“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more” – Henry V, Act 3, Scene 1 Consecutive seasons of wild card postseason exits would understandably leave a lot of western Pennsylvanians bitter. The two decades of losing seasons are one thing, but to finally break the barrier into the postseason for the first time since […]
Author: Jared Wyllys
Division Preview: The Milwaukee Brewers
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view … until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” — Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird Realistically, the Milwaukee Brewers are at least a season or two from contending, but they have a well-stocked farm system with a […]
Division Preview: The Cincinnati Reds
‘Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’ Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away. – from “Ozymandias,” by Percy Shelley As recently as 2013, the Cincinnati Reds were a playoff baseball team, but their status now stands as a sad […]
Transaction Analysis: Eddie Butler
The Cubs have spent the winter squirreling away pitchers, even those rife with injury histories and who have struggled to live up to prospect hype. They signed Brett Anderson in the hopes that he can stay healthy enough to supplement the rotation and keep them healthy for another postseason stretch. And they traded for Butler […]
Transaction Analysis: Brett Anderson
The Cubs turned to Anderson after their pursuit of Tyson Ross came up empty. Anderson is a savvy addition for Chicago because he will fit the team’s needs neatly. His job won’t be to carry the back of the rotation, but rather to extend it when needed. The glaring question is his health, but Anderson […]
The Effect of Manny Ramirez in Iowa
The 2016 World Series champions weren’t built in a day. Kris Bryant’s near-errant throw to Anthony Rizzo capped off an assembly of parts that all needed to come together in order for a 108-year drought to end. There are the key parts, like new ownership, a new front office, a new manager, free agent additions like […]
Ricketts Family Reflects on Winning it All and What Comes Next
At the 32nd annual Cubs Convention this weekend, Tom and Laura Ricketts spent time with fans and media to share their experiences and feelings while watching the culmination of the work that started when they purchased the team nearly a decade ago. “My stomach is still setting,” Laura said, reflecting on the weeks of the […]
C.J. Wilson: Potential Offseason Target
Pitching rotations can appear to be sure things when it’s the offseason or even when it’s spring training, but they have a nagging penchant for never finishing the same way that they started. Teams need depth in this way, and sometimes it comes from within the organization, and sometimes it must be acquired from without. The […]
Let ‘em Go: The Case for Not Extending Jake Arrieta
Pose the question in September 2015, and it’s a laughable one. Jake Arrieta’s long-term status was not in question at that point, and even into the 2016 season, he remained entrenched in the future plans as far as Cubs fans were concerned. But his slightly wobbly regular season—he put together quality numbers on the whole, but […]
Game Seven’s Ninth Inning
Sandwiched in between the eighth inning’s dream-killing Rajai Davis home run and the rain-delayed tenth inning that cleansed Cubs fans of over a century of frustration, the ninth inning of World Series Game Seven is often overlooked. Or, when it is reflected upon, the fact that Aroldis Chapman was able to muster three outs in the bottom […]