It was an exciting game in Arizona on Sunday afternoon, featuring home runs, near-home runs, pitcher home runs, and a Chicago offense that continues to look nigh unstoppable. Jake Arrieta pitched like a mere mortal instead of his demigod self of 2015, but mortal is plenty good enough when backed by an offense as dangerous as this […]
Category: Articles
Game 5 Recap: Cubs 4 Diamondbacks 2
Top Play (WPA): You would think that because Diamondbacks ace Zack Greinke had such a rough Opening Day, allowing seven earned runs in four innings, there would be reason to worry that he’d come out dealing against the Cubs. But that wasn’t the case, and they jumped all over him in the first inning. Jason […]
GAME 4 RECAP: DIAMONDBACKS 3 CUBS 2
Chicago needed a baseball game to focus on this evening, as the collective breath-holding waiting on news to break regarding Kyle Schwarber’s left knee ended with the most painful of exhalations. Take heart, friends, as my colleague Zack Moser said last night before we even understood the severity of the injury, this team is specifically built […]
Mike Trout vs. the Chicago Cubs: How Four Men Conquered one Los Angeles Slugger
Mike Trout vs. the Chicago Cubs. It’s perhaps something that was only in the periphery of our minds amid the excitement of Opening Day. It didn’t quite dawn upon me, in fact, until just before first pitch: we were about to witness Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester wage their first battles of the season against Mike Trout, […]
Finding A Path Forward for Jorge Soler
I have a confession to make. I’ve always been in love with Jorge Soler as a hitter. With a walk rate over 10 percent and strikeout rate right around 17 percent in the minor leagues, and with his hulking physique and a smile that could light up the entire state of Ohio for a week, how could […]
Game 3 Recap: Cubs 14 Diamondbacks 6
Pardon me for quoting my own tweet, but… this game is straight bonkers — zack moser (@BeersNTrumpets) April 8, 2016 The game was sloppy. John Lackey gave up a home run on his first pitch as a Chicago Cub. Chase Field looked like a pinball machine. And the Cubs lost their left fielder for an […]
BP Instant: Kyle Schwarber Leaves Game With Ankle Sprain; Status Uncertain
In the second inning of tonight’s ongoing game against the Diamondbacks, this happened: Early reports from beat writers at the game suggest that Schwarber’s initial x-rays came back negative, but that he has been diagnosed with an ankle sprain. An MRI is scheduled for tomorrow. For now, that’s about as good as things could possibly […]
Series Preview: Arizona Diamondbacks, April 7-10
After a very successful, albeit brief, opening series in Anaheim against the Angels, the Cubs are headed back to Arizona—quite near the site of their spring training complex, in fact—to face the Diamondbacks, a team that made quite an offseason splash of its own; namely, bolstering their pitching staff via trade (Shelby Miller) and free agency (Zack […]
The Thing About Matt Szczur’s First Pitch Home Run
Last night, Matt Szczur hit a home run on the first pitch he saw in the third inning (and, indeed, in the game). Here’s what it looked like: There’s any number of interesting angles to talk about here. You could draw a parallel between Szczur’s alma mater (Villanova) and what happened in Houston on Monday […]
Game 2 Recap: Cubs 6 Angels 1
The Cubs are a very, very good team, and playing a pretty bad team like the Angels to open the season highlighted that nicely. Top Play (WPA): By the time Anthony Rizzo stepped in against Andrew Heaney in the top of the third inning, the Cubs had already put two runs on the board. It […]