I thought I’d break this into at least 2 parts. The first part will focus on the pitching, particularly the Mets pitching. We’re all familiar enough with the Cubs pitching. In short, the Mets starting pitching is good. The first game is going to be started by Matt Harvey, but he’s their 3rd starter. And Matt Harvey is good at …
Cubs playoff roster announced
The Cubs announced their playoff roster, but will wait until later to announce today's starting lineup. From cubs.com: PITCHERS (10) Jake Arrieta Trevor Cahill Justin Grimm Kyle Hendricks Jon Lester Clayton Richard Fernando Rodney Hector Rondon Pedro Strop Travis Wood CATCHERS (3) Miguel Montero David Ross Kyle Schwarber INFIELDERS (6) Javier Baez Kris Bryant Starlin Castro Tommy La Stella Anthony …
Cubs @ Brewers and Reds @ Pirates Game Threads
The Cubs try to complete the sweep and finish the season on an 8-game winning streak. They know they’ll be playing Pittsburgh on October 7th, but they don’t know where yet. The Reds try to take 2 of 3 in Pittsburgh. If both of those happen, the game on Wednesday will be at Wrigley Field. If the Cubs lose or …
BP Wrigleyville with a great Wildcard preview
So that’s what Cole’s been up to. Before we go much deeper in hitter-by-hitter analysis, though, I think we can narrow things down just a bit. Jackson has never faced Cole, has a .655 OPS against right-handed pitchers in 2015, and until his last two games has really struggled in a Cubs uniform. He’s a quality defensive outfielder, though, so it …
NL Cy Young: Jake Arrieta vs. Zack Greinke
The NL Cy Young race is down to two at this point. Jake Arrieta's dominating performance over the last few months has allowed him to catch up to Zack Greinke and in many ways, pass him. Either person is deserving of the award and since I don't really care who wins it, this is just a list of their stats …
Kris Bryant’s 2015 is one of the best rookie seasons in Cubs history
Kris Bryant has had a fantastic season. He's probably going to win Rookie of the Year in the National League as he's hit .273/.367/.490 with a .370 wOBA and 135 wRC+. He's struckout a ton, but also has a very good walk rate for a rookie (11.7%) and he's hit 24 home runs while driving in 93. UZR rates him as …
Myles’ Super Simple MVP System
It is getting close to awards time. That means you are going to see the think-pieces come out soon where people will lay out ballots for MVP that don't comport with reality; for instance, there is a guy on twitter right now that has Yadier Molina as the current front-runner (with a calculation of 8.5 WAR this season – I …
Looking at the potential NL Playoff rotations
I thought I’d take a look at the potential playoff rotations in the National League for fun. Jason Hammel, Kyle Hendricks and Dan Haren haven’t not been performing too great for the Cubs and it’s begun to feel as though it’s a weakness for the team, but there aren’t many teams that are five deep in their rotation. Hammel hasn’t …
A look at the Cubs rest of season rotation *UPDATED*
I was taking a look at how many days of rest Jake Arrieta may have come October 7th if the rotation stays on schedule. The Cubs are likely to play in Pittsburgh that day. I was curious whether or not Joe Maddon would have to tweak the rotation a bit down the stretch, but it appears he’s already done his …
A brief look at the rest of the season
The Cubs have lost four in a row and are now 6 games behind Pittsburgh for the 1st wild card spot. They’re still 4.5 games ahead of the Giants. More importantly at this point in my opinion, they’re 5 losses better than the Giants. You can’t really make up a loss, but you can make up the win. They’re 9.5 …