Hitting a home run is the best and coolest thing a player can do on a baseball field. Sammy Sosa was very good at hitting home runs. Better than just about everyone else in the history of Major League Baseball, in fact. Sosa’s 1998-2002 was one of the most remarkable stretches for a player all-time, but […]
Category: Articles
Cubs 2016 Playoff Retrospective – Luck and Skill: NLDS and NLCS Edition
Every World Series Champion owes some portion of its victory to chance and/or good fortune. I hesitate to use the word luck, not only because of the negative connotation that word has in sports, but also because each World Series contender has to have some sort of baseline skill that would allow them to be […]
With Ross Retiring, to Whom Will Lester Turn?
Few, if any, of us will forget Jon Lester’s “gutsy” performance in Game Seven of the World Series. Just three days after helping win an air-tight Game Five at Wrigley Field with six solid innings, Lester threw three innings of one-run ball in the biggest game of even his postseason-studded career. Although a few miscues […]
Let ‘em Go: The Case for Not Extending Jake Arrieta
Pose the question in September 2015, and it’s a laughable one. Jake Arrieta’s long-term status was not in question at that point, and even into the 2016 season, he remained entrenched in the future plans as far as Cubs fans were concerned. But his slightly wobbly regular season—he put together quality numbers on the whole, but […]
While We Have Time: A Look at Some Minor Acquisitions from the Offseason
Every team’s offseason transactions list is dotted with players who are unlikely to make an impact at the MLB level in the immediate future. But, of course, any player who is actively signed by a big league organization has at least something intriguing about them. It could be a certain rate stat, a certain pitch, and intriguing […]
The Best of BP Wrigleyville in 2016
It’s been a phenomenal year for Cubs fans, and the staff here at BP Wrigleyville has thoroughly enjoyed the privilege of playing a part in the experience of the 2016 Cubs season. As we bring this year to a close, we’re excited to share our self-selected favorite work from the past year. We hope you […]
Santo’s Nixed Trade
Five home runs, a batting average of .221, and on-base and slugging percentages each south of .300: 1974 was an unceremonious end to a remarkable career for Ron Santo, his first and last on Chicago’s South Side after fourteen seasons at Wrigley Field with the Cubs. He’d been a National League All-Star just the year […]
Depth, Flexibility, and Time: Why the Cubs’ Offseason Makes Sense
We’re now solidly in the falling action stage of the 2016 offseason. Almost all of the biggest moves have already been made (we imagine), and now teams are left to fill in any remaining holes as best they can. The holiday time is a quiet time for baseball. This lull gives Cubs fans time to catch our […]
BP Wrigleyville Wants You!
The final days of 2016 are here, and as we turn the corner into a new year and anticipate what 2017 will bring for the Cubs, there’s some exciting news here at BP Wrigleyville. Since its start in April of 2015, this has been a place that’s valued a critical and creative look at the Chicago […]
Game Seven’s Ninth Inning
Sandwiched in between the eighth inning’s dream-killing Rajai Davis home run and the rain-delayed tenth inning that cleansed Cubs fans of over a century of frustration, the ninth inning of World Series Game Seven is often overlooked. Or, when it is reflected upon, the fact that Aroldis Chapman was able to muster three outs in the bottom […]