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Game 32 Recap: Cubs 14, Marlins 2

What You Need to Know: For the first time in what seems like weeks [EDITOR’S NOTE: It has been weeks.], the Cubs brought their bats. In fact, the offense was humming. The Cubs clobbered a pair of two-run homers, a pair of three-run homers, and a two-run double, backing Marlins starter Jarlin García into a […]

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Game 24 Recap: Cubs 3, Brewers 0

What You Need to Know: With the sunny Wrigley afternoon belying the downright frigid conditions, José Quintana one-upped Yu Darvish’s Friday performance and held the Brewers to no runs on just two hits and a walk. Quintana added seven strikeouts and kept the Brewers at bay just long enough, with the Cubs scratching across a […]

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Game 23 Recap: Cubs 3, Brewers 2

What You Need to Know: On a cool, windy afternoon, Yu Darvish found his Cubs swagger. In six innings, Darvish allowed only an unearned run in the first—and that was the product of a miscue by the preternaturally sure-handed Jason Heyward. The righthander struck out eight and was backed by two first-inning runs of the […]

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Báez, the Unicorn, Emerges with Improved Approach

We are into week four of the regular season and Javy Báez remains near the top of the major-league offensive leaderboards. The “unicorn,” as former BP Wrigleyville editor Rian Watt once called him, is turning people’s heads once again, not only for his defense—but of course, that too—but for the prodigious power, intelligent baserunning, and […]

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Contact, OBP, and an Early Slump

Monday evening, the Reds shut out the Cubs and allowed only two hits in the process. Sunday afternoon, the Marlins shut out the Cubs and scattered eight hits in the process. Had I heard of either starting pitcher before these two games? Well, no. Dillon Peters and Tyler Mahle are not world-beating pitchers (although Mahle […]

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Cubs Add to Cadre of Aces, Nab Darvish

Our long National League nightmare is over. On Saturday afternoon, Ken Rosenthal tweeted that the Cubs had signed free agent ace Yu Darvish to a six-year, $126 million contract, or $21 million in average annual value, breaking the months-long freeze on free agent contracts. There are incentives attached to the deal that could escalate its […]