Major League Baseball should add more playoff teams. Now. And they shouldn’t stop at just one more wild card team. They might as well add two and force one of the division winners to prove themselves with an extra postseason round. Bud Selig reiterated this week his belief that the playoff field would expand to ten teams as early as …
Cubs compared to their projections
I wrote this on Friday morning so it’s updated through Thursday’s games. I’m too lazy to update it to include Friday’s blowout loss. This is something I’ll try to update once a month just so we can see where players are at compared to their projections. It’s something SG has done on RLYW a few times over the last couple …
Should Brett Jackson be starting for the Cubs?
Brett Jackson was the Cubs first round pick in 2009 and the 31st pick overall. It was the first time that I could remember that the Cubs selected someone who knew how to get on base. Jackson took a lot of walks on college and there was never any doubt as to his ability to reach base. He also had …
OV Roundtable, Part 2
You were probably dying in anticipation of the second part of our roundtable so we apologize for not posting it yesterday.
Series Preview: Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles (10-10) at Chicago Cubs of Chicago (9-9)
Team Overview This is where I would normally talk about what the team’s done, but anything that the Dodgers have acoomplished this year is overshadowed by the legal battle that is shaking up between the McCourts and MLB. It’s going to be a big mess. If MLB does take over, I hope that they appoint current MLB VP of operations …
Evaluating the Braun Deal (UPDATED)
Today, Ryan Braun signed a 5 year extension to his current deal with the Brewers, which already ran to 2015. It covers the 2016-2020 seasons and there is a mutual option that could be worth up to $20 million for 2021, with a $4m buyout. My gut reaction is that it’s not a great deal for the Brewers, given his …
OV Roundtable, Part 1
The four of us talked about what’s gone on so far this season on Tuesday night and you can’t even tell which of us wasn’t there.
San Diego Padres @ Chicago Cubs Times Two
This is for both games of the doubleheader if possible. Gameday (game 1) Padres wOBA wRC RS Cubs wOBA wRC RS Will Venable .323 .49 .01 Starlin Castro .342 .56 -.03 Jason Bartlett .319 .46 .03 Darwin Barney .293 .37 .03 Orlando Hudson .318 .45 .00 Marlon Byrd .338 .52 -.01 Chase Headley .337 .50 .04 Aramis Ramirez .350 .55 …
Bunting
Mercurial Outfielder hates the bunt. He absolutley hates it. He’s not alone. There are a lot of people who think it’s a dumb strategy and there are a lot of people that think that one run is so important that it’s always a good strategy. The answer is somewhere in between and that’s what The Book focused on for 50 …
When God Was Handing Out Brains, Nathan H. From Omaha Thought They Said “Trains” and Got Out of the Way
I try to stay away from Cubs-oriented mailbags or “ask the expert” features because they often are littered with questions from people who should probably thank God every night that breathing is an automatic response, since if it wasn’t they would probably have a hell of a time learning how to do it. I’m talking about people who make Todd …