Last I checked, the White Sox were doing pretty well in the AL central and there was talk of contention. They have a losing record now, but it's only a half game back from the heavily favorited Tigers and the surprising Indigenous Peoples. Much like the Cubs they have a solid rotation with a shaky bullpen and a bunch …
Q & A With Phillies Blog "That Ball's Outta Here"
We were contacted by Phillies blog "That Ball's Outta Here" to do a Q&A, and you can read our answers to the Cubs questions over at their site. Ethan was kind enough to answer a few questions of our own about the Phillies 1. What can the Phillies do to improve their offense? Watching a few Tom Emansky hitting videos …
Is Sveum seriously the best that Thoyer could have done?
The pitchforks and torches are out among many Cubs fans (and even the media) after Dale Sveum bunted with two men on and nobody out with a nonpitcher at the plate not once but twice late in yesterday's game. Even worse, ont of those cases was with the Cubs second best hitter, Starlin Castro. Sveum seems to have a fetish …
Short Series Preview for a Short Series:
The Cardinals are good. The Cubs are not. Here's a look at the matchups for this quick series in St. Louis Monday: Ryan Dempster, RHP (1.02, 2.16, 2.80, 3.83) vs Jake Westbrook, RHP (1.76, 2.79, 3.20, 4.00), 6:05 PM CT This is a matchup of pitchers who have gotten off to fantastic starts to the year. You have to give …
Postgame thread – non David DeJesus editon
Whether or not the Cubs win this game, the sentiment still stands.
Series Preview – Chicago Cubs (13-18) vs Milwaukee Brewers (13-18)
I liked the Brewers chances of winning the NL Central this year, even without Fielder, given the loss of Pujols and Carpenters injuries and my general distrust of the Reds pitching staff. They've had some awful luck so far though, and it looks like it's not going to happen. They've lost three of their key contributers (SP Chris Narveson, SS …
Where We Stand Now: Starting pitching
I already took a look at the team batting numbers, and now we'll look at the bright spot in the Cubs roster: starting pitching. Here's how the seven pitchers who have started games thus far have performed. Player GS IP K/9 BB/9 HR/9 GB% BABIP ERA FIP xFIP Ryan Dempster 4 28.1 9.21 2.86 0.32 41.2% .191 0.95 2.32 2.94 …
Series Preview: Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles (17-8) at Chicago Cubs (9-16)
The Dodgers have the best record in the National league, and are only one win off of Tampa's 18-8 mark for the best in baseball. A big part of that is Matt Kemp, who is making Bryan LaHair's numbers look pedestrian this year. Kemp has hit 12 HRs to LaHair's 7, though their wOBAs aren't that far off when you …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (8-15) at Cincinnati Reds (11-11)
I'm swamped with work deadlines so this is going to be relatively short. After a slow start to the season Cincy finished April strong, winnign series against NL central foes St. Louis, the Cubs, and the Astros. Jay Bruce is the hottest hitter in the NL right now, and has hit HRs in his last 4 games. The Cubs splitting …
Where We Stand Now 5.1.12 – Batters
Now that a month has passed, let's take a look back at what's gone wrong (and a few things that have gone right). First, a look at the batters. Here are the regulars' current slash lines, wOBA, BABIP, and preseason projected wOBAs. I'm only doing Johnson and Mather because they've picked up the most PAs of the bench guys, and …