MLB: Chicago Cubs-Workouts

Drill Instructors, Whammy Men, and Senseis: A Brief History of Cubs Gimmick Fails

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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]