The Cubs have yet to win a series this year, and now go on the road to face the team with the best record in baseball. I’m guessing the Cubs sweep, because that’s how baseball seems to work (laughing). Before the season, a lot of prognosticators picked the Brewers to be a much better team than I was expecting. They …
Series Preview: Worst Record vs Third-Worst Record
As you might have heard, it’s the 100th anniversary of the opening of Wrigley Field this week. Seeing how the two teams that are playing are in the bottom five of the standings right now, it’s no wonder that the Cubs have been using “Party of the Century” as their main marketing gimmick this season. On Wednesday the teams will …
Doubleheader Preview: Chicago Cubs (4-8) at New York Yankees (7-6)
Rain turned this short series into a day-night doubleheader. The two teams will meet again in mid-May, and hopefully we won’t have to get bummed out yet again by seeing Tanaka on the mound in a Yankees jersey. Aside from Tanaka, the Yankees also picked up Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann, Kelly Johnson, Brian Roberts, and Jacoby Ellsbury this offseason. I guess …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (3-6) at St. Louis Cardinals (5-4)
Hey, at least the Cubs aren’t in last place in the division (sort of)! Cincy also has a 3-6 record but has a slightly worse run differential. St. Louis is coming off a series win against those Reds, and get to feast on this Cubs team next. Given Matt Adams‘s emergence last season, Allen Craig has moved back to …
Series Preview: Pittsburgh Pirates (4-2) at Chicago Cubs (2-4)
These guys again? After taking the opening series from the Cubs, the Pirates went on to take two of three from the Cardinals. They beat up on Cards starter Shelby Miller in the first game, and the Cardinals returned the favor against Liriano in the second. They won a close game on getaway day with Edinson Volquez somehow outpitching Adam …
Series Preview: Philadelphia Phillies (1-2) at Chicago Cubs (1-2)
Cubs HOF Ryne Sandberg returns to Wrigley for the Cubs home opener. The Phillies opened the season with a 14-10 win against the Rangers in which included a Jimmy Rollins grand slam and Cliff Lee picking up a win for giving up eight runs in five innings. Team Overviews These are 2013 numbers, NL rank is in parens Cubs wRC+: …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (0-0) at Pittsburgh Pirates (0-0)
Baseball season we are in you! The Cubs open up against last year's surprise (ish) team, the Pittsburgh Pirates. They finished at 94-68 last year, beat the Reds in the inagural NL wild card game, and took the eventual champions to the full five games in the NLDS. They had no answer for Adam Wainwright and the Cardinals fireballing bullpen, but in …
Cubs opening day roster finalized
Alberto Cabrera DFA, Brian Schlitter takes final spot With the bullpen sorted out (for now), the Cubs opening day roster looks like: C Welington Castillo C John Baker 1B Anthony Rizzo 2B/SS Darwin Barney SS Starlin Castro 3B Mike Olt 2B/3B Luis Valbuena 2B/SS/3B/CF Emilio Bonifacio OF Ryan Kalish OF Ryan Sweeney OF Junior Lake RF Nate Schierholtz RF Justin …
OV Daily Facepalm
Weekend Roster Moves of note Darnell McDonald —-> AAA Chang-Yong Lim —-> Korea Tsuyoshi Wada —–> released Tsuyoshi Wada —–> re-signed to a minor league deal Neil Ramirez —–> AAA Javier Baez —–> AAA Jonathan Sanchez —-> AAA Casper Wells —-> AAA Blake Parker —–> AAA No real surprises here, except maybe Blake Parker, who was pretty decent last year …
OV Daily Facepalm
Aroldis Chapman hit in face by line drive There was a scary moment in last night's Reds game, as Aroldis Chapman was hit in the face by a line drive. Trainers from both teams rushed to the mound immediately (and his father too from the stands), and he was taken off the field in a stretcher. Reports say he never …