Last spring, I tweeted a joke about Jason Heyward’s first game in St. Louis after signing his eight-year contract with the Cubs. BREAKING: forty thousand white people boo black man for getting a raise — zack moser (@BeersNTrumpets) April 19, 2016 The outfielder met a hostile crowd, and many of the Busch Stadium attendees showed […]
Author: Zack Moser
Where Has All the Velocity Gone?
One day after the anniversary of his second career no-hitter, Jake Arrieta returned to the mound in Cincinnati and helped deliver a series-clinching victory for the Cubs. While the powerful righty surrendered two home runs on a blustery Ohio afternoon, there were signs that the 2015 Cy Young winner was beginning to right himself after […]
Game 20 Recap: Cubs 1, Pirates 0
What You Need to Know: A zippy two-and-a-half hour affair featured an improved Kyle Hendricks, who dialed up his fastball to a blazing 88 MPH and completed six scoreless innings. Gerrit Cole stymied the Cubs’ boisterous bats, but emerged with nothing to show for a solid seven-inning performance. The Cubs scraped across a run on […]
The Contreras Home Run and Cubs Fandom
Willson Contreras hit a game-tying three-run homer on Sunday night. It was the sort of home run that has become more common in the past two years for the Cubs, the seizing of an opportunity that in years past might have been squandered. It was beautiful and dramatic and it made me yell in joy […]
Opening Day Recap: Cardinals 4, Cubs 3
The first 2016 Cubs game that I had the honor of recapping altered the course of the Cubs’ season dramatically: Kyle Schwarber went down with a torn ACL, and I attempted to imbue the moment and its consequences with dramatic, biblical weight. From that point on, there was little that could slow the Cubs on […]
Before Epstein and Maddon, There Was Dallas Green
It’s a cliché to note that there are no hardasses like Dallas Green in baseball anymore. I would be remiss to ignore it, however: there truly are no baseball executives or managers like Dallas Green anymore. For decades, Green was the irascible firebrand who played for, helmed, and constructed two of the National League’s longest-suffering […]
A Playing Time Nightmare
Perhaps you saw the ending to Puerto Rico’s Tuesday night victory over the Dominican Republic in the second round of the World Baseball Classic. Perhaps you witnessed Javier Baez make another improbably good and unreservedly fun play. Perhaps you even questioned the veracity of that play’s result. But then again, perhaps you didn’t. For those […]
I Don’t Believe in the Cubs’ Starting Pitching Depth
There weren’t many things that the Cubs needed to address this offseason: figure out how to replace Dexter Fowler in center field and at leadoff, sort out the back end of the bullpen, pick a fifth starter, find playing time for a surfeit of position players, and shore up pitching depth. A relatively short list, […]
Cold Takes on Cubs’ PECOTA Projections
It’s nigh time we indulge in one of the late offseason’s finest traditions: the ceremonial handwringing over projections! Baseball Prospectus released its 2017 PECOTA projections, and, as always, there are some interesting quirks that deserve some cursory inspection. So, let’s get right to it. You can access the Cubs’ full projections on Baseball Prospectus’ main […]
Cubs Add Good Tweets, Pitching Upside with Anderson
The Cubs’ offseason outlook was that of staid, minor change, and the club mostly accomplished their modest goals by the time the holiday season rolled around. A little Jon Jay to thicken up center field, a tiny bit of Brian Deunsing for lefty reliever flavor, and a dash of back-end bullpen help for spiciness (Oops! […]