans (Gary Gaetti, Mickey Morandini, and Jeff Blauser all of whom contributed to that club, but in limited fashion. Likewise, this year’s early roster was made up of position players with World Series pedigrees (Cody Bellinger, Dansby Swanson, Trey Mancini, Eric Hosmer, and Yan Gomes).

Mancini and Hosmer have already been jettisoned (thankfully) and in fairness, their arrows were facing downward and not upwards. Bellinger, Swanson and the more veteran Gomes have been positive assets who all are trending in the positive direction.

Unlike the previous Cubs teams (other than ’03), this year’s rotation has more young players that are showing promise. Whether they continue that upward trend is anyone’s guess. Ace Justin Steele has gotten better each year and should contend for this year’s NL CY. Javier Assad has stepped up his game and filled in brilliantly but is a relative wildcard. Rookie Jordan Wicks has pitched like he’s been in the bigs for years instead of weeks. (Could he be John Lackey from ’02?). Kyle Hendricks is the lone remnant of the WS champs and has been a stable veteran presence. Marcus Stroman, Drew Smyly and Jameson Taillon have been inconsistent at best.

Maybe more importantly, this team has saved its best ball for September and hopefully October. Currently, the Cubs are trending in the right direction and the usually sound, September-strong Brewers, are wavering. Even if they don’t advance in the postseason, they should be able to reclaim their recent hold on the NL Central.

I keep wondering if each additional home run and clump of runs batted in adds additional millions to Bellinger’s free agent contract or if he’s figured on an amount already.