When Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer, and Jason McLeod first took over the Cubs organization at the end of 2011, the minor league system was pretty barren, especially of catchers. But in the last five years, the Cubs have produced two catchers for the major league club in Willson Contreras and Victor Caratini, and there is […]
Category: Articles
Ian Happ Not Entirely Overmatched on Defense
In a first half packed with disappointment and mediocrity from all aspects of the roster, Ian Happ has represented a true bright spot for the Chicago Cubs. He’s hit up and down the lineup, leading the team in isolated power, at .290, and trailing only Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo in OPS (.870). While it […]
July 10, 2014 & The Cubs’ True Turn Toward Competitive Baseball
Let’s turn the clock back. Back before the Cubs were hte 2016 world champions. Back before their improbable 2015 run. Back to 2014. July 10, 2014, specifically. A day in which the 39-52, cellar-dwelling Chicago Cubs, riding a six-game losing streak took on the Cincinnati Reds. The July afternoon matinee at the Great American Ball […]
Game 88 Recap: Pirates 14, Cubs 3
What You Need To Know: Mike Montgomery, stepping up when his team needed him for an emergency start with only two days rest, gave the Cubs all he could in three innings of work before the pen only gave up two runs over the final six innings as the Cubs’ rally just fell short in a […]
Kris Bryant: A Brief Counterpoint
On Friday, Kris Bryant tallied his tenth multi-homer game as a major leaguer, and his third this season. He reached ten in only 386 career games; for perspective, Anthony Rizzo has 14 in 836, meaning Bryant has outstripped Rizzo’s career rate of multi-homer games by about 60 percent. That’s just one indicator of Bryant’s impressive […]
Game 87 Recap: Pirates 4, Cubs 2
What You Need to Know: For the first three innings, the sides traded zeros. Then came the fourth inning, and they started trading some other integers. Pittsburgh one, thanks to a ground out. Cubs two, via back-to-back home runs. Then Pittsburgh came back with a three-run sixth. Then they went back to trading zeros for the […]
Bill Nicholson, The Unconventional Wartime Hero
Several days after a massive typhoon wiped out a number of US ships and officers in the south Pacific, Bill Nicholson found himself in the office of the Draft Board, waiting to hear whether his draft exemption would continue. As his teammates, one by one, joined the nameless masses fighting against fascism in Europe and […]
Game 86 Recap: Cubs 6, Pirates 1
What You Need to Know: A sluggish, interminable, sloppy game somehow culminated in a Cubs victory. Eddie Butler escaped three separate jams in four full innings before departing in the fifth, and the Cubs failed to score on several good chances early on, but a Kris Bryant triple and Anthony Rizzo home run sealed the […]
A Meditiation on the Futility of Trade Speculation, Redux: Speculating Futilely
Ian Happ is good, and the Cubs are… kind of bad. The Cubs’ status quo as of the beginning of July is frustrating, and the rest-of-season prognosis is troubling, and possibly bleak. Between injuries to Kyle Hendricks, Jason Heyward, and Ben Zobrist; poor pitching from John Lackey and uneven pitching from the rest of the […]
Game 85 Recap: Brewers 11, Cubs 2
What You Need To Know: Well, “need” would be a funny word choice for this one. The Cubs got stomped. Mike Montgomery didn’t have anything. Couldn’t locate his curve, hitters sat on the fastball and pretty much streaked it so hard the spray chart would have looked something like a Jackson Pollock painting. Jack Leathersich…or Seatherlich, […]