OSS: Cubs hang on to send the series back to Cleveland. Three+ up: Aroldis Chapman was the Cubs WPA leader (.404), and it’s not even close. Chapman slammed the door on the Indians, pitching 2.2 innings and striking out four. As has been well documented doing this is way out of his comfort zone, but you couldn’t tell tonight. There’s …
Cleveland 7, Cubs 2 (World Series Game 4)
OWS: Three+ up: Dexter Fowler finally had a good game this series, scoring both off a leadoff double and a meaningless late HR, the Cubs first of the series. Rizzo also had a good day at the plate, knocking in Fowler in the first and doubling to lead off the sixth as one of the Cubs roughly 891 runners stranded …
Cleveland 1, Cubs 0 (World Series Game Three)
OSS: That’s not quite what I expected. Three+ up: Jorge Soler had a good day at the plate, going 2-3 with a single and a Chisenhall/wind assisted triple as well as a great throw to third base to take out the soon to be lead runner on the lone Cleveland RBI. At least one move today turned out to be …
Cubs 5, Cleveland 1 (World Series Game 2)
OSS: Cubs cruise to victory, and Kyle Schwarber is going to bring down the house on Friday. Three+ up: Who else but Kyle Schwarber, he of four regular season PAs, would be the one to drive in multiple runs in this game? This is unreal and makes me even more excited for next year. The Cubs scored 808 runs in …
Cubs 5, Dodgers 0 (NLCS Game 6)
FTWS: Three+ up: Kyle Hendricks was absolutely amazing tonight, allowing just two hits and striking out six in 7.1 innings. There were just two baserunners in the first seven innings, a leadoff single on the first pitch of the game that got wiped out by a slick double play turned by Baez, and an error by Baez was wiped away …
Cubs 8, Dodgers 4 (NLCS Game 5)
OSS: Three+ up: Addison Russell provided the biggest hit of the game, a no-doubter two run shot in the sixth inning to put the Cubs up 3-1, driving in who else but Javier Baez. Russell also added a single in the ninth and hustled his way into a leadoff ROE as the Cubs tacked on five insurance runs in the …
Cubs 10, Dodgers 2 (NLCS Game 4)
OSS: Back in business. Three+ up: Anthony Rizzo and Addison Russell were the most prominently struggling players on the offense going into this game, but their bats woke up in a big way tonight. Russell took Julio Urias deep in the fourth for a two run shot, and Rizzo hit a solo shot in the fifth. Both were making good …
Dodgers 6, Cubs 0 (NLCS Game 3)
OSS: Well, that sucked. Three up: The Cubs meat grinder got going early, sending seven batters to the plate against a clearly out-of-sorts Rich Hill in the second inning. He was over 40 pitches by the end of it plus half a hundred pickoff throws on noted base purloiner Anthony Rizzo, and the Cubs felt on schedule to do some …
Dodgers 1, Cubs 0 (NLCS Game 2)
OSS: Cubs run into a buzz saw named Kershaw and Jansen. Three up Not a lot of positives for the Cubs today. Oddly enough the only position player with positive WPA was Anthony Rizzo, who drew a leadoff walk in the seventh. The Cubs made a lot of good contact that inning but couldn’t get a ball to drop in. …
A Few Good Tweets From Game 1
One of the nice things about getting to a championship series is that everyone is paying attention. And, at least when Pedro Baez is pitching, there is plenty of time to survey the landscape. Revisiting the action while trying not to worry about Kershaw… On Howie Kendrick A. That’s not how defensive metrics work. B. Kendrick actually grades out as more …