For all the fun the baseball world has had with the Cubs and their gaudy run differential in the early going (and I’ve had plenty myself), this game was a good reminder of something I hope everyone kept in mind from the get-go: run differentials are often deceiving. This game was a whole lot closer […]
Tag: Recap
Game 17 Recap: Cubs 8 Reds 1
Well, it wasn’t Thursday night, but it wasn’t too shabby either. Top Play (WPA): Leading off the fourth with the Cubs already up 1-0, Anthony Rizzo hammered his third home run in as many days (+0.108). Rizzo summarily dismissed Jon Moscot’s first pitch slider to the right field seats to bump the score up to 2-0 […]
Game 12 Recap: Rockies 2 Cubs 0
Top Play (WPA): Unfortunately for the Cubs, today’s top play transpired way back in the fourth inning, when Cubs starter Jon Lester made his only major mistake, serving up a first-pitch meatball to slugger Nolan Arenado: One of only three Nolans to ever play the game at the major-league level (Ryan, Reimold), Arenado deposited the Lester offering […]
Game 11 Recap: Cubs 6 Rockies 2
Top Play (WPA): When you’re in a bad mood—say, after you’ve just lost a major-league baseball game, and your team has committed four errors in the process—it can help the soul to hit things. The harder the better. That’s probably what Anthony Rizzo had in mind when he came to plate in the fourth inning of a tie game […]
Game 9 Recap: Cubs 8 Reds 1
The Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds 8-1 Thursday night to bring their record, fittingly, to 8-1. But the lopsided scoreline serves mostly as a lavish facade for what, until the fifth inning, was a tight 1-0 game. Jason Hammel delivered a solid six-inning performance, walking four batters but surrendering no runs on the way to […]
Game 8 Recap: Cubs 9 Reds 2
Heading into Wednesday night’s game at Wrigley Field, Alfredo Simon held a 4-0 record and 1.66 ERA in 15 career appearances against the Cubs, including five starts against Chicago during his previous Reds stint in 2014. Not that we needed more evidence of this, but Wednesday’s results suggested this Cubs team has very little in common […]
Game 7 Recap: Cubs 5 Reds 3
Falco: I have been told of a certain sea snake which has a very unusual method of attracting its prey. It will lie at the bottom of the ocean as if wounded. Then its enemies will approach, and yet it will lie quite still. And then its enemies will take little bites of it, and […]
Game 6 Recap: Cubs 7 Diamondbacks 3
It was an exciting game in Arizona on Sunday afternoon, featuring home runs, near-home runs, pitcher home runs, and a Chicago offense that continues to look nigh unstoppable. Jake Arrieta pitched like a mere mortal instead of his demigod self of 2015, but mortal is plenty good enough when backed by an offense as dangerous as this […]
Game 5 Recap: Cubs 4 Diamondbacks 2
Top Play (WPA): You would think that because Diamondbacks ace Zack Greinke had such a rough Opening Day, allowing seven earned runs in four innings, there would be reason to worry that he’d come out dealing against the Cubs. But that wasn’t the case, and they jumped all over him in the first inning. Jason […]
GAME 4 RECAP: DIAMONDBACKS 3 CUBS 2
Chicago needed a baseball game to focus on this evening, as the collective breath-holding waiting on news to break regarding Kyle Schwarber’s left knee ended with the most painful of exhalations. Take heart, friends, as my colleague Zack Moser said last night before we even understood the severity of the injury, this team is specifically built […]