2017 South Bend Cubs

MLB has been working on re-doing the minor leagues for the past year.  Yesterday the new affiliations were announced.  The South Bend Cubs will remain with the Chicago Cubs, so I'm hoping that there will be a 2021 team set to collect.

The 2017 South Bend Cubs had a fairly decent year. They finished the regular season with a record of 75-64, good for second place in their division.  The quirky thing with the Midwest League is that the season is divided into two halves.  You have to finish in first or second place in one of the halves to qualify for the playoffs.  While the Cubs overall record was second best in their division, they didn't finish in either of the top two spots in either half, so they missed the post-season.

The 2017 card set consists of 35 cards.  We start with an odd-ball of sorts.

Ian Happ got a card for becoming the first SB Cub to make it to Wrigley Field.  He was with the SB team in 2015, but wasn't included in the team set.

There are four players in the set that have big league experience, though only one has played for the Cubs.

  

  

Cease spent a portion of the season in South Bend and then moved on when he was traded in the deal that brought Jose Quintana to the Cubs from the White Sox.  Paredes was also traded during the 2017 season, going to the Tigers organization.  He played in 33 games for Detroit in 2020.  Machin was with Oakland in 2020, appearing in 21 games.  Tyson Miller is the only one of the four to play for the big league Cubs, and that was just a two-game stint in 2020. 

The remaining cards show the rest of the players, the coaching staff, and for the first time, the athletic trainer and strength coach.