Cubs in a landslide. The Cubs arrived a year earlier than expected, and they're not going away any time soon. This offseason they'll put the finishing touches on what should be a championship-caliber club in 2016. Team president Epstein and GM Jed Hoyer are committed to building a strong rotation after Arrieta and Jon Lester this offseason to improve their playoff chances, …
Are the Cubs the favorites to sign David Price?
Common sense would indicate the Cubs would have significant interest in David Price this offseason. He's one of the best pitchers in baseball and he's a free agent. He won't cost the Cubs a draft pick since he was traded at midseason. He had a long working relationship with Cubs manager Joe Maddon. And the Cubs could really use another …
NLCS: Cubs and Mets Series Preview Part 1
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 …