This is what a safety net looks like. As we said before yesterday, both the Rockies and Cubs would have two chances to win one, and both blew their first one (and don’t get me started on how the Cubs and Joe Maddon “blew” it yesterday). The bonus for the Cubs is that they haven’t […]
Category: Articles
Game 163 Preview: For The Right To Do It Again
Today will be a bit of a weird occasion. On the top level, I wonder if this will be the last time we see Game 163s between teams that both have qualified for the playoffs. You can see some lobbying going on for that at the Winter Meetings or something. You could see making head-to-head […]
Game 162 Recap: Cubs 10, Cardinals 5
What You Need To Know: This won’t be the last recap of the regular season. After a brief scare in the first couple of innings, where Mike Montgomery was less than sharp, the defense was wonky, and the offense was meek, the Cubs came alive in the third with a second look at Jack Flaherty. And […]
Game 161 Recap: Cardinals 2, Cubs 1
It is with great sadness and regret that I must begin this recap with the bleakest and most hopeless words I’ve written all year… Go Tigers. What You Need to Know: This one had the feel of October with a national telecast on a crisp fall day and both starting pitchers performing at or near […]
Game 160 Recap: Cubs 8, Cardinals 4
What You Need To Know: Most probably viewed these three games with their fingernails already bitten down to the quick, and as just yet another monument to the torture of being a Cubs fan. I see it as an opportunity to clinch the division and knock the Cardinals out of the playoffs simultaneously FOR THE SECOND SEASON […]
If the Cubs Lose the Division, It’s Not Because of the Weather, Pt. 2: Catcher
Yesterday, we published the first of three parts in this series considering the preventable causes for this disappointing Cubs season. Identified in that part were two pitching-related causes: the domino effects of Tyler Chatwood’s poor pitching, and a bullpen that quickly found itself logging too many innings while striking out too few hitters. Today’s entry focuses on a […]
Game 159 Recap: Cubs 3, Pirates 0
What You Need To Know: What you need to know is that this Cubs team—a team that has gotten barely 1/2 a season out of its former MVP and an injured other half from him, lost its closer halfway through the year and is down another while their third most important reliever turned into a basket […]
If the Cubs Lose the Division, It’s Not Because of the Weather, Pt. 1: Pitching
The Cubs’ division lead over the Brewers has yo-yoed between a slim half-game and a somewhat cozy five games for what seems like forever, even as the Cubs went 18-11 over a hellish stretch of 30 straight days with a game scheduled. Panic reached a fever pitch the week of the Washington rainouts and Brewers […]
Actually, You Don’t Need To Panic About Lefties In The Postseason
Let me be clear up top. I like the guys at BleacherNation.com. They’re smart, good-looking, generally a good smell. They know a lot, aren’t pushy about it. So you shouldn’t disregard anything they have to say. And they care. So when they say something is to worry about, it’s because they’re worrying about it. Tuesday, […]
The Crosstown Classic: The Pitcher Win of the MLB Schedule
My first experience with the Crosstown Classic was in 1997—the debut year for interleague play. There was a considerable amount of fanfare and hype for the series that essentially boiled down to: “Watch a team six games below .500 take on another team twelve games below .500 to determine who owns bragging rights!!!” Left unsaid, […]