Riding an eight game losing streak and consecutive sweeps on the west coast, the Cubs continue their upset bid to take the number one pick away from the Houston Astros. The Reds, meanwhile, are two and a half games ahead of the Cardinals and the still hanging in there Buccos. For all the slagging I like to do on the …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (40-57) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (53-46)
The Cubs and Cardinals resume their rivalry while many St. Louis fans are still holding their brooms from last weekend, and not just the witches, maids, and crack addicts. The Cardinals convincingly and effortlessly swept the mini-Bears in a series in which they outscored the Cubs infinity to negative eight. If you want a meaningful, in depth assessment of both …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (38-53) at St. Louis Cardinals (47-45)
The Cardinals continue their streak of being the reverse-Diamondbacks this season, sitting at 2 games above .500 despite the best run differential in the National League. Clearly they are missing Ryan Theriot's clubhouse presence. Team Overviews NL Rank in parentheses Cubs Cardinals wOBA .299 (13th) .334 (2nd) BSR 2.8 (5th) -2.3 (11th) UZR 11.9 (3rd) -18.5 (14th) DRS +18 …
Series Preview: Carlos Zambrano (43-46) at Chicago Cubs (36-52)
To judge from all the negative buzz I've seen around the interwebs heading into this series, you'd think that Zambrano is starting all three games and Cubs fans should boo the crap out of him. However, he is slated to start zero games in this series. Which is a bummer, because I love watching Z pitch. Team Overviews (NL ranks …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (29-49) @ Atlanta Braves (41-37)
The red hot Chicago Cubs travel to Atlanta fresh off sweeping the super-talented Houston Astros. The Braves lost 2 of 3 to the Nationals over the weekend. Teams at a glance Stat Cubs Braves wOBA .297 .317 wRC+ 80 (16) 98 (5) UZR 2.5 (6) 35.7 (1) BsR 1.2 (7) 6.0 (2) SP ERA 4.32 (15) 4.22 (12) SP FIP …
Series Preview: Boston Red Sox (31-32) at Chicago Cubs (21-42)
Wait, the Red Sox have a losing record? That was a surprise to me. Pythagoras disagrees with their record, as they have a +26 run differential, second in the AL east and 4th in the whole AL. If their non-winning trend continues they might have to watch out for some sleeper cell cultists. Luckily the Red Sox are playing the …
Series Preview: Detroit Tigers (28-32) at Chicago Cubs (20-40)
The Tigers were the easy favorite to dominate the mediocre AL Central. They added Prince Fielder to a team that won the division by fifteen games in 2011, forming a core of starts that also includes Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez, and Justin Verlander. Fielder has mashed since coming to the team, but not surprisingly the overall lineup has regressed (most …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (19-38) at Minnesota Twins (22-34)
The Cubs will face one of their main rivals for the #1 pick in the draft. Since 424's been on vacation I'll post a mini reverse standings to see how things are currently shaking out Team L-W GB San Diego 39-19 — Chi Cubs 38-19 0.5 Minnesota 34-22 4 Seattle 33-26 6.5 Oakland 32-26 7 Things have separated a bit …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (18-36) at Milwaukee General Hospital (24-30)
I don't have much time today, so this will be a short preview. The Brewers are in bad shape, with several players (Chris Narveson, Mat Gamel, Marco Estrada, Alex Gonzalez, various catchers) out, Aramis Ramirez and Ryan Braun banged up, and others (Weeks) underperforming. The Cubs might be looking ahead to their next series with the Twins, who are in …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (18-32) at San Francisco Giants (27-24)
The Cubs start a ten game road trip with a visit to Pac Bell Park (or whatever the hell they're calling it these days). At least this series, unlike most west coast series, will only have one super late game (tonight's). Unfortunately the Cubs will miss Tim Lincecum, who seems to have transformed into a lesser pitcher. Maybe Jeff Samardzija …