Last week, my colleague Sam Fels outlined the parallels between the Cubs and Astros: their recent success, their methods to get there, and where the two teams stand at the moment. Sam’s ultimate conclusion was somewhat optimistic, ending on this note: When you total it up, the Cubs have won more games than the Astros […]
Category: Articles
2019 Player Target: Marwin González
The Houston Astros fell short of repeating as World Series champions in 2018. Though they may have fallen short, Marwin González was as close to a lock as one could find in the 2018 Major League Baseball playoffs. He showed, just like he has the past few years, why he’d be a perfect fit for […]
The Ins-and-Outs of Indoor Baseball
On Thanksgiving Day in 1887, as the story goes, some 20 members of Chicago’s Farragut Boat Club gathered to celebrate the holiday when a group of them began tossing a boxing glove around the hall. Eventually one of them struck the glove with a broom handle, sending the glove flying into the lap of one […]
Anthony Rizzo and the greatest mulligan of all time
Back in late July, I had the distinct pleasure of attending the finale of the Cubs/Diamondbacks series in person. After David Bote sent Wrigley Field up for grabs with a two-run, bottom-of-the-ninth-inning homer to complete a furious five-run Cubs comeback, tying the score at six, Anthony Rizzo strode to the plate as the potential game […]
Could Michael Rucker Be a Bullpen Sleeper for 2019?
The off-season is the perfect time to evaluate the Cubs’ minor league system and the direction certain players are going. Player reports can be perused, video can be watched, but it’s hard to ignore a guy who throw strikes 70 percent of the time. Over the past year, the Cubs have seen a lot of […]
The Cubs And Astros: Forever Linked And Closer Than You Might Think
It’s not just Sports Illustrated that put these two organizations in the same breath. Both teams started their total rebuild about the same time. Both hired their new front office on almost the same day (Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer were brought in in November of 2011, Jeff Luhnow in December). Both teams were somewhat […]
An Early Look at 2019 Free Agent Options
This offseason the Chicago Cubs, every other team, and every Major League Baseball fan on the planet will be focusing on the free agencies of Bryce Harper and Manny Machado. They are two all-world talents, who can alter the course of whichever team(s) gets them to sign on the dotted line. Imagining a Cubs lineup […]
Kyle Schwarber Is a Great Platoon Player—The Cubs Should Use Him Like One
Ever since Theo Epstein took the podium the Wednesday following the Cubs’ Wild Card game loss to Colorado, there’s been speculation about which players he had in mind when saying the club needed to “stop evaluating this in terms of talent and start evaluating in terms of production.” Even before those comments, I posited that […]
Cubs Waste No Time Inking a Somewhat New Hitting Coach
And just like that the Cubs have a new hitting coach in Anthony Iapoce. It was a bit of a surprising move to have the deal done so quickly, but Anthony is no stranger to the Cubs’ system. With Chili Davis, the Cubs were supposed to improve their situational hitting. Instead, scoring zero or one […]
It’s Time To Give Pedro Strop a Chance to Close
Game after game, season after season, there is one player on the Chicago Cubs who flies under the radar. It’s not surprising that any great player could fly under the radar with teammates like Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Dexter Fowler, John Lackey, Willson Contreras, and Javier Báez continually finding themselves in the spotlight. It’s even […]