This piece, written by BP Wrigleyville’s Henry Druschel, forms part of our in-house coverage of the Cubs in the playoffs, “Second City October”. Additional NLDS coverage, written by Rian Watt and originally run on the main site’s series “Playoff Prospectus,” can be found here. They’ve been a long, long time in coming, but the real playoffs are finally here. The […]
Tag: NLDS
Maddon Throwing Cubs into Stark Relief after NLDS Success
Last week, I made some predictions about how Joe Maddon might manage his bench and bullpen in the Wild Card Game and Division Series, drawing upon his history in Tampa Bay and the composition of the Cubs’ roster in order to do so. With the Cubs now moving on to the NLCS for the first time in 12 years, I thought […]
The Cubs Go Boom: The Top Playoff Homers so Far
WPA, short for Win Probability Added, is a stat we use often here at BP Wrigleyville. It’s really a cool little number, and for the sake of not leaving anyone in the dark, I’ll briefly explain it. WPA is a measurement of the degree to which every play that happens throughout a game changes the team’s […]
Loose and Deadly Calm, Cubs Celebrate a Leap Forward
Spend any time around this Chicago Cubs club, and you’ll know that they’re a special group. The national media can write all they want about how their youthful inexperience gets in the way of postseason success, but that story gets less convincing with every new team the Cubs leave sullen-faced in the visiting dugout. And […]
Playoff Prospectus: Party Time in Wrigleyville — NLDS Game Four
This piece, by BP Wrigleyville’s Editor-in-Chief Sahadev Sharma, first appeared at the Baseball Prospectus main site and is available to everyone for free. We’ve posted a sneak preview here. The plan all along was for this Cubs team to be built on offense. After clinching a trip to the club’s first NLCS in a dozen years, […]
NLDS Game Four Recap: Cubs 6 Cardinals 4
Top Play (WPA): 2015 has not been an easy year for Javier Baez. After struggling through a cup of coffee in the already-sacrificed 2014 season, adversity found him time-and-again this year. That much is well-documented. Through it all, there was never a doubt that the stoic young man from Bayamon—the man with the MLB logo tattooed on his […]
Jason Hammel and Why Sometimes There Isn’t a Definitive Answer
In baseball, there are a lot of things that go beyond the numbers. Mechanics. Injury history. State of mind. And a general good old-fashioned feel for the game. While the numbers paint a large portion of the picture, they aren’t the only thing contributing to it. There are exceptions to the sabermetric rule, and I would […]
Playoff Prospectus: Homers, Homers, Homers, Homers — NLDS Game 3 ($)
This piece, by BP’s Mike Gianella, first appeared at the Baseball Prospectus main site and is exclusively available to BP subscribers. We’ve posted a sneak preview here. Game Three of the NLDS between the Cardinals and the Cubs shifted to Wrigley Field on Monday night, with the advantage tilting to the Cubs not only because […]
NLDS Game Three Recap: Cubs 8 Cardinals 6
Top Play (WPA): Think anyone is busy writing Kris Bryant service time stories now? The Cubs’ superstar third baseman hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning (+0.252) off of Cardinals starter Michael Wacha—one of six the Cubs hit on the night, setting a new major-league record—and helped the Cubs go up two games to one in […]
Playoff Prospectus: Cubs Do Simple Better — NLDS Game 2 ($)
This piece, by BP Wrigleyville’s Rian Watt, first appeared at the Baseball Prospectus main site and is exclusively available to BP subscribers. We’ve posted a sneak preview here. It was 54 degrees on October 3rd in Milwaukee, and the Cubs were bunched around the batting cages, working on their bunting. Manager Joe Maddon, who spent […]