You can talk about the 2016 Cubs — the 2016 World Series-winning Chicago Cubs – in near-mythological terms, as a cast of titans who stormed their way to 103 regular-season wins and soared to a historic championship. It would be tempting to just paint their trajectory in a single, gently-arcing stroke ending in a title. This is […]
Tag: Postseason
Playoff Prospectus: PECOTA Odds and World Series Game 7 Preview
This piece, written by Baseball Prospectus’s Bryan Grosnick, forms part of the main site’s comprehensive coverage of the postseason, “Playoff Prospectus”. Everything ends. Tonight, not only does the 2016 baseball season come to its long-awaited conclusion, but one team will end a championship drought spanning a period of time best served by using the term […]
Second City November: Bombs Away and a Forced Game Seven
Let’s hear it for the blowout Game Six. We’re all familiar with the tight Game Six that sends the series to an extra game: the Cardinals breaking the Rangers’ hearts in 2011, the Bloody Sock Game in the 2004 ALCS, the Angels’ comeback in 2002. Historic games all, swinging the momentum of a series dramatically. Undoubtedly worth […]
Playoff Prospectus: PECOTA Odds and World Series Game 6 Preview
This piece, written by Baseball Prospectus’s Editor-in-Chief Aaron Gleeman, forms part of the main site’s comprehensive coverage of the postseason, “Playoff Prospectus”. November baseball! We all know what’s at stake here. By the end of the night either Cleveland will be celebrating their first championship in 68 years or everyone in the city will be re-thinking how […]
Second City October: Home Field (dis) Advantage
The Cubs won 103 games—more than any other team in baseball—and do not have home field advantage in the World Series. You can call it unfair, ridiculous, or just plain dumb, but them’s the rules. That’s why they’ll have to beat Cleveland on their own turf in Game Six to get a chance at winning […]
Playoff Prospectus: Assessing the Managers’ Moves in Game 5
This piece, written by Baseball Prospectus’s Matthew Trueblood, forms part of the main site’s comprehensive coverage of the postseason, “Playoff Prospectus”. There’s a temptation, whenever a team is facing the prospect of its season ending in bitter playoff defeat, to expect decisive action and bold strokes. Some glass must be broken; this is an emergency. […]
Playoff Prospectus: Spider-Man Heyward
This piece, written by Baseball Prospectus’s Meg Rowley, forms part of the main site’s comprehensive coverage of the postseason, “Playoff Prospectus”. I can’t imagine becoming suddenly, publicly bad at something. Not that I can’t imagine being suddenly bad at something; I just can’t imagine that newfound badness mattering much to anyone. Our failures have consequences, […]
Playoff Prospectus: The Highlight Reel: World Series Game 5
This piece, written by Baseball Prospectus’s Demetrius Bell, forms part of the main site’s comprehensive coverage of the postseason, “Playoff Prospectus”. John Smoltz knows a thing or two about big moments in October baseball, to say the least. The Hall of Famer-turned-commentator set the table for the viewing audience in the bottom of the fourth […]
Second City October: World Series Game Four Preview, Cleveland (2-1), at Cubs (1-2)
There’s the plan and then there’s the outcome, and very often those two things don’t wind up in sync. When the flyball pitcher from Cleveland takes the mound at Wrigley with the wind blowing out, a 1-0 finish in his favor is not the expected outcome. But it was, and that’s put the Cubs in […]
Playoff Prospectus: The Highlight Reel: World Series Game 3
This piece, written by Baseball Prospectus’s Mauricio Rubio, forms part of the main site’s comprehensive coverage of the postseason, “Playoff Prospectus”. Championship seasons are filled with unlikely heroes coming up in big spots. Cleveland are not champions yet, but should they seal the deal they certainly have their unlikely hero. With runners at the corners […]