Last season, Justin Steele asserted himself as one of the Cubs’ top of the rotation starters. In his first start of 2023, he picked up right where he left off. Using a two-pitch mix of four-seam fastballs and sliders against the Brewers on Saturday, Steele kept Milwaukee batters almost completely off balance. Typically best when attacking with his fastball, Steele…
In 2016, the Cubs had an all-time defense. As they made the run to the World Series title that season, they led all of baseball with 107 defensive runs saved (DRS). The next highest team, the Astros, saved 77 runs that year. Three years later, when the Cubs failed to make the playoffs for the first time in four seasons,…
First thing Saturday morning, Tom and Laura Ricketts held their family panel at the Cubs Convention for the first time since 2018. The past two Conventions were cancelled due to the pandemic, and the family didn’t hold the panel in 2019 and ’20. The last time Tom took the stage, in January 2020, fans booed when he mentioned the Marquee…
I don’t hold on to too much baseball memorabilia, but one of the things I have kept is a large, color facsimile of Pat Hughes’ scorecard from Game 7 of the 2016 World Series. It’s a peek into the longtime Cubs radio broadcaster’s mind. That’s one of the reasons I hold onto it when I gladly give away most of…
The technical term for it in coffee tasting circles is “cupping,” but as Ian Happ is learning, it means taking a loud slurp of coffee from a small sampling cup. Happ is in the roasting room at Connect Roasters in Bourbonnais, Illinois, doing a blind taste test of three of Connect’s coffees. He is working on his ability to identify…
In Marcus Stroman’s case, he has effectively used his first year with the Cubs to make a positive impression on the younger members of the pitching staff.
Not always with what he tells them, but more often because they watch and learn from what he is modeling.
The White Sox announced Saturday that Tony La Russa will not return as manager this season. What happens beyond that is still uncertain.
In a season when you’re twenty games below .500 with two-and-a-half weeks to play, sometimes you take the wins that don’t show up in the standings. Though the Cubs lost 3-1 to the Rockies on Saturday, Hayden Wesneski showcased the potential that might put him in the rotation discussion for 2023. In his first start in the major leagues, Wesneski…...
When the offseason begins, one of the deepest markets in free agency will be at shortstop. Carlos Correa, Xander Bogaerts, Trea Turner, and Dansby Swanson are all slated to be available. It is to be expected that the Cubs will be in discussions with at least one of these players, looking to upgrade their middle infield. Never mind the fact…...
The vibes on the south side, they are a-changin’. For the past four days, the White Sox have looked more like the team that was expected going into the season. For the past two games, they have looked like a team that could still, despite all that has gone wrong this season, win their division. Friday night, they beat the…
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