OSS: Bryant and Heyward fuel a Cubs comeback. Three up: Kris Bryant poured a dump truck full of concrete into the foundation of his MVP case, hitting home runs number 34 and 35 to lead the Cubs to victory and put him back in the NL lead for homers. He might even have passed Mike Trout in the fWAR race, …
Cubs 6, Padres 3
OSS: Cubs sweep away the Padres for their 81st win. Three up: The Cubs jumped on the Padres early, hitting two doubles and a triple in their first three plate appearances. The top of the order combined to go 5-13, scoring five runs. Kyle Hendricks struck out eight batters in six innings, and managed to hold the lead the offense …
Cubs 5, Padres 3 (8.23.16)
OSS: There’s no such thing as an easy win, I guess. Three up: Kris Bryant homered again, bringing his season total up to 33, and salted the rest of his performance with two walks. Going into the game he had tied last year’s 6.6 fWAR total, and there’s still a month and change to go. Addison Russell also had a …
Cubs 9, Rockies 2 (8.20.16)
OSS: The Rockies can’t figure out Mike Montgomery and Trevor Cahill is a sentence I expected to write Three up: Mike Montgomery was great in his first start with the Cubs, and surprisingly efficient. I didn’t get into the game until the top of the third due to big lines (and spotting a ramen place as I was trying to …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (77-43) at Colorado Rockies (58-63)
I’ve got tickets to the first few games of this series, and waited until late to buy them figuring there would be plenty available even with the Cubs juggernaut rolling in to town. But the Rockies decided to be kind of good a few weeks back, even surfacing for a few gasps of air at the .500 mark earlier this …
Cubs 4, Brewers 0; Cubs 4, Brewers 1 (8.16.16)
OSS: Cubs were three outs away from back-to-back shutouts in a single day. Three to six up: After struggling in the PCL for the past month during his rehab, Cahill had no trouble handling the Brewers lineup. As Josh pointed out, the average PCL lineup might be better (dying laughing). Given that his longest start at Iowa was four innings, …
Cubs 13, Cardinals 2 (8.12.16)
OSS: Cubs bury the Cardinals under a barrage of home runs. Three Four up: The Cubs came out swinging against Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright, scoring two runs on three doubles in the first inning. Wainwright was chased following a five run second inning capped off by a three run shot by Willson Contreras. The Cubs had five homers on the …
Cubs 4, Cardinals 3 (8.11.16)
OSS: Cubs walk off for ten in a row. Three up: The Cubs wasted a few chances early, and finally broke through against Carlos Martinez with a two run single by Chris Coghlan in the sixth inning. David Ross then dropped a surprise bunt to give the Cubs a temporary lead, an acceptable exception to #StopBunting. He also hit a …
Cubs 3, A’s 1 (8.7.16)
OSS: Cubs sweep their way to a nice win total. Three up: Kyle Hendricks keeps doing what he’s been doing, pitching into the eighth inning one start after he pitched a complete game shutout. his 2.17 ERA is second only to Clayton Kershaw, and might end up at number one if Kershaw misses enough time to fail to officially qualify …
Cubs 4, A’s 0 (8.6.16)
OSS: Jake Arrieta great again? Three up: Jake Arrieta shut out the A’s for eight innings, allowing just three hits while striking out four and walking one. He’s still not the JAKE of late last year, but it’s good to see him putting away a lineup that he should be putting away. His fastball command still looks kind of shaky …