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 (8-15) at Cincinnati Reds (11-11)
I'm swamped with work deadlines so this is going to be relatively short. After a slow start to the season Cincy finished April strong, winnign series against NL central foes St. Louis, the Cubs, and the Astros. Jay Bruce is the hottest hitter in the NL right now, and has hit HRs in his last 4 games. The Cubs splitting …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (64-82) at Cincinnati Reds (71-75)
The Cubs played the Reds just last week, and five of the six starters from that series are pitching this series. I’m just going to make a few minor tweaks to the last preview (laughing). Team overview As always, these are team stats with NL ranks in parentheses. Reds Cubs wOBA .322 (4th) .315 (8th) UBR 14.2 (1st) -11.4 (16th) …
Series preview: Chicago Cubs (17-21) at Cincinnati Reds (23-17)
It hasn’t been too long since we saw the Reds, but in that span of time they’ve gone from a mediocre record to the top of the NL Central division. A big part of it is that they’re healthy again – Bailey, Cueto, and Scott Rolen are all back on the roster now. They’ve won eight of their last ten …
Series Preview: Cincinnati Reds (16-15) at Chicago Cubs (14-16)
The Cubs went 4-3 on their trip out west, and a winning record on any such trip is a nice feat no matter the quality of the teams played. Today they start a 2 plus week stretch of games against good to great teams, capped off by an inevitable steamrolling in Fenway. They start this stretch with the Reds, my …