OSS: Cyle tosses a Maddux. Three up: Kyle Hendricks was efficient af, needing just 81 pitches for a complete game shutout. Hendricks struck out three and walked none, allowing just four hits. His ERA dropped nearly a run and a half down to 3.93 on the season. Anthony Rizzo had the big hit of the day, a three run homer …
Series Preview: St Louis Cardinals (20-11) at Chicago Cubs (16-12)
The Cubs have caught fire over the past few weeks, but the same can be said for the Cardinals. Their offense (112 wRC+) has been on par with the Cubs (114 wrC+), but their pitching staff has been a dumpster fire. Their starters sport a 4.47 ERA, which is slightly worse than average, but that masks an absurd 81.5% strand …
Cubs 11, Mariners 0
OSS: Crushinated. Three+ up: The Cubs offense went to work on Mariners starter Marco Gonzales, who came into this game with a solid 2.80 ERA in seven starts. They batted around and scored six runs in the second inning, chasing Gonzalez and continuing to beat up on his replacement. Baez alone had six total bases in the inning, thanks to …
Cubs 6, DBacks 5 (15 innings)
OSS: Tyler Chatwood’s bat is the difference maker, somehow. Three up Tyler Chatwood came through in the late innings, first by getting out of a jam caused by Dillon Maples walking the bases loaded in the thirteenth inning, then hitting a double in the top of the fifteenth. Chatwood went on to score the go-ahead run. His combined WPA was …
Cubs 9, Dbacks 1
OSS: David Bote puts on a show. Three up David Bote came up big in this one, the first multihomer game of his career. The first one was an absolute bomb that hit the second deck in left field that broke the game open for the Cubs. Bote was also hit by a pitch later in the game that led …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (12-11) at Arizona Diamondbacks (15-11)
The Cubs head to the desert, which is feeling especially desert-like already (high of 101 forecast for today). Since this is one of my two ‘local’ teams I’m out here to catch a few games and see some locals that I know. Thank the maker that (insert bank here) Park is air conditioned. The Cubs just saw the Dbacks last …
Cubs 7, Dodgers 6
OSS: The Cubs hit a few speed bumps but keep on rolling Three up: Javier Baez had the biggest hit of the day with a three run blast that was gone as soon as it hit the bat. The two out shot tied the game at 3 in the sixth inning and chased Dodgers starter Walker Buehler. Jason Heyward followed …
Cubs 7, Dodgers 2
OSS: The Q train keeps on rolling Three up: Jose Quintana put up his third straight fantastic start, striking out seven in seven innings and allowing two runs. One of those at least was due to some bad umpiring so it should look even better. He looks like a completely new pitcher now that he’s started working the changeup more …
Series Preview: Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles (15-9) at Chicago Cubs (10-10)
The Cubs have feasted on a couple of mediocre to bad teams over the past week or so, but now get to face arguably the best team in the NL. They just took three of four in Milwaukee, knocking around Josh Hader for not one but two lead-changing home runs. Team Leaders I’m switching to 2019 numbers now, though small …
Cubs 5, Dbacks 1
OSS: Welcome back, Cyle. Three up: Kyle Hendricks had by far his best game of the season so far, striking out eleven batters in seven shutout innings. His changeup was working today and he was getting plenty of swings and misses. Over the last three games, Cubs starters have combined for 26 strikeouts and just two walks over 21 shutout …