What You Need to Know The offense scraped together enough runs to back a strong outing from Jose Quintana. Ian Happ had a big day at the plate. Joe West did Joe West things. Next Level When Quintana has struggled in his short Cubs career, he hasn’t had a feel for his curveball. In the […]
Category: Articles
Game 121 Recap: Cubs 7, Blue Jays 4
What You Need to Know Jake Arrieta was brilliant, the offense was rolling, and two-thirds of the bullpen did fine. Next Level Coming off a wild and frustrating four-game series against the Reds, the Cubs were due for a nice, easy win. Fangraphs had the Cubs at a 94% win expectancy before the end of […]
Ernie Banks, Operation PUSH, and the Quest for a Black Manager
Long after most sensible people had retired for the day, and in front of a sparse crowd at San Diego Stadium, a called third strike immediately changed the course of baseball, until it didn’t. In the top of the 11th inning of a tedious game more suited for the doldrums of August than May, Billy […]
Kyle Schwarber Doesn’t Have to be Adam Dunn
Before this season began, Kyle Schwarber was still something of a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma. Because he still had yet to play a full season’s worth of major league games, our sense of him as a player was made up of a small sample of snapshots from the past two years. […]
Game 120 Recap: Reds 13, Cubs 10
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW In another wild game, with seven home runs between the two teams, it was the Reds’ turn to blow a huge lead—9-0 in the second, tied in the fifth—but still win. Worse for the Cubs, Lester took himself out of the game in the second and is being evaluated for left lat […]
The Unexpected Return of Dillon Maples
Coming into the 2017 season, if I had mentioned the name Dillon Maples, the reactions probably would have ranged from “Oh what could have been” to “That guy is still in the Cubs system?” After being drafted in the 14th round by the Cubs in the 2011 draft, the Cubs signed him for a steep […]
Game 119 Recap: Cubs 7, Reds 6
What You Need to Know There was a grand slam, a five-man infield, John Lackey stole a base, and it ended with a walk-off on a wild pitch. It was a pretty fun game if you forget about the five-run lead that was blown. Next Level Javier Baez came into the ninth inning with the […]
Ian Happ’s Role Down the Stretch
There was a point this season where Ian Happ felt like the only thing that had gone right for the Cubs. The rookie came up in mid-May and immediately started raking. Ten of his first twenty-five hits went for home runs, and he was one of the few players keeping the team from sinking further […]
Game 118 Recap: Reds 2, Cubs 1
What You Need To Know: You probably joked while the Cubs were scoring 15 last night that they should save some for the next game. Though you didn’t say it out loud, inside you kind of felt like you weren’t joking, even though you know that’s not how these things work. But what you know and […]
Zack’s Sack: A Wrigleyville Mailbag, Vol. 8
Welcome back to Zack’s Sack, the BP Wrigleyville mailbag! It’s been a bit since we’ve done a mailbag here, but the Cubs are as weird as ever, and so we have a few questions from the loyal readers this week. As always, the questions have been left unedited to make our readers look as bad […]