This piece, by BP Wrigleyville’s Rian Watt, first appeared at the Baseball Prospectus main site and is available free for all to enjoy. We’ve posted a sneak preview here. After an series opener in which New York’s Dark Knight pitched his way back into Gotham’s good graces with 7 ⅔ strong innings against Chicago, the […]
Author: Rian Watt
Russell Rests as Cubs Consider Arms Race
It wasn’t quite on the order of the sword of Damocles—the Cubs are too happy right now to feel anything approaching anxiety—but it was certainly an open question heading into the workout day on Thursday: What was Addison Russell’s status? The last anyone had heard of his health was on Tuesday night, manager Joe Maddon was […]
Loose and Deadly Calm, Cubs Celebrate a Leap Forward
Spend any time around this Chicago Cubs club, and you’ll know that they’re a special group. The national media can write all they want about how their youthful inexperience gets in the way of postseason success, but that story gets less convincing with every new team the Cubs leave sullen-faced in the visiting dugout. And […]
Cubs Embracing New Expectations Even as October Thrills
Look to your left. Now look to your right. One of you failed to predict that the Chicago Cubs would win 97 games in 2015. Reasonable expectations had the club right around .500, with 90 wins a possibility if the kids held up down the stretch. Nobody predicted this—the Cubs on the doorstep of the […]
NLDS Game Three Recap: Cubs 8 Cardinals 6
Top Play (WPA): Think anyone is busy writing Kris Bryant service time stories now? The Cubs’ superstar third baseman hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning (+0.252) off of Cardinals starter Michael Wacha—one of six the Cubs hit on the night, setting a new major-league record—and helped the Cubs go up two games to one in […]
Playoff Prospectus: Cubs Do Simple Better — NLDS Game 2 ($)
This piece, by BP Wrigleyville’s Rian Watt, first appeared at the Baseball Prospectus main site and is exclusively available to BP subscribers. We’ve posted a sneak preview here. It was 54 degrees on October 3rd in Milwaukee, and the Cubs were bunched around the batting cages, working on their bunting. Manager Joe Maddon, who spent […]
They Built It, and the Cubs Are Coming
I love a lot of things about baseball, but the thing I love most—at least off the field—is roster construction. There’s something beautifully technical and delicate about putting together a group of 25 guys that, while limited by certain constraints (age, positional ability, money), will produce the most wins possible for your ballclub. It’s a really, really hard […]
Game 162 Recap: Cubs 3 Brewers 1
Top Play (WPA): The Cubs closed out their regular-season slate with a win (their 97th) in Milwaukee on Sunday, beating the Brewers 3-1 on the back of a strong—and perhaps final—start from Dan Haren, and a clutch hit from Anthony Rizzo. That hit, Rizzo’s final regular-season contribution to a brilliant season, came in the first inning, […]
Game 159 Recap: Cubs 5 Reds 3
Top Play (WPA): Austin Jackson drove in five runs Wednesday, and so what did he do in his second plate appearance Thursday? Nothing relevant to yesterday, because what happened yesterday has very little to do with what happened today and any attempt to suggest otherwise would just be building a false narrative. He homered (+0.270)! The […]
That’s So Cub: A Look at the Top September Contributors and Moments
It’s the beginning of October, which not only means that Halloween is around the corner and you might even hear the first ominous tinkle of mall Christmas music, but also that I, as I have since the beginning of time the beginning of the season, will sit down and write about the top Cubs’ contributors and moments from the previous […]