Top Play (WPA): This game got out of hand for the Reds early, as the Cubs scored four runs in the first inning and never really looked back. The big blow in that inning came from Miguel Montero, who doubled to right-center (+0.174) off of Reds’ starter and Most-Boring-Name-Of-All-Time contender Josh Smith, scoring Kyle Schwarber and Anthony Rizzo and […]
Author: Rian Watt
Game 153 Recap: Pirates 3 Cubs 2
Top Play (WPA): Starlin Castro’s year has been something out of a storybook. He entered the year as one of twin stars (alongside Anthony Rizzo) on a team ascending; he struggled mightily as the calendar turned from April to May, and then to the dog days of summer; he was, finally, removed from the everyday lineup […]
Respected Ross Putting Experience to Work
When David Ross signed with the Cubs two days before Christmas, 2014, few expected him to bring much to the table with his bat in the new season. That’s good; low expectations have thereby saved thousands of fans from disappointment. Ross has put up a .211 TAv over 168 plate appearances in 2015, which is […]
Away From The Lights, Humanity
The first thing I noticed was how big they were. I’m not a short person—5-foot-11 on a good day, 5-foot-10 on a bad one—but I felt small as Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, and Clayton Richard pushed past me, carrying with them styrofoam plates of food, joking with one another as they headed to tables scattered throughout the […]
Cerebral Kyle Hendricks Pitching With Carolina Confidence
“I’ll take care of you, man.” Those are the first words on my recording, and the first words any major-league player ever spoke to me with the knowledge that they might be published one day. “I’ll take care of you, man.” The guy on the recording was Kyle Hendricks, who I’d met a few days earlier—on my […]
Let Us Not Forget Jonathan Herrera
These days, you’d be forgiven for mistaking the Cubs’ bench for a passable major-league team. When Manager Joe Maddon stacks the lineup with lefties, Jorge Soler (.264 TAv), Javier Baez (.282), Austin Jackson (.198), Starlin Castro (.240), Matt Szczur (.231) and Chris Denorfia (.243) find themselves manning the bench. And when righties are needed on the […]
Game 148 Recap: Cubs 5 Cardinals 4
Top Play (WPA): The Cubs’ lead came early in this one, and—were it not for some dramatics in the ninth inning—it would have brought with it the lede story of the day. The second batter of the game, Jorge Soler, managed to work a walk off of Cardinals’ starter Michael Wacha, and Kris Bryant promptly sent him […]
Game 147 Recap: Cubs 8 Cardinals 3
Top Play (WPA): Starlin Castro. I’m putting his name up front because he’s what this game will be remembered for. And although I’ll get to the details of that storyline later (in ‘Trends to Watch’), for now I must say just this: Castro’s fifth-inning two-run home run (+0.221) was the biggest play of the game, by WPA, and his sixth-inning […]
Cubs in Best Playoff Position Since Depression
Sometimes, you just want to make a simple point. You don’t need a lot of tricky analysis to do it, and you want to get it across quickly. Here’s the point I want to make: The Cubs are going to be fine. Here’s why I think so: The Cubs are 7.5 games up on their closest competitor […]
Those Left Behind: Five Moments That Mattered From 2015 Cubs Who Didn’t Make It
Remember Rich Hill? He made his major-league debut as a starting pitcher for the Cubs in June of 2005, throwing a lone (and shaky: two runs allowed on three hits) inning against the Marlins on June 15th, and then followed that up with 22 2/3 mostly terrible innings the rest of that season, compiling a 9.13 ERA […]