I've been my usual lazy self and not paid much attention to the goings on around the league this offseason. At least MLB has obliged by keeping things pretty quiet. Next we'll take a look at the Reds, who have Joey Votto and a quietly decent bullpen and not much else. 2017 Record: 68-94 2018 Projected Record: 72-90 Top projected …
NL Central Offseason Whip-Around: St. Louis Cardinals
I've been my usual lazy self and not paid much attention to the goings on around the league this offseason. At least MLB has obliged by keeping things pretty quiet. Next we'll take a look at the Cardinals, who somehow still employ Mike Matheny. 2017 Record: 83-79 2018 Projected Record: 87-75 Top projected hitter (ZiPS): Marcell Ozuna, 3.1 Top projected …
NL Central Offseason Whip-Around: Pittsburgh Pirates
I've been my usual lazy self and not paid much attention to the goings on around the league this offseason. At least MLB has obliged by keeping things pretty quiet. I'll start by taking a look at the Pirates, whose window has firmly shut. After three straight playoff appearances (and no series/WC wins), the team is back in the sadly …
The Scrap Heap – Winter Meetings
It was an ice cold stove for most of the offseason, but things finally picked up after Shohei Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Angels of Disneyland on the eve of the Winter Meetings. Cubs Moves The Cubs picked up a pair of relief pitchers and a injury project that could see some time in the pen late this year: …
The Scrap Heap
I thought about making this a daily facepalm post, but the 'daily' in it stretches the incredulity even beyond our level of discreditedness. So I have revived its predecessor instead. Cubs Hires I had been waiting for the Cubs to hire Jim Hickey as the new pitching coach to write a new post, but they took something like four weeks …
NLCS Game 5: Dodgers 11, Cubs 1
OSS: Well, it wasn't a sweep. Two up: At least this one was over quickly. Um…the pitching staff only issued two walks? Time to deal with my DVR/streaming backlog! Hannibal and Halt and Catch Fire, I'm looking at you. Three down: Quintana just didn't have it tonight, and the Dodgers made him pay. I look forward to his next few …
NLCS Game 4: Cubs 3, Dodgers 2
OSS: Three up: Javy Baez homered twice, and Willson Contreras hit the longest HR of the entire season across all MLB (assuming I heard the announcers right) to account for all of the Cubs runs, which was just enough to hold on. The Cubs even managed to put some balls in play! We were hoping for Vintage Jake, but we …
NLCS Game 4: Dodgers at Cubs
Time: 8:00 PM CT TV: TBS Series Preview Gameday LINEUPS (104-58, 3-0) Chris Taylor, SS Cody Bellinger, 1B Justin Turner, 3B Yasiel Puig, RF Andre Ethier, LF Curtis Granderson, CF Yasmani Grandal, C Chase Utley, 2B Alex Wood, P (92-70, 0-3) Albert Almora, CF Kyle Schwarber, LF Kris Bryant, 3B Anthony Rizzo, 1B Willson Contreras, C Addison Russell, SS Javy Baez, …
NLCS Game Three: Dodgers 6, Cubs 1
OSS: Cubs lose in all aspects of the game. Three up: Kyle Schwarber got the scoring started with an opposite field solo HR against Darvish in the first inning. Unfortunately, that is also when the scoring stopped. Kris Bryant had two hits and didn't strike out for what seems like the first time in the last month. We didn't have …
NLCS Game 2: Dodgers 4, Cubs 1
OSS: Showalter'd. Three up: Addison Russell struck the only major Cubs blow in this one with a line drive homer to left that briefly gave the Cubs the lead. The bullpen proper performed much better in this one, especially Carl Edwards Jr. Foolish bottom of the ninth decisions aside, Edwards, Strop, and Duensing combined for four innings, allowing just one …