Giants as much a team of destiny in 2016 as the Cubs

12:46 PM ET

When you put the Chicago Cubs up against the San Francisco Giants, you might get caught up in a simple comparison: the fun, young Cubs, overloaded with blue-chip talent and obviously going places, and the Giants, the team with three World Series titles over five years who have already been there. You might think that while the Giants owned the past, the Cubs own the present and the future.

That would be a mistake, because as much fun as this Cubs team is to watch, the 2016 Giants aren’t some fading dynasty. Compare the two clubs in the early going, and you might think it’s still all Cubs, with their league-best record and plus-111 run differential. But take a closer look behind the aggregate numbers, and you won’t see one team with a clear, overwhelming advantage. Instead, you see two teams with similar strengths, built to win now.

Take the starting pitching, the edge the Cubs enjoy over everybody these days thanks to Jake Arrieta and his historic run of dominance, combined with the free-agent additions of Jon Lester and John Lackey. If that sounds familiar, it should: The Giants have their own history-making ace in Madison Bumgarner, backed by Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija.

On the strength of their rotation trio, the Cubs are tied with the Nationals for the National League lead in quality starts with 29. But there the Giants are, right behind them with 27. The Cubs might lead the majors in starter ERA with 2.52, and the Giants might collectively eat their dust at 3.94. But that’s because of how bad Jake Peavy and — until recently — Matt Cain have been in the Nos. 4-5 slots for the Giants, and Cain did just beat the Cubs. Compare front three starters to front three — the guys who are supposed to carry the load in a five- or seven-game series — and the Giants don’t surrender anything. And their front three is the younger group, not least because …

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