It’s easy to forget that Yu Darvish is on the Cubs, and he will be an important part for years. Having eight starts in a season will do that. Not being around when all the drama hit in September is another. The little nugget that only three of those eight starts were any good is […]
Tag: Yu Darvish
The Cubs Are Gonna Be Alright: Reasons for Optimism
Last night’s result notwithstanding, The Cubs have stumbled a bit out of the All-Star break, going 13-11 against, overall, some pretty weak competition. This stretch of games has felt particularly concerning because it has fallen outside of the usual second half pattern of dominance the Cubs have established since Joe Maddon took over in 2015. It […]
Game 44 Recap: Cubs 6, Reds 1
What You Need To Know: In the first inning, Yu Darvish threw 39 pitches all over the place, and it looked like it was going to be a long day in every sense except for his innings pitched. But then, he actually settled down! (*Extreme Al Michaels voice*) Do you believe in miracles?! YES! After escaping […]
Game 18 Recap: Rockies 5, Cubs 2
What You Need to Know: The Cubs decided to let you watch Sean Manaea’s no-hitter by rolling over and dying. The bats were quiet and Yu Darvish fell apart suddenly and completely. Next Level: After last night’s sixteen-run outburst, there were some feelings that the Cubs would be stymied by Tyler Anderson through some gambler’s fallacy fueled […]
Showing Your Hickey: A Look at Some Early Season Walk Rates
While the Cubs had a pretty smooth spring training, just the way they wanted it, there was little talk of the new coaches the Cubs hired. It seemed just a touch strange for a team that had won the division two years in a row, and gone to the NLCS three years in a row, […]
Yu Through Two Starts
It’s difficult to write meaningfully about early season performances in baseball. Sample sizes are too small to draw any sweeping conclusions: the Dodgers are 3-6; the Pirates are 7-2. But on the pitching side of things, results aside, it only takes one or two starts to get some pretty interesting—if not predictive—pitch data. So, because […]
Game 8 Recap: Cubs 5, Brewers 2
What You Need to Know After the Cubs’ late-game, defensive breakdown last night, the Brewers had a breakdown of their own. Two errors in the ninth allowed the Cubs to come back for four runs, though Chicago only hit one ball out of the infield in the inning. Yu Darvish was excellent, and Kris Bryant […]
Game 3 Recap: Cubs 10, Marlins 6
What You Need to Know: For months, Cubs fans had longed for their brand-new half-Iranian, half-Japanese, 6-foot-5 righty, whose stuff is often described as “sexy”, to make his first start as a Cub. Alas, it went poorly and they were left disappointed, like kids on a Saturday night waiting for bae to come over while both of […]
Trouble With His Curve: A Yu Darvish Deep Dive
Shortly after the Cubs signed Yu Darvish, Chris Gimenez, their newly-acquired backup catcher who had worked with Darvish as a Ranger in 2014, offered his thoughts on what might have gone wrong in Darvish’s two disastrous World Series outings against the Astros. By now, we’ve all heard the pitch-tipping theory. Gimenez, however, turned his attention […]
Yu Darvish: Big Game Pitcher
In the wake of the Yu Darvish signing, it feels as though the baseball pundit community has established two requirements for any report on the Cubs’ new ace… — At least one obvious pun on his first name such as “Yu the man now, dawg.” (If it wasn’t already abundantly obvious, this makes it clear […]