Anthony Rizzo Thinks Baseball Could Have A Shorter Season

A trendpiece’s worth of baseball games have already been canceled this season because of inclement/completely seasonal weather, and also because of a hole in the Blue Jays’ roof. Jackie Robinson Day as well as the Red Sox’s Marathon Monday were hamstrung by poor playing conditions. Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo,…
Jon Lester's Weird One-Hop Pickoff Move Succeeds
Cubs pitcher Jon Lester’s complete and utter inability to successfully deliver a pickoff throw has been well-documented and exploited over the years, so he began trying something new in spring training this year: one-hopping the ball to first base. (Or more-than-one hopping it, if necessary. “I don’t really care what…
Jon Lester Is Doing This On Purpose Now
Despite being a professional athlete who is perfectly capable of throwing fastballs with pinpoint accuracy, Cubs starter Jon Lester cannot for the life of him throw the ball to first base. His struggles in this area have been well-documented over the past few seasons, but this spring he’s trying a new solution: throw…
Lovable Large Boy Kyle Schwarber Is No Longer Large
Cubs slugger Kyle Schwarber, the big burly lad who everyone loves, spent the offseason trying to get ripped. It appears that he succeeded:
Anthony Rizzo At Vigil For Parkland Mass Shooting: "Something Has To Change"
The day after a former student with an AR-15 killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo returned to his alma mater and gave an emotional speech at a candlelight vigil.
This Is The Arc Of Joe Maddon's Anger
In the eighth inning of tonight’s 3-2 Cubs victory over the Dodgers, there was, for a few moments, a third-strike call on Curtis Granderson. Just until the umpires conferred for a bit and determined that Granderson had in fact fouled the ball off rather than swinging and missing. This made Cubs manager Joe Maddon…
The Cubs Just Can't Hit
The Chicago Cubs are down 3-0 in the NLCS, and there’s really no use in thinking too hard about why that is. Joe Maddon has made mistakes, and the bullpen has been pretty bad, but there is a simpler explanation for why the Cubs are one loss away from playoff elimination: They can’t hit the dang ball.
Yu Darvish Mindfucks Carl Edwards Jr., Draws Bases-Loaded Walk
That gloriously frustrating scenario that can only occur in the National League smiled on the Cubs in the sixth inning of their losing battle against the Dodgers, when the pitcher came up with the bases loaded and two outs. Los Angeles was already leading 3-1, trying to bury Chicago, but manager Dave Roberts decided…
Max Scherzer Did His Job And It Didn't Matter
If you want to get a feel for just how cruel the game of baseball was to Max Scherzer last night, watch a little bit of his postgame interview, in which he stood shell-shocked in front of his locker and tried to explain how a fifth inning that started with two quick outs ended with four runs crossing the plate.
Washington Nationals Lose Playoff Series, Again
The Nationals continued their existence-long stretch of playoff futility tonight, falling to the Cubs in an NLDS Game 5 that combined a shaky Gio Gonzalez start, a blown lead, a historically weird inning-long meltdown, some very intense replay review and a failed attempt at a comeback before finally losing, 9-8. It…
Stephen Strasburg Was Electric
Stephen Strasburg wasn’t supposed to pitch today. After a ridiculous 24-hour news cycle in which he was alternately said to be unable to start because he pitched a Tuesday bullpen session, to have actually pitched that Tuesday bullpen session on Monday, to really only be unable to start because he was sick from a…