When the major league team was still in the throes of the rebuild, many die-hard Cubs fans found daily solace in minor league box scores. As the big leaguers struggled, there were often glimpses of hope as players like Javier Baez, Arismendy Alcantara, Albert Almora, Kris Bryant, Jorge Soler, and Kyle Schwarber lit up the […]
Category: Articles
Pitching Progress: An Effort in Finding Incremental Gains, Vol. III
This week saw another turn through the rotation, and another winning record for the Cubs (3-2). Despite the team’s results ending up one win short of the first two turns, this week actually represented the best efforts by Cubs’ starters, with four of the five allowing one earned run or fewer. The streak of consecutive […]
Game 19 Recap: Cubs 9 Reds 0
The Cubs went into this game trying to take their record on the road trip to a fantastic 5-2, rather than finishing a somewhat disappointing 4-3. As Jim Deshaies said on the broadcast, “It would’ve been a bummer to lose this game.” Isn’t that telling? Only this Cubs team could make a 4-3 record on […]
Game 18 Recap: Reds 13 Cubs 5
For all the fun the baseball world has had with the Cubs and their gaudy run differential in the early going (and I’ve had plenty myself), this game was a good reminder of something I hope everyone kept in mind from the get-go: run differentials are often deceiving. This game was a whole lot closer […]
Game 17 Recap: Cubs 8 Reds 1
Well, it wasn’t Thursday night, but it wasn’t too shabby either. Top Play (WPA): Leading off the fourth with the Cubs already up 1-0, Anthony Rizzo hammered his third home run in as many days (+0.108). Rizzo summarily dismissed Jon Moscot’s first pitch slider to the right field seats to bump the score up to 2-0 […]
Catching History, Ross Continues Retirement Party With Style
David Ross had never caught a no hitter before last night, which is a bit of a surprise, given not just the length of his career, but also the pitchers he’s caught for across those years. Namely, Jon Lester for the better part of the recent years of his career. This year, he’s on a farewell tour […]
In Glory, Arrieta’s Four Moments of Imperfection
Your first thought or impression upon hearing about a no-hitter, either in-progress or completed, is probably something like “Wow!” That covers thoughts two through twelve, too–general feelings of astonishment and excitement at the possibility or completion of a historic feat. Around thought fifteen context starts to creep in, which cuts in every direction; e.g., “this is […]
Arrieta, Transcendent
Jake Arrieta, speaking immediately after he no-hit a major-league team for the second time in less than eight months, said that he “felt a little off” the whole night. And you know what? He was absolutely right. He was off. Arrieta walked four Cincinnati Reds, threw far more pitches than his manager probably intended for […]
Can Jake Arrieta Keep This Up? Data, Instead of History, Might Hold The Answer
This much we know for sure: Thursday night in Cincinnati was not Peak Jake Arrieta. The Cubs’ ace did complete his second no-hitter in less than eight months, shutting out the Reds in a 16-0 rout, but he walked four batters, fanned only six, and needed nearly 120 pitches to do it. Compared even to […]
Jake Arrieta: An Inhuman Monster’s Greatest Games
At some point, at an unknown time between October of 2013 and May of 2014, Jake Arrieta made the transition. I don’t mean simply transitioning from a starting pitcher just trying to stay in a major league rotation to one of the best pitchers in the game, but transitioning. We have all the evidence we […]