When I got word of the new Cubs-focused site to be launched by Baseball Prospectus in early 2015 and led by Sahadev Sharma, I jumped at the opportunity to write about baseball for the first time away from academia. Sure, I had concerned myself with baseball history as an undergraduate working on his senior thesis, but I had never actually written about the Cubs, the team I was brought up to love by my grandma and my dad. That spring of 2015, I latched onto BP Wrigleyville as an intern, writing game recaps sporadically and contributing in small ways. I knew little of what to expect, and even less about how to write well about stats, prospects, and other BP-oriented things.
Somehow, nearly four years later, I’m steering the ship with Nate, and we’ve more-or-less successfully guided BP Wrigleyville back into port. This month will be the last for BP Wrigleyville, and while we are loath to bring this project to a close, we are excited for things to come. More on that in a moment, though.
We’d like to thank all of the contributors to BP Wrigleyville, whether you submitted one piece or wrote regularly for years. We’d also like to express our appreciation for the editors who preceded us: Sahadev Sharma, Rian Watt, and Jared Wyllys. Without their work, BP Wrigleyville couldn’t have survived this long, let alone succeeded in providing the level of insight that we’ve been able to produce these four seasons.
BP Wrigleyville has survived, though, sometimes in spite of itself, but always as a necessary stop for Cubs fans seeking the analytical, the critical, and the weird. We’re very proud of the work that we’ve produced in those four seasons, and it’s a testament to the strength of our staff that the site has survived departure after departure of so many excellent writers. Many of those writers have gone onto bigger things in the baseball world—either at the BP main page, at other baseball sites, or otherwise. Those who have stuck around are fortunate to join us in the next phase of this project.
Which brings us to the big question: what’s next for us, and for you, the reader?
Well, you won’t have to travel far to continue to read excellent Cubs content. Wrigleyville isn’t really gone; our staff is migrating to the BP main site, and the writers you’ve become familiar with here will still be producing Cubs analysis at Baseball Prospectus. Those folks will also have the opportunity to branch out and contribute to BP’s other features, as well as write about other teams and players. This is an exciting and welcome change, and the transition is already underway. If you haven’t subscribed to Baseball Prospectus, now would be a great time to do so! Not only will you be able to read the Wrigleyville writers you’ve been reading, but you’ll have access to some of the best baseball writing, bar none, produced by BP’s current staff (and other locals writers!).
There’s a tinge of sadness in sending off BP Wrigleyville, of course, but we are excited to move onto this next phase. Nate and I have both made the journey from intern to editor, and our writing and knowledge has grown with the site and with the skills of our colleagues. More importantly, we hope that your knowledge and enjoyment of the Cubs, of baseball, and of baseball writing has grown as a reader of BP Wrigleyville. We thank you for reading our site, whether you’ve been an infrequent visitor or a regular reader for years. It’s been a pleasure to write for you all, and we hope you follow us to the main page in the coming days and weeks.
Lead image courtesy of Dylan Zobel
Thanks for all your work!