Once Joe Maddon takes his perch at the edge of the dugout on Opening Day 2019, he will become the first Cubs skipper to manage five consecutive years with the team since Jim Riggleman (1995-99). That fact is at once astonishing for what it reveals about the franchise’s ineptitude and yet not surprising at all […]
Tag: Cubs
The Cubs and Astros: A Brief Treatise on Young Hitters’ Roles
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 […]
The Cubs Are Gonna Be Alright: Reasons for Optimism
Last night’s result notwithstanding, The Cubs have stumbled a bit out of the All-Star break, going 13-11 against, overall, some pretty weak competition. This stretch of games has felt particularly concerning because it has fallen outside of the usual second half pattern of dominance the Cubs have established since Joe Maddon took over in 2015. It […]
The Managerial Philosophies Behind the Cubs/Cardinals Freaky Friday Bodyswitch
When Mike Matheny was fired late this past Saturday evening, one of the first thoughts that ran through my mind was this: Now we know what the 2004 Cubs looked like to the rest of the league. Baseball is so much more fun when it’s the other teams dissolving into chaos. The only way this […]
Chicago’s Poor and Baseball at the Turn of the Century
The Chicago of the mid-1800s that prided itself on its cleanliness and relatively high standard of living for its poor had disappeared by the turn of the century. Connecting the East, South, and West, Chicago rapidly bloomed due to the expansion of the railroad, its population growing from 360,000 in the 1880s to 1.7 million […]
Checking In on the Cubs’ Early Season Bullpen Usage
After letting Wade Davis and Héctor Rondón go in the offseason and replacing them with Brandon Morrow and Steve Cishek, there was concern in some corners that the back end of the Cubs bullpen wasn’t as proven as it had been in recent years. But this hasn’t been an issue: Morrow has been a dominant closer, […]
Spreading The Love: The Cubs and Plate Appearances
There’s certainly a lot that’s unique about the Cubs. For three years now, we’ve wondered how the Cubs will cram in ABs for all the players they have. And generally, it’s worked itself out. While we complain about teams having three- or four-man benches these days thanks to bloated bullpens and injuries and a terror […]
Could Free Agency Be the New Market Inefficiency for the Cubs?
One of the nice things about rooting for a team with as checkered a history as the Cubs possess is that it gives us a never-ending series of metaphors to describe the baseball winter of 2017-18. For instance… This slothful offseason has been like watching Hector Villanueva leg out a triple. The hot stove has […]
It’s Time for the Cubs to Act Like the Dodgers: Part 2, Offensive Depth
Yesterday, I covered how the Cubs should go about addressing their rotation and bullpen for 2017. Today, I cover offensive depth. The Cubs NEED to Implement Their “Depth,” Platoon Aggressively, and Joe Maddon NEEDS to be Willing to Adjust… Like the Dodgers and Dave Roberts I put depth in quotes because Chicago’s “depth” has a […]
It’s Time for the Cubs to Act Like the Dodgers: Part 1, Pitching
“This isn’t the Windy City. This is the economic hurricane in Chicago of what the Cubs have done.” -Scott Boras, 11/15/17 After multiple trades over the last two years, most notably for Aroldis Chapman and Jose Quintana, the Cubs’ prospect depth is gone. It’s now on their major leaguer roster, giving them extremely talented and […]