OSS: Jon Lester looks bad, but the Pirates offense remembered their bats for once. Three up: The Pirates Adam Frazier hit a walk-off HR to drop the Cubs magic number to 8. Frazier also got the run scoring going with a triple in the second inning. It took a player having a WPA of nearly .700 for the Pirates to …
Cubs 2, Rays 1
OSS: Monty and the bullpen combine to one-hit the Rays. Three up: Mike Montgomery was great today after his brief bullpen test, allowing just a solo home run over six inning while striking out six and issuing zero walks. Edwards, Strop, and Davis shut the door over the final three innings, striking out five Rays and not allowing anyone to …
Cubs 8, Cardinals 2; Cubs 4, Cardinals 1; Cubs 4, Cardinals 3
OSS: Cubs sweep the Cardinals to six back. Three up Jason Heyward had a big day at the plate, going 3-4 and posting a .316 WPA, by far the most on the team. The biggest hit was a go-ahead, two out single in the seventh inning what proved to be the decider (not in a presidential sense). Jose Quintana had …
Brewers 2, Cubs 0; Brewers 15, Cubs 2; Brewers 3, Cubs 1
What's next: The Cubs have an off day, then play what's left of the Mets.
Cubs 17, Pirates 3
OSS: Cubs hit four homers and Javy steals home*. Three up: The Cubs blasted a bunch of homers to put this game out of reach, including two by Kyle Schwarber. But before then, they plated several runs on good baserunning. Javy Baez's steal of home, set up by a steal of second and a throwing error by Chris Stewart was …
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 …
Cubs 6, Jays 5 (10 innings)
OSS: Cubs out-weird the Jays in extras while blowing and retaking the lead. Three up: The tenth inning of this game had, between both teams, – An error on a routine throw back to the pitcher by Alex Avila – Three walks, one with the bases loaded – A run scored on a wild pitch – Not one but two …
Cubs 7, Jays 4
OSS: Holy shit, Javy Baez. Three up: Baez had a nice day at the plate, going 2-4 with three runs batted in, but the highlight of the game was this ridiculous snag in the ninth inning. My only complaint is that he somehow makes it look *too* easy (dying laughing). Arrieta had another solid outing, striking out six in 6.1 …
Cubs 15, Reds 5
OSS: We are back! (for the 19th time) Three up: The Cubs offense exploded for 15 runs against the Reds garbage fire of a pitching staff. Anthony Rizzo led the way with five RsBI, including back to back HRs with Kris Bryant in the fourth to put the game truly out of reach. He also got the scoring going in …
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) …