Rice and Berselius hang out to talk about the disappointing Cubs after an encouraging start to the season, when they went 14-13 by the end of April but finish May with a 24-31 record, vastly underperforming their Pythagorean record. We did talk about some of the new rules and the ABS system on the horizon, and just generally shrugged because …
Pondering Pitching
To preface this, and for those of you who listened to the latest Dreamcast, we sort of remarked on it too: Now it’s easy to blame David Ross for a lot, but I imagine a lot of the directives to use guys in certain spots of the lineup probably aren’t his decision, although he does use substitutions (pinch-hitting, pitching changes) …
Dreamcast 60: Growing Pains
Well kids, the Cubs just got swept by the Astros, and the last one was a full blown bullpen meltdown just like in the old days. Berselius and Rice Cube got together for a quick record during the game on Tuesday and the stuff we talked about reared its ugly head on Wednesday, though it was nice to see Christopher …
Dreamcast 59: Shrug Emoji
Why is it so hard these days for the Cubs to score runs, let alone win a baseball game? We did this yesterday on AC’s birthday where he got to tell us a little bit about his undying love for Nick Madrigal, and then we went ahead and discussed the rookies (well, Mervis is still here, Morel is back, and …
Arbitrary 24-Games-In Cubs Assessment
Once upon a time in the ancient days of January 2023, I made some quasi-predictions of how the Cubs would fare throughout this season since they’d be playing against all 29 other MLB clubs. Suffice it to say that these Cubs have banked a few extra wins than I anticipated en route to their (as of this writing) 14-10 record …
Maybe It’s Time For Some New Blood
Perhaps this is premature, and with the caveat that this is why the Cubs pay Jed Hoyer and Carter Hawkins and David Ross to think about this stuff while I’m just another keyboard warrior, but I think the Cubs have some, shall we say, roster inefficiencies that need to be taken care of. For the most part, the bullpen is …
The Off Day After Opening Day React Post
Because the Cubs play at Wrigley Field, which historically does not have a roof despite being in the Midwest where it can get a) cold and b) wet, this necessitates a scheduled off day right after the official Opening Day, in case they have to make up the home opener later. I guess if Friday had gotten weathered out, they …
Cubs Opening Day 2023 Preview
Well, folks, after a month of generally entertaining (and brisk) Cactus League games, we have mere hours until first pitch on Opening Day at Wrigley Field. The Cubs will face off against the Milwaukee Brewers for a brief home opening series before they head on the road because schedules are wack, and while it is probably true that the Brewers …
More Off Day Thoughts
This represents the final scheduled off day for the Cubs in the Cactus League until the one right before Opening day, and by this time we’re expecting the starting rotation guys to be able to comfortably go five innings, and hoping that the hitters have better performances for the most part, small sample size be damned. There’s also the World …
A Winning Pitch (We Hope)
We’ve reached the phase right before Spring Training where it’s mostly claims and minor league contracts while the residue of the free agent barrel lingers until teams and agents finally settle on something. For all intents and purposes, the roster is set (very similar to what we did last time, minus some DFAs and outrights and what not) and the …