MLB season preview: Who can beat the Cubs?

With baseball season upon us, Big League Stew is in full preview mode. We’re doing previews of each team and we’re examining some of the biggest questions heading into 2017. Today: A roundtable discussion about who has what it takes to knock off the defending champs.

The day after the Chicago Cubs won the World Series last November, they were immediately listed by one Las Vegas sportsbook as the odds-on-favorite to repeat. Four months later, nothing has really changed.

The Cubs enter 2017 as the unquestionable favorites thanks to their young and talented lineup, strong rotation and the fact that they were able to patch up their big offseason hole by trading for Wade Davis to replace closer Aroldis Chapman. What that really means, though, is 29 other teams will be even more eager to dethrone them.

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That’ll be easier for some teams than others. (Sorry, Milwaukee Brewers, but we don’t think this is the year.) So with the help of our Yahoo Sports colleagues Jeff Passan and Tim Brown in the video above, the Big League Stew crew is making our picks for the teams that have what it takes to take down the Cubs.

INDIANS
The Cleveland Indians took the mighty Cubs to a decisive Game 7 despite missing two-fifths of their dominant rotation and their best hitter. This year, Danny Salazar and Carlos Carrasco will be healthy to open the year, and Michael Brantley has been playing in spring games. Take that and add Edwin Encarnacion, and suddenly you have a team quite capable of dispatching everyone’s favorite dynasty on the North Side. All this, and we haven’t even mentioned Francisco Lindor, Andrew Miller or Terry Francona. Yeah, the Indians have more than enough to push the Cubs aside this year. (Chris Cwik)

GIANTS
The Indians stretched the Cubs to limits last year, but the San Francisco Giants almost did the same. Playing in the National League Division Series, the Cubs won 3-1, but it was a closely contested series. Chicago won two of the games by just a run — both coming when the Giants bullpen imploded. Watching the series, it was obvious the Giants could hang with the Cubs if their bullpen was in better shape. And guess what? Their bullpen is now in better shape. The Giants paid big money to add Mark Melancon as their closer. Now they enter the season with a dependable closer to go with a top-notch rotation and a sneaky good lineup. (Mike Oz)

RED SOX
The Cubs’ lineup isn’t the only one that can make your eyes widen in total amazement. The Red Sox have a stunning number of great players — and players who are on their way to being great. Xander Bogaerts, Mookie Betts, Andrew Benintendi, Dustin Pedroia, Hanley Ramirez and Jackie Bradley Jr. are all on the same roster. And that’s just position players! They traded for Chris Sale in the offseason, and with David Price injured that trade has already started paying dividends. With a lineup that can bash and flash the leather, plus a rotation that boasts Chris Sale at its helm, they could absolutely beat the Cubs. (Liz Roscher)

RANGERS
I’m not betting against the Cubs. If I had too, though, I wouldn’t hesitate putting my money on the Texas Rangers. To take Chicago down, a team must be built to score runs and be top heavy in the starting rotation. To me, that describes Texas perfectly. The lineup is loaded from top to bottom, and it’s balanced, too, with youth and experience plus with power and finesse. In a short series, Texas could lean heavily on Yu Darvish and Cole Hamels to help neutralize Chicago’s potent offense while hoping its own offense does enough damage. (Mark Townsend)

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz