The Marlins have a winning record? Fuck the heck? Despite the Wei-Yin Chen signing most people were expecting them to be one of the many NL teams rebuilding this year, but once again they seem to have built a competitive team. Most importantly, a cheap competitive team. At the team level, they’re right around the league average at the plate …
Series Preview: St. Louis Cardinals (35-33) @ Chicago Cubs (47-20)
The Cardinals have lost 5 games in a row and now get to take on the best team in baseball. The best part about this series is that the Cardinals are so far out of first place that they’re barely even in the picture. The Cubs have pretty much moved on from them and are focusing on home field advantage, …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (43-18) @ Washington Nationals (39-24)
The Nationals and Rangers are tied for the second best record in baseball at 39-24, which is well behind the Cubs at 43-18. Scherzer and Gonzalez would like some revenge against the Cubs and they're playing some good baseball right now. So are the Cubs. This should be a fun series. Team Leaders Cubs (100 PA) OBP: Ben Zobrist (.431) …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (41-17) @ Atlanta Braves (17-42)
The league's best team vs the worst. The Cubs run differential is +149, which is more twice as much as the next best (Red Sox, +70). The Braves are -97, which is only one run worse than the Reds. This series is about as lopsides as it gets on paper. The Braves snapped a 6-game losing streak with a 4-2 …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (39-16) @ Philadelphia Phillies (28-29)
The Phillies got off to a really hot start this season and then went to Chicago. Since then they've been pretty bad. Team Leaders Cubs OBP: Ben Zobrist (.438) ISO: Anthony Rizzo (.272) HR: Rizzo/Kris Bryant (13) R+RBI: Bryant (80) wRC+: Dexter Fowler (155) BSR: Javier Baez (2.9) SP K/9: Jake Arrieta (9.79) SP BB/9: Kyle Hendricks (1.85) SP FIP: …
Series Preview: Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles (27-24) at Chicago Cubs (34-14)
These were the top two teams going into the season by projections, but since then their paths have diverged. We all know about how great the Cubs have been both at the plate and on the mound, but I at least didn't really haev a clue what has been happening with the Dodgers aside from remembering injury problems in the …
Series Preview: Philadelphia Phillies (26-21) at Chicago Cubs (31-14)
The Cubs are back at Wrigley after a slump-y road trip, albeit one where they went 4-5. Putting up a .500ish record in a road series that included a trip to the west coast is not all bad. The Phightins have had almost as a surprising start as the Cubs. Maybe even more so, given the expectations going into the …
Chicago Cubs (29-13) @ St. Louis Cardinals (23-21)
The Cubs have not played particularly well over the last week or two. The offense has been rather quiet. Other than the 8-run game in the opener in San Francisco, the Giants pretty much shut down the Cubs offense. The Brewers beat them 2 of 3 also and they’ve lost 7 of their last 11. To their credit, they have managed …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (28-11) at San Francisco Giants (24-18)
The Cubs dropped two of three to the Brewers, and now travel to the west coast to face an actual good team. Now that I’m west coast adjacent I wish this was a weekday series, it’s nice when the games start after I get home for once (dying laughing). The Giants are coming off of a three game sweep of …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (27-9) vs Milwaukee Brewers (16-22)
The Brewers find themselves neck and neck with the Reds for the worst record in the NL central division. Their offense has been middle of the pack in the NL so far, and in fact they are second only to the Cubs in walk rate (11.0% to the Cubs 12.6%). But the pitching, particularly the starting pitching, has been putrid. …