Hey look, the Cubs can beat the Padres! That feels like leading the sports page with a 72 point headline screaming “WASHINGTON GENERALS LOSE.” Normally, it should not be this exhilarating to beat the Padres. And yet it certainly is tonight. Hell, the only reason you should be exhilarated in a game with the Padres […]
Author: Ken Schultz
The 2017 Leadoff Experiment and the Backdrop of Cubs Leadoff History
“Anthony loves batting leadoff!” –Anthony Rizzo, upon homering for the second day in a row There are a lot of skills that go into becoming the greatest leadoff hitter of all time. And it’s comforting to know Rizzo has already mastered referring to himself in the third person. Until the big first baseman took over […]
A Small and Hesitant Case for Batting Average
When the Cubs are presented with next year’s schedule, there’s nothing I’d like more than to see Theo Epstein cross off the part of the calendar with the west coast trip and write in six days at California Pizza Kitchen. Last week was quite the rough stretch of baseball, wasn’t it? The last time I […]
Game 51 Recap: Padres 6, Cubs 2
There’s a moment in Mystery Science Theater 3000 during the execrable Manos: the Hands of Fate where a good ten to fifteen seconds passes by without a single character moving or speaking until an exasperated Joel Hodgson finally breaks the silence by crying “DO SOMETHING!” Stretch that out to five days, and you’ve just written […]
Game 40 Recap: Cubs 9, Reds 5
Happy #TBT! Let’s throwback to 2016! After the past two weeks, it was really nice to see the Cubs play an awfully familiar game against the Reds. The Cubs jumped all over Amir Garrett for five runs in the first inning and eventually opened up a 9-0 lead by the fifth. I’ll need our BP […]
The Cubs Bullpen Depth
There was once a school of thought that theorized if the Cubs ever won a World Series, we as a fanbase would be fundamentally changed and we wouldn’t know what to do with ourselves if we couldn’t find reasons to panic about our favorite team. It sounded like a plausible idea. Except for the fact […]
Game 30 Recap: Yankees 11, Cubs 6
I may vomit. The Cubs should have picked tonight to present Brian Matusz with his World Series ring. Because this game certainly felt like he was on the mound again. Last year, as several of you will recall, the Cubs started Matusz in a late July contest with the Mariners. And after he gave up […]
Game 24 Recap: Red Sox 6, Cubs 2
In what might have been the most predictable moment of this weekend, ESPN began its coverage of tonight’s game with a cartoon featuring the Bambino sitting next to the Billy Goat. Apparently in the midst of all of the human resources carnage in Bristol last week, one of the people they fired was the guy […]
Game 22 Recap: Red Sox 5, Cubs 4
If there’s one thing the Cubs have taught us over the past couple years, it’s that if we live long enough and learn to believe, we’ll eventually be lucky enough to bear witness to something we never thought we’d see: An interesting interleague matchup. If you listen hard enough, you can hear Bud Selig off […]
Anthony Rizzo’s Swing Adjustments
It’s not exactly breaking news that Anthony Rizzo is one of the most watchable players in baseball. Between his mix of power and plate discipline and a defensive reel that looks like a Spider Man reboot (“Spidey Faces His Most Dastardly Foe of All: Corporate Season Ticket Holders!”), the Cubs’ first baseman draws our eyes […]