Feels good, huh? Extra-inning games—like the one the Cubs won last night—are fun to return to, in heady delight, the morning after, and certainly a thrill in the moment of their denouements, but they can be a bit of an emotional drain as they’re experienced. At a certain point, you just want to get to bed. Which […]
Author: Rian Watt
Game 111 Recap: Cubs 5 Angels 1
70! After slogging through 30 calendar days to make it from 50 to 60 wins, the Cubs have now shot through their next 10 wins in just 14 days, and have won eight straight in the bargain. More fun stuff: They’re 9-1 in their last ten, and could end the night 12.0 (!) games up on […]
Game 105 Recap: Cubs 5 Marlins 0
Some days, baseball takes it easy. Yesterday was not one of those days—but if you read the recap we published here, or watched the game, you know that already. Tonight was, though. The Cubs charged out to an early lead, scoring two in the first off of Marlins sacrificial lamb starting pitcher Adam Conley, and never really […]
Transaction Analysis: What Should We Make of Aroldis Chapman?
The following transaction analysis, written in part by BP Wrigleyville’s Editor-in-Chief Rian Watt, first appeared, in whole, over at the main site. We trust you’ll enjoy reading a portion of it here. “How can one evaluate such an idiosyncratic president, so brilliant and so morally lacking?” — Historian James MacGregor Burns, on Richard Nixon Aroldis […]
Transaction Analysis: “They Like Mike” / “Danny Boy”
Good morning, everyone. Over at the main site today, I contributed to this Transaction Analysis, which features the Cubs’ acquisition of Mike Montgomery and Jordan Pries in exchange for Dan Vogelbach and Paul Blackburn. Acquired LHP Mike Montgomery and RHP Jordan Pries fromSeattle Mariners in exchange for 1B-L Dan Vogelbach and RHP Paul Blackburn. [7/20] […]
Game 69 Recap: Cardinals 4 Cubs 3
I’ll forgive you a little frustration, if you’re feeling it. This game, like last night’s loss before it, featured an unusually high proportion of missed offensive opportunities, poorly-placed ground balls, and Brandon Moss. There haven’t been a lot of games like this for the Cubs in 2016—to be frank, this one felt more like a 2014-era performance than anything […]
Series Preview: Cubs vs. Cardinals, June 20-22
As extraordinary as it might have seemed in this offseason that was so pregnant with expectation for a competitive National League Central race, the Cubs enter this three-game, mid-June set with the Cardinals at Wrigley a stunning 12.5 games ahead of the Redbirds in the Central, and with an even-more-imposing 15 game lead on the reeling Pirates, who’ve […]
Game 63 Recap: Cubs 4 Nationals 3
Are you ready for the final 100 games of the 2016 baseball season? You know what they always say: it’s really the last 100 games where you find out what kind of team you have.* Top Play (WPA): Albert Almora, Jr. Almora. Albert. The Cubs had just lost their game-long lead, entering the ninth inning, and […]
Game Phifty-Seven Recap: Phillies 3 Cubs 2
Sometimes, David beats Goliath. Top Play (WPA): Kyle Hendricks did all he could—we’ll talk about that more later—and Justin Grimm and Adam Warren had done even more (we won’t talk about Clayton Richard any longer, who continues to struggle) to keep the Cubs in this game until the eighth inning, which they entered trailing three runs […]
Hello From the Other Side: Dispatch From a Former Cub
Trades make transient the most homebound of men. In a moment, the center of a life is pulled to the periphery, mixed up every which way, and repainted in the unfamiliar colors of a new hometown team. The traded player finds that he is suddenly quite different, adrift amongst the broken links of brotherhood that bind […]