This piece, written by Baseball Prospectus’s Ashley Varela, forms part of the main site’s comprehensive coverage of the postseason, “Playoff Prospectus”. One hundred and eight years after the Cubs last held the title of World Champions, 212 days after the first pitch of the 2016 season, and 26 days after the Cubs took the postseason […]
Day: November 3, 2016
Playoff Prospectus: Assessing the Managers’ Moves in Game 7
This piece, written by Baseball Prospectus’s Matthew Trueblood, forms part of the main site’s comprehensive coverage of the postseason, “Playoff Prospectus”. There’s real freedom in a Game 7. A manager has just one imperative: win this game. Even in a Game 6, a skipper will draw criticism (and perhaps do genuine damage) if he makes […]
Playoff Prospectus: After 108 Years, Cubs Win the Marathon and the Sprint
This piece, written by Baseball Prospectus’s Editor-in-Chief Aaron Gleeman, forms part of the main site’s comprehensive coverage of the postseason, “Playoff Prospectus”. Baseball’s regular season is often described as a marathon. Six months of nearly uninterrupted, daily competition during which a single win or loss–or even a few of them consecutively–barely registers as noteworthy within […]
Second City November: Target Achieved
You can talk about the 2016 Cubs — the 2016 World Series-winning Chicago Cubs – in near-mythological terms, as a cast of titans who stormed their way to 103 regular-season wins and soared to a historic championship. It would be tempting to just paint their trajectory in a single, gently-arcing stroke ending in a title. This is […]
The Chicago Cubs Are World Series Champions
The Chicago Cubs are World Series champions. I could end things right there and there would be no more left to say. The words themselves defy belief and yet there they are, the proof in living color on our televisions and live-wire shivers down our spines. The images—a ball, grounded to the third base side; […]