Cubs find plenty of bulletin board material

Doug Dascenso and Ryne Sandberg share a laugh on the stretching field at the Under Armour Performance Center, the Spring Training home of the Chicago Cubs, in Mesa, AZ. | John Antonoff/For the Sun-Times

MESA, Ariz. — Don’t think the Cubs paid attention to that Baseball Prospectus PECOTA projection that says they’ll win 80 games and finish in last place?

Players were greeted in the clubhouse Monday morning with this message at the bottom of the schedule on the bulletin board: “80-82, 5^th place in the Central” –PECOTA.

“It’s really entertaining stuff,” manager Joe Maddon said.

Then Milwaukee’s signing of Mike Moustakas became official, and PECOTA downgraded their Cubs’ projection to 79 wins.

Talk about motivation. Or maybe not.

“If you have to look at superficialities to motivate you, then you’ve got a pretty [tough] way to go,” Maddon said.