Did The Cubs Win? OSS: A to the Rizzo dominates Cingrani/Christiani, and Cubs tee off on fastball guys. Three Up 1. Couldn’t be anyone but Rizzo, who walked 4 times and hit a 2-run homer in the 1st inning. His WPA for yesterday’s game was a stout .298. 2. Starlin Castro had almost as good of a game. He went …
Series Preview: Worst Record vs Third-Worst Record
As you might have heard, it’s the 100th anniversary of the opening of Wrigley Field this week. Seeing how the two teams that are playing are in the bottom five of the standings right now, it’s no wonder that the Cubs have been using “Party of the Century” as their main marketing gimmick this season. On Wednesday the teams will …
Cubs 4, Cardinals 6 (4/14/14)
OSS: Edwin Jackson dodges the first bullet and gets hit by the second. Three Up 1. Junior Lake, sure. He went 2-4 with a triple. Pretty cool. 2. Mike Olt, why not. 2-3, with a double and an RBI. 3. Anthony Rizzo hit a home run! It was fun, because we had a lead before Grim Death took hold of …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (3-6) at St. Louis Cardinals (5-4)
Hey, at least the Cubs aren’t in last place in the division (sort of)! Cincy also has a 3-6 record but has a slightly worse run differential. St. Louis is coming off a series win against those Reds, and get to feast on this Cubs team next. Given Matt Adams‘s emergence last season, Allen Craig has moved back to …
Cubs 7, Pirates 8 (4/8/14)
OSS: Despite a heroic performance by Starlin Castro, the Cubs give a winnable game to the Pirates (again). Three Up 1. How could it not be Starlin Castro? A three-run dinger in the 3rd tied it up, and a and a 6th-inning dinger brought the Cubs within 1. All told, Castro went 3-4, 4 RBI, 2 R. It was his …
Series Preview: Pittsburgh Pirates (4-2) at Chicago Cubs (2-4)
These guys again? After taking the opening series from the Cubs, the Pirates went on to take two of three from the Cardinals. They beat up on Cards starter Shelby Miller in the first game, and the Cardinals returned the favor against Liriano in the second. They won a close game on getaway day with Edinson Volquez somehow outpitching Adam …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (0-0) at Pittsburgh Pirates (0-0)
Baseball season we are in you! The Cubs open up against last year's surprise (ish) team, the Pittsburgh Pirates. They finished at 94-68 last year, beat the Reds in the inagural NL wild card game, and took the eventual champions to the full five games in the NLDS. They had no answer for Adam Wainwright and the Cardinals fireballing bullpen, but in …
OV Daily Facepalm
Lots of HRs, lots of walks Baez and Olt both hit bombs off of Randy Wolf (video here and here), a not uncommon occurance for Randy Wolf. Olt later hit another bomb against against a Mariners reliever. Likely fifth starter James McDonald issued five walks in 2 2/3 innings in his start last night. First round of cuts The first round of …
Quiet Optimism
So, we've got the team. My best guess at the 25-man roster (Wins Above Replacement – Myles): Position Player WARM C Castillo 1.5 1B Rizzo 3.0 2B Valbuena 1.0 SS Castro 2.5 3B Olt 1.0 LF Lake 1.0 CF Sweeney 1.5 RF Schierholtz 1.0 4OF Ruggiano 1.0 5OF Vitters 0.5 UTIL Barney 1.0 UTIL Roberts 0.75 2C Kottaras 0.5 #1 …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (66-93) at St. Louis Cardinals (94-65)
As long and tedious as this disappointing season has been, I'm still kind of surprised that it's now ending. Given that I haven't written a post in over a month (other than a quick aside about Marvin Miller's legacy on Labor Day), it's safe to say that I haven't been paying much attention to watching the Cubs circle the drain. I …