I guess the Cubs are catching a break by playing the pre-Acuña Barves. They haven't really needed him however, as their offense has scored the second most runs in the NL, behind only the Pirates of all teams. Not surprisingly, Freddie Freeman is leading the way with a .480 wOBA. They're coming off a series loss in DC, their first …
Series Preview: Pittsburgh Pirates (7-2) at Chicago Cubs (5-4)
The Pirates got off to a hot start with a sweep of the awful Tigers in Detroit. They also split a series with the Twins and won two of three from the Reds, all at home. After trading their top two players in the offseason (both probably a year too late), expectations are pretty low. Team Leaders I'm still using …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (2-3) at Milwaukee Brewers (4-2)
The Cubs early season road trip continues, this time with another four game set on the road. Strange schedules are strange. Team Leaders Now that the Cubs are facing another team that did not trade 95% of its roster in the offseason, I'll use the teams' 2017 numbers here instead. Cubs OBP: Kris Bryant (.409) ISO: Ian Happ (.261) HR: …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (2-2) at Cincinnati Reds (0-3)
The Cubs had about as brutal a 2-2 road series split as you can get, and now head to Cincy for a quick two game set with the Reds. Possibly a one game set, given the forecast for Tuesday. The Reds kicked off the 2018 season by getting swept at home by the Nats. Team Leaders Now that the Cubs …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (0-0) at Miami Marlins (0-0)
Baseball. It's back! The Cubs kick off the season with a warmup four game set against the Marlins, widely expected to be a disaster this year. Derek Jeter's calm eyes have overseen a PR debacle as the Marlins sold off everything that wasn't nailed down, only because they couldn't find a buyer for the nails. The only surprise is that …
NLCS Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (92-70) vs Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles (104-58)
It's the third NLCS in a row for the Cubs, and a rematch of last year's showdown. It's hard to believe that the Dodgers won more games than last year's Cubs team, despite that 1 for 21 stretch or whatever it was earlier this year. This team is pretty fucking good. The Cubs find themselves in pretty much the same …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (68-58) at Philadelphia Phillies (46-80)
Finally free of the last of the anti-stat GMs, the Phillies set about to be the next big teardown and rebuild team. They had a promising season in 2016, as some of their young talent hit the bigs, and maybe things were starting to look 2014 Cubs-ish about them. In 2017, pretty much everyone not named Aaron Nola took a …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (59-54) at Arizona Diamondbacks (64-50)
I had been planning to take a long weekend and catch this series in Phoenix. Instead, I ended up shelling out hundreds of dollars to repair rodent damage to my car, and will be watching from home. I feel like I should present the repair bill to the cat. Team Leaders Cubs OBP: Kris Bryant (.390) ISO: Anthony Rizzo (.246) …
Series Preview: St. Louis Cardinals (46-49) at Chicago Cubs (49-45)
If the 2016 Cubs truly are back, it's hard to think of a better litmus test than a home series against the Cardinals. Of course, the Cardinals have been disappointing relative to non-BP expectations as well this year. The main thing that has taken a step back is their offense, which trailed only the Cubs in wRC+ among NL teams …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (38-37) at Washington Nationals (45-30)
The Cubs are in the middle of a brutal scheduling stretch that has just three home games in a span of three weeks. At least the Nationals are only the penultimate team during this stretch, rather than the capper. Who the hell schedules back to back four game road series like this? Good job, good effort, MLB. Though it's not …