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: joe maddon
Joe Maddon Will Be Back… And He Should, But Needs To Lose The Fear
As if there wasn’t enough emotional rubble smoldering from the Cubs surprising and shockingly quick exit from the season, before the wild card game started there were irksome smoke signals that Joe Maddon could be out of a job if the Cubs were out of the playoffs. One came to pass, the other did not. […]
Game 146 Recap: Cubs 4, Nationals 3
What You Need To Know: In a make-up game that neither team wanted to play and no one wanted to watch, the Cubs easily cruised to a one-run win that was never all that tense and got out of D.C. and back to Chicago about as cleanly as could be asked in this piss-poor situation. What’re […]
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 […]
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, […]
‘Tis The Season To Embrace The Suck: The Chicago Cubs Christmas List
Prior to 2016, most Cubs fans would have asked for a World Series title for Christmas. Now that they have that, there are a few other shiny new toys out there to be had. They still have some things have some things they need and a few things they really want. What could those things be? […]
NLCS Game Two Recap: Dodgers 4, Cubs 1
As they prepared to meet the Spartans in a naval battle outside the city of Naupactus during the second year of the Peloponnesian War, the Athenian soldiers trembled at the overwhelming numbers and strength of their opponent. Sensing this fear, their general, Phormio, spoke to them, declaring that their inferiority in numbers was compensated for […]
For Cubs, Versatility Remains Paramount
There are just under 100 games left in the Cubs’ season, and the differences between this year’s team and last year’s team have become more obvious as the remaining number of games dwindles. One evolving aspect that is more difficult to see, however, is the way in which the 2017 Cubs are “versatile” or not. […]
A Small and Hesitant Case for Batting Average
When the Cubs are presented with next year’s schedule, there’s nothing I’d like more than to see Theo Epstein cross off the part of the calendar with the west coast trip and write in six days at California Pizza Kitchen. Last week was quite the rough stretch of baseball, wasn’t it? The last time I […]
Joe Maddon’s Trust in His Young Core
Like many of you, I read Bernie Miklasz’s recent takedown of Mike Matheny from a few weeks ago principally for the schadenfreude. (A German word meaning “a new emotion as of November 2, 2016.”) As I did so, I noticed that one criticism in particular sounded awfully familiar: “Matheny, as always, remains dutiful and deferential […]