The Cubs front office struck out in a bold new direction on Thursday, letting go of both hitting coach John Mallee and third base coach Gary Jones, just days after parting ways with longtime pitching coach Chris Bosio. Taking Mallee and Jones’s places are Chili Davis and Brian Butterfield, respectively, both most recently with the […]
Author: Zack Moser
Diagnosing the Bullpen’s Walk Problem
Chris Bosio will be plying his pitcher whispering craft in a city other than Chicago next year, and it’s sort of the bullpen’s fault. Before walking the entirety of the Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Dodgers’ rosters, the Cubs bullpen was solid. They were one of the better relief units in the league, actually, ranking […]
NLCS Game Four Recap: Cubs 3, Dodgers 2
Two years ago, the Cubs defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NL Wild Card game, earning the chance to square off with the St. Louis Cardinals in the Division Series. Jake Arrieta, fresh off his historic 2015 second half, shut out the Pirates for nine innings, striking out eleven Pittsburgh hitters and earning his place […]
Second City October: NLCS Game Four, The Snake Makes His Exit
Jake Arrieta has inspired awe and poetic rhapsodizing more than any other Cubs player in the past few years. With his bushy beard, stolid physique, and no-hit stuff, it was hard to resist Arrieta’s allure as a pitcher—on any given evening, Arrieta could crossfire his way to a complete game shutout with a dozen strikeouts. […]
On Squandering Slight Advantages in the Playoffs
Margins of error in the playoffs are thin. So thin. More often than not, games between two evenly matched teams in October turn on the smallest mistakes: a hung breaking ball, a bobbled grounder, a pitcher deployed in the wrong situation. Ah, a pitcher deployed in the wrong situation—there it is, one of the few […]
NLCS Game One Recap: Dodgers 5, Cubs 2
If I would have told you that Clayton Kershaw wouldn’t see the sixth inning of tonight’s game, you would have been pleased. As it is, playoff baseball is… more complicated. Weird, even. And so when Kershaw exited immediately after the Dodgers tied the game at two, it was the inflection point of the game in an […]
Second City October: NLCS Game One, Cubs (0-0) at Dodgers (0-0)
The war of attrition that was NLDS Game Five in Washington is over. Choose your analogy: General Grant wearing down opposing forces, Virgil shepherding Dante through the nine circles of Hell—they all fit. In the end, it was a big ol’ goofy end to a lean and mean series, with pitchers being worked through the […]
Stephen Strasburg’s Exquisite Game Plan
The Cubs have looked helpless facing the Nationals’ starting pitchers so far in this NLDS, and they have managed to take the series down to the wire only due to their own starters’ impeccable performances that have resulted in a 0.40 ERA. Wednesday night, Stephen Strasburg continued the dominance that he, Gio Gonzalez, and Max […]
NLDS Game Four Recap: Nationals 5, Cubs 0
What You Need to Know: After over 24 hours of confusion, hand wringing, and conspiracy theories about mold and cold hotel rooms, Stephen Strasburg finally got the call to pitch Game Four for the Nats. And did he pitch. The Cubs’ hitters looked helpless against the righty’s curveball the first time around and his changeup […]
Second City October: NLDS Game Four, Nationals (1-2) at Cubs (2-1)
The Cubs have an opportunity to wrap up this instantly classic series on Tuesday evening after snatching a victory from the clutches of Max Scherzer on Monday. The Cubs need only win one of the next two games, and they have their first crack at a clinch at Wrigley Field with Jake Arrieta on the […]