I’ve never known what it is hitting coaches actually do. From what I gather from people closer to the game than I, they’re not nearly as intrinsic as pitching coaches. After all, pitching coaches go out there in the middle of the game. Though I suppose hitting coaches do their work in the clubhouse and […]
Author: Sam Fels
All The Strands Of Possible Kris Bryant Extension
It’s always exciting when local air raid siren David Kaplan emerges to see if he and everyone else can still hear his voice (all too well, friendo). So it was interesting on Wednesday, when Kaplan went on ESPN 1000 and broke a story about the Cubs offering Kris Bryant a contract-extension worth over $200 million […]
It’s Kris Bryant, Stupid
I must be getting older, or more evolved, or both. Usually, when the Cubs crash out before the playoffs start (and you’ll never get me to say the Wild Card game is part of the playoffs, whatever marketing and branding MLB sticks on it—I am not one to take urine in the ear and conclude […]
Theo Explains It All
I think the thing I’ll miss most about Theo Epstein, whenever he decides to stop and wait around for his Hall of Fame induction, is just how open and clear most things are with him. At least when it comes to strictly baseball matters. And to be fair to him, he’s tried to make up […]
Joe Maddon Will Be Back… And He Should, But Needs To Lose The Fear
As if there wasn’t enough emotional rubble smoldering from the Cubs surprising and shockingly quick exit from the season, before the wild card game started there were irksome smoke signals that Joe Maddon could be out of a job if the Cubs were out of the playoffs. One came to pass, the other did not. […]
Epitaph: Sometimes The Best Isn’t The Best
It’s an oddity of North American sports, or at least three of them I guess, that we have such long regular seasons, and yet they are all defined by a handful of games after that regular season. MLB, the NBA, and the NHL play for six months, but those six months go without much meaning […]
Wild Card Game Preview: Stone Freeland
This is what a safety net looks like. As we said before yesterday, both the Rockies and Cubs would have two chances to win one, and both blew their first one (and don’t get me started on how the Cubs and Joe Maddon “blew” it yesterday). The bonus for the Cubs is that they haven’t […]
Game 163 Preview: For The Right To Do It Again
Today will be a bit of a weird occasion. On the top level, I wonder if this will be the last time we see Game 163s between teams that both have qualified for the playoffs. You can see some lobbying going on for that at the Winter Meetings or something. You could see making head-to-head […]
Game 162 Recap: Cubs 10, Cardinals 5
What You Need To Know: This won’t be the last recap of the regular season. After a brief scare in the first couple of innings, where Mike Montgomery was less than sharp, the defense was wonky, and the offense was meek, the Cubs came alive in the third with a second look at Jack Flaherty. And […]
Game 160 Recap: Cubs 8, Cardinals 4
What You Need To Know: Most probably viewed these three games with their fingernails already bitten down to the quick, and as just yet another monument to the torture of being a Cubs fan. I see it as an opportunity to clinch the division and knock the Cardinals out of the playoffs simultaneously FOR THE SECOND SEASON […]