OSS: Cubs finally score more runs than they allow. Three Up: 1. Kyle Schwarber went 3-3 with a HR and a walk. If only he stopped doing so much god damn charity work, he might have went 4 for 3, right Alvin? 2. Kris Bryant hit a 3-run bomb and silenced all of Cubs RISP Twitter. I get the impression …
Cubs 3, Pirates 4 (9/5/2017)
OSS: That fucking 8th inning. Three Up 1. Kyle Hendricks was pretty solid today. He didn't walk a single batter (only 2 strikeouts, so lots of balls in play). He made one bad mistake to David Freese, but allowed no other runs on the day. 2. Ian Happ had a 2-run single that would give the Cubs a 3-2 lead …
We have to talk about Dillon Maples
Baseball can be an exceedingly cruel game. The best hitters are defined as the ones that fail merely 60% of the time they come to the plate. Throwing the ball means always being a pitch away from the disabled list and an uncertain future. The path to success is littered with the failures of near-identical men and the smell of …
Series Preview: Pittsburgh Pilates (63-68) at Chicago Cubs (69-60)
That joke in the title is a bit of a stretch. /dadjokes The Pirates have been a hot and cold team this year, but they've been cold lately. After climbing to 58-58, they've been 5-10 in their last 15 with many of those games being non-competitive. Furthermore, the Cubs miss both Cole and Taillon, instead getting the pitchers on the …
Crosstown Cup Open Thread
(note: I have one usable arm at the moment so this is short and sweet) We have pitchers going against their pitchers. Ours are better We have hitters, as do the White Sox. Ours are pretty good and theirs suck I want to see how Yoan Moncada does and thats about it for them We have won a lot lately …
Cubs Acquire Jose Quintana for Dylan Cease, Eloy Jimenez (++)
In a blockbuster opening salvo to the 2017 trading season, the Cubs landed one of the best gettable arms for this cycle. First, let's talk about what we've lost. Eloy Jimenez is a hell of a prospect (No. 5 in BA's midseason ranking). He has light-tower power, though it hasn't translated onto the field at quite the same rate. He's …
Cubs DFA Miguel Montero, call up Victor Caratini
At this point, everyone knows that Montero is out. Miguel Montero designated for assignment by #Cubs. Caratini to be called up — Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) June 28, 2017 We'd be remiss without mentioning the fact that Montero hit a grandslam in Game 6 on the NLCS, and that he hit the go-ahead-by-2 RBI in Game 7 of the World Series …
The Case for Selling
Let's get one thing out of the way first: the Cubs won the 2016 World Series. I bring that up for 2 reasons. First, that's awesome and I want to bring it up at every opportunity. The other reason is that it buys you a significant amount of runway to do whatever you want for the near future. I'm not …
What’s up with Kyle Freeland?
As the 108th most influential Cubs blog, we have a sworn duty to stay in our lane and only give you the highest quality of Cubs analysis. However, I just can't get over Kyle Freeland for some reason. Yes, he's not on the Cubs, and yes, he only played the Cubs once (game score of exactly 50). What's interesting to …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (32-33) @ Pittsburgh Pirates (30-36)
The red-hot Cubs come rambling into Pittsburgh for a 3-game skirmish this weekend (note: Cubs not actually red-hot). The Pirates are a really, really interesting team considering that they don't have an offensive standout this year, but they don't have any offensive black holes. From top to bottom, the OPS+ of the 8 position players is 122, 114, 106, 103, …