Top Play (WPA): Wow—what a crazy win, and what a positive way to finish up what ended up as a successful 4-3 road trip. It will be hard to do this game justice in a recap, but I’ll do my best. When the Cubs went down 5-0 in the bottom of the second, it looked […]
Day: July 22, 2015
Game 93 Recap: Reds 9 Cubs 1
Top Play (WPA): The trouble with unitary categories like ‘single’, ‘double’, ‘triple’, and ‘home run’ is that it’s very easy to believe that they tell you more than they do. When you hear that a player hit a double, for example, your mind probably immediately fills with visions of well-struck line drives to the gap in left-center, when […]
The 2015 Ballad of Jon Lester: Start No. 19
Date: July 18, 2015 Opponent: Atlanta Braves Location: Turner Field Introduction When Jon Lester recorded his fourth victory of the season, Mad Men was still on the air, the Chicago Blackhawks had yet to begin the Western Conference Finals, and the Women’s World Cup was three weeks from opening in Canada. It’s been awhile since […]
Cubs’ Triple-A 40-Man’ers Could Contribute One Way or Another
As teams around baseball scramble this time of year to self-identify as buyers, sellers, or something more nuanced, every organization is looking ahead to August and September, and, in many cases, beyond. Will we get enough production from our 25-man roster to stay in contention? Will we need to go outside the organization to make […]
GAME 92 RECAP: CUBS 5, REDS 4
Top Play (WPA): Per “rare Cubs occurrence” sage Christopher Kamka, the last three players Cubs prior to this game who had homered twice in the ninth or later were Ryne Sandberg in The Sandberg Game, Andre Dawson, and Sammy Sosa. Well, let this be The Schwarber Game. Having already launched a moon shot, game-tying home […]