Oftentimes, it’s hard to really pinpoint when a team became great, that moment when the players, the fans, basically anyone following the team accepted the team isn’t just pretending, they legitimately are good. But for the 2015, it’s hard to deny when that stretch came. Kris Bryant certainly didn’t hesitate. “I think in early August […]
Category: Articles
Game 154 Recap: Pirates 4 Cubs 0
Top Play (WPA): Considering that the Cubs clinched their playoff spot late last night when the Giants lost to the A’s, the Cubs looked like they had a bit of a hangover in today’s game. Cubs starter Jason Hammel provided fans with a bunch of hope early on, cruising through the first four innings without […]
An Open Letter to Cubs Twitter
Friday morning I turned on MLB Network as I prepared to start my day. My intent was simply to have some background noise as I got ready, but the on-air personalities of Fran Charles, Al Leiter, and Mark DeRosa were having an extremely intriguing conversation about the Houston Astros that I just couldn’t ignore. Essentially, […]
Game 153 Recap: Pirates 3 Cubs 2
Top Play (WPA): Starlin Castro’s year has been something out of a storybook. He entered the year as one of twin stars (alongside Anthony Rizzo) on a team ascending; he struggled mightily as the calendar turned from April to May, and then to the dog days of summer; he was, finally, removed from the everyday lineup […]
The Cubs’ Exceptional Double-Play Avoidance
The Cubs strike out a lot. They strike out a ton. This shouldn’t be news, but in case you’ve been checking the scores and asking as few questions as possible, there it is. With a league-high 24.4-percent strikeout rate, the Cubs are sprinting headfirst toward the highest strikeout rate in history for a playoff team. […]
Respected Ross Putting Experience to Work
When David Ross signed with the Cubs two days before Christmas, 2014, few expected him to bring much to the table with his bat in the new season. That’s good; low expectations have thereby saved thousands of fans from disappointment. Ross has put up a .211 TAv over 168 plate appearances in 2015, which is […]
Getting Deep, Going Deeper
I’m a historian by trade—or, more correctly, by bachelor’s degree. Before I started writing for BP Wrigleyville, I was much more likely to pump out 3,000 footnoted words on Andre Dawson and collusion than an accessible analysis of Addison Russell’s changed approach at the plate. Given that background, I have a natural tendency to revisit things […]
Game 152 Recap: Brewers 4, Cubs 1
Top Play (WPA): Kyle Hendricks, wonderfully profiled by our own Rian Watt, pitched very well against the Brewers Wednesday evening, but not well enough to best baby-faced Zach Davies in the game that will be forever known as The Battle between Two Pitchers Who Look Considerably Younger Than This 23-Year-Old Author. Hendricks cruised through four and […]
Away From The Lights, Humanity
The first thing I noticed was how big they were. I’m not a short person—5-foot-11 on a good day, 5-foot-10 on a bad one—but I felt small as Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, and Clayton Richard pushed past me, carrying with them styrofoam plates of food, joking with one another as they headed to tables scattered throughout the […]
The 2015 Ballad of Jon Lester: Start No. 30
Date: September 20, 2015 Opponent: St. Louis Cardinals Location: Wrigley Field Introduction Chris Rock followed Bigger & Blacker with Down to Earth. The Office followed its first six seasons with its final three seasons. Pearl Jam followed the 1990s with the first half of the 2000s. This is a convoluted, perhaps unnecessarily snarky way of […]