Position: Starting pitcher 2016 Stats: 202.7 IP, 24.8 K%, 6.5 BB%, 2.44 ERA, 3.10 DRA, 90 cFIP, 5.3 WARP Year in Review: What more could you ask of Jon Lester in 2016? One more literal glove flip? Another walk-off squeeze bunt? A less nerve-wracking Game 7 relief appearance, ideally not featuring a wild pitch that […]
Author: Clarissa Young
Player Profile: Jason Heyward
Position: RF, CF 2016 Stats: .230/.306/.325, .237 TAv, -0.2 WARP Year in Review: Before the start of the 2016 season, Joe Maddon praised Jason Heyward–then recently signed for eight years and $184 million–as a player possessing not five, but six tools. While Heyward’s identity as a power hitter has always been debatable (a debate complicated […]
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 […]
Second City November: World Series Game Six Preview, Cubs (2-3) at Cleveland (3-2)
Second City November. For all that a Cubs World Series provokes a constant parade of precious, sepia-toned comparisons to the world as it was in years of past glory, baseball this late in the calendar year is entirely without parallel for the Cubs as a franchise. Perhaps you haven’t heard, but back in 1908, we hadn’t yet invented […]
Second City October: On The Brink
This piece, written by BP Wrigleyville’s Clarissa Young, forms part of our in-house coverage of the Cubs in the playoffs, “Second City October.” Additional Game Five coverage can be found here. With the series tied 2-2, the Dodgers entered Thursday night’s contest armed with a handful of strategies designed to tip the scales and trigger an […]
Second City October: Kershaw Draws the Dodgers Even
This piece, written by BP Wrigleyville’s Clarissa Young, forms part of our in-house coverage of the Cubs in the playoffs, “Second City October.” Additional Game Two coverage can be found here. When most starting pitchers throw a side session, it doesn’t involve securing the final two outs in Game 5 of a Division Series, but […]
Playoff Prospectus: Put Away Your Brooms
The piece previewed here, written by BP Wrigleyville’s Clarissa Young, forms part of the main site’s comprehensive coverage of the playoffs, “Playoff Prospectus.” Additional Game Three coverage, exclusive to BP Wrigleyville, can be found here, under the name “Second City October”. It was supposed to be a pitchers’ duel, and at the very beginning, there was a […]
Game 157 Recap: Cubs 6 Pirates 4
Meaningless September games don’t exactly feel that way when it’s the bottom of the ninth, the bases are loaded, card-carrying Designated Cubs Agitator Sean Rodriguez is at the plate, and you’re Félix Peña, looking for your first major-league save with a shaky two-run lead and a deserted bullpen. What this contest lacked earlier in substantive drama, […]
Series Preview, Cubs vs. Giants: September 1-4
Heading into the All-Star break, it was the San Francisco Giants, not the Chicago Cubs, who held the best record in baseball. On the surface, that alone would make this four-game series at Wrigley a pretty intriguing set. But since the break, the Giants have been a bottom-of-the-league 15-27, including an 11-16 August, their worst month’s […]
Game 127 Recap: Cubs 6 Dodgers 4 (10)
Kris Bryant did it again Friday night, homering in the tenth inning to lift the Cubs over the Dodgers 6-4 in Los Angeles. Most of the natural spotlight here falls upon the high-action late frames leading up to and including the deciding blast: Bryant’s first homer of the night in the eighth pulled the Cubs […]