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Game 119 Recap: Cubs 7 Braves 1

Top Play (WPA): After a couple of disappointing losses to the Tigers in which the Cubs scored eight runs each, this game served as a good palate cleanser. The Cubs took the lead in the third and never looked back. After back-to-back Addison Russell and Dexter Fowler singles and a Kyle Schwarber flyout, Chris Coghlan […]

MLB: Kansas City Royals at Chicago White Sox

Game 116 Recap: White Sox 3 Cubs 1

Top Play (WPA): Each of the top three plays today were solo home runs by the South Side squad, with Jose Abreu taking the WPA cake by virtue of hitting his first. The Cuban slugger drove a 1-2 fastball  from Dan Haren into the bullpen in right to give the Sox a 1-0 lead (+.120). Alexei Ramirez […]

MLB: Chicago Cubs at Chicago White Sox

Game 115 Recap: Cubs 6 White Sox 3

Top Play (WPA): It was a very weird moment. Kyle Schwarber, who has been tearing up the league, was on deck with a runner on first and Dexter Fowler up, and the White Sox chose to walk Fowler intentionally—putting runners on first and second—to reach Schwarber with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning. […]

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GAME 114 RECAP: CUBS 6 WHITE SOX 5

Top Play (WPA): It seems that whenever the Cubs and White Sox get together, regardless of the relative strengths of the two teams, that fans on both sides can expect excitement. This game was no exception, as the two teams traded the lead back-and-forth, beginning in the first inning. Neither starting pitcher was very sharp […]

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Game 113 Recap: Cubs 9 Brewers 2

Top Play (WPA): It’s not really noticeable until you look carefully, but the ivy-clad brick walls in the Wrigley outfield are capped, just above the yellow-rimmed wire basket, with a two-foot deep rim of smooth concrete painted in the deepest green. For most of its history (to be fair, it’s a short one—that rim was re-poured this past […]

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GAME 112 RECAP: CUBS 3 BREWERS 2

Top Play (WPA): Imagine my relief in not having to write about the top play being a Hector Rondon wild pitch. In the top-half of the ninth inning, Rondon was one pitch from getting out of yet another late-game jam, but promptly bounced a slider in the dirt that Miguel Montero could not block, allowing Ryan […]

MLB: San Francisco Giants at Chicago Cubs

Game 109 Recap: Cubs 8 Giants 6

Top Play (WPA): This was a really fun game, though it got a little hairy at the end. The Cubs had a lot of opportunities to score, and made the most of them. No-one, perhaps, enjoyed the offensive explosion more than Kris Bryant, who’s had a rough go of it at the plate lately. In the […]

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Game 108 Recap: Cubs 7 Giants 3

Top Play (WPA): In an ode to sabermetrically leaning folks everywhere, Dexter Fowler secured today’s top play by doubling to right in the home-half of the fifth (.142), this despite the clutch run-scoring blows that would follow by Kyle Schwarber (.099) and Jorge Soler (.105). David Ross added a bloop single to make it a high-five fifth inning and a 6-1 lead for […]

MLB: Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh Pirates

Game 106 Recap: Pirates 7, Cubs 5

Top Play (WPA): The Cubs actually had the top two WPA plays of the game, and they came in quick succession in the sixth inning. Down 4-1, Kyle Schwarber powered a towering home run to center to make it 4-3 (.166), and then Anthony Rizzo homered to tie the game two batters later (.181). This was a […]

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Game 104 Recap: Cubs 4, Brewers 3

Top Play (WPA): The Cubs are 10 games over .500 for the first time since their last playoff season in 2008. It’s especially nice to type that only a week after the first no-hitter thrown against the club in nearly half a century, part of an embarrassing sweep at home against the Phillies. The Cubs […]