After letting Wade Davis and Héctor Rondón go in the offseason and replacing them with Brandon Morrow and Steve Cishek, there was concern in some corners that the back end of the Cubs bullpen wasn’t as proven as it had been in recent years. But this hasn’t been an issue: Morrow has been a dominant closer, […]
Author: Nate Greabe
Yu Through Two Starts
It’s difficult to write meaningfully about early season performances in baseball. Sample sizes are too small to draw any sweeping conclusions: the Dodgers are 3-6; the Pirates are 7-2. But on the pitching side of things, results aside, it only takes one or two starts to get some pretty interesting—if not predictive—pitch data. So, because […]
Player Profile: Justin Wilson
Position: Left-handed Relief Pitcher 2017 Stats: 58.0 IP, 3.41 ERA/3.37 FIP/4.70 DRA, 90 cFIP, 12.4 K/9, 0.3 WARP Year in Review: The above stat line actually tells you almost nothing about Justin Wilson’s 2017 season, which started with promise in Detroit and ended with struggles in Chicago. Here’s how the performances looked when broken out by team: Detroit: 40.3 IP, […]
2017 Player Profile: Ben Zobrist
Position: 2B/RF/LF 2017 Stats: Avg. OBP SLG HR TAv wRC+ FRAA WARP .232 .318 .375 12 .249 82 -2.8 0.2 Year in Review: In March, Ken Schultz wrote a piece about Ben Zobrist’s aging curve. In it, he looked at historical comparisons for elite-level second basemen and at what point in their careers their production fell off the […]
What the Heck Is Going On: A Quick Look Ahead at the NLCS
Whew. If you’re reading this, the Cubs (somehow, barely, and very questionably) did what they needed to do against a great, great Nationals team after a great, great series. And now it’s Friday, and we’re all guzzling coffee, rubbing our eyes, and wondering what’s next. For the Los Angeles Dodgers, once again the Cubs’ NLCS […]
Second City October: NLDS Game Two, Cubs (1-0) at Nationals (0-1)
The Cubs and Kyle Hendricks stole Game One from a dominant Stephen Strasburg, which makes winning Game Two a bit less desperate. Strictly speaking, the Cubs already got their one required win in Washington, and this is not a must-win game. That’s a boring way of thinking, though, and today the Cubs are in position […]
Series Preview: Cubs vs. Cardinals
Last year, the Cubs played the Cardinals on September 23-25, and the story was somewhat different. The Cubs had already clinched the NL Central and were simply playing out the season to see how many wins they could rack up (103). While they might prefer to be back in that position this year if they had […]
The Seventh Inning Stretch and the Danger of Eroding Fandom
Last night, the Cubs invited Dan Katz, a.k.a. “Big Cat” of Barstool Sports—an often misogynist, retrograde, and undeniably popular entertainment site—to sing the seventh inning stretch. Though they ended up somewhat downplaying it and pairing Katz with radio announcer Ron Coomer (it was unclear if that had been the plan all along, or if they called […]
Game 114 Recap: Cubs 8, Diamondbacks 3
What You Need to Know: The Cubs struck early in the first when Taijuan Walker lived up to his name: three walks and a passed ball later, the Cubs had a 2-0 lead. Kris Bryant added an RBI single in the third, and Kyle Schwarber—in his first game at Chase Field since his injury last […]
Game 81 Recap: Reds 5, Cubs 3
What you need to know: Jackson Stephens, a 23-year-old pitcher making his MLB debut, barely outdueled Eddie Butler this afternoon—more with his bat than his arm. In the fourth inning, Stephens delivered a two-out, bases loaded single that gave the Reds a 4-3 lead. They didn’t give it back. Stephens battled through just five innings and […]