If you’ve watched a lot of Kyle Hendricks this year (and let’s be honest – if you’re reading this, you have), and if you’ve thought he seems a little off, don’t worry; you’re not alone. Hendricks himself has noticed, as he explained after last Sunday’s loss to the Pirates: “I’m just fighting myself on some […]
Category: Articles
Game 66 Recap: Cubs 13, Cardinals 5
What You Need to Know: The Cubs’ offense broke out of their collective slump in a big way against Cardinals’ starter Michael Wacha, taking him deep three times and piling up nine runs on him in four-plus innings, turning the game into a rout early. With the big cushion, Jon Lester turned in another solid […]
Framing strikes: the only thing worse than the umpires calling strikes
By Ken Schultz and Kevin McCaffrey Hey Kevin, In a little over eleven weeks’ worth of baseball, here’s a partial list of home plate umpires who have worked Cubs games: Jordan Baker. Laz Díaz. Ted Barrett. John Tumpane. Somebody named Stu Scheurwater. Ángel. Goddamn. Hernández. (In a Busch Stadium game, no less! You might as […]
Game 65 Recap: Brewers 1, Cubs 0
Oh good, another one of these. Joe Maddon decided to keep Kris Bryant out of the starting lineup for today’s finale against the Brewers after KB endured an 0-for-15 slump over the past four games. This has been one of Maddon’s favorite methods of lineup management with the idea being that Bryant has more time […]
LE-STER! LE-STER! The Ace We’ve Been After?
It probably wouldn’t be healthy to think about where the Cubs might be if Jon Lester weren’t having a terrific season. Hendricks has been homer happy and innings-short. Quintana has been up and down, Darvish has been ouch-y and wonky and maybe a couple other -ys, and Tyler Chatwood has been performance art for the […]
Game 64 Recap: Brewers 4, Cubs 0
What you need to know: The Cubs offense never got anything going against Chase Anderson, scratching out only one infield hit in seven innings against the Brewers starter. Tyler Chatwood spent more time around the strike zone that he has recently, but Travis Shaw drilled two doubles in his first two at-bats, plating four early runs […]
The Vets Are Back in Town
It’s no secret that the Cubs have been the biggest player on the free agent market since the winter of 2014-2015. They haven’t been in on every free agent, and perhaps they have missed on a few opportunities to improve their club because of that, but they have made four significant signings since that offseason: […]
Game 63 Recap: Cubs 7, Brewers 2
Entering the first game of this all-important series with the Brewers, the Cubs had won seven of eight games against Milwaukee this season. And yet, all of that was prelude to this series, with the surging Cubs still finding themselves a half-game back in the division standings. What You Need to Know: Despite giving up […]
The Cubs’ Defense Has Returned To Excellence
The 2016 Chicago Cubs won the World Series due to a variety of factors, but their defense was something they could truly hang their hat on. Their historically good defense led the league, by a large margin, with a .731 Defensive Efficiency Rating, according to MLB.com, and a .745 Defensive Efficiency, according to our Baseball […]
Game 62 Recap: Pirates 7, Cubs 1
It is inevitable that on a beautiful day at Wrigley Field you will see online someone post a photo with the caption, “Let’s play two.” On a day like today, though, you are more likely to see the caption “It sucks outside, let’s just stay home.” By the looks of things on the field, the […]