Kyle Hendricks didn't make history Monday night at Busch Stadium. But he did make his National League Cy Young Award case loud and clear.
Hendricks came within three outs of becoming just the second Chicago Cubs pitcher to throw a no-hitter against the hated-rival St. Louis Cardinals. He carried a no-no through eight innings before Jeremy Hazelbaker ended it with a solo home run to lead off the ninth.
After a sideshow dust-up between umpire Joe West and Cubs skipper Joe Maddon that led to Maddon's ejection, closer Aroldis Chapman jogged in to nail down the 4-1 victory.
The Cubs (92-51) kept rolling ...
The Chicago Cubs are the best team in baseball by almost every measure.
They have the best record (82-47) and the best run differential (plus-217). They rank among MLB's top five in OPS (.777) and runs scored (655). They lead both leagues in ERA (3.12).
They can hit. They can pitch. Their rivals have plenty of reasons to fear them.
Now, there's another: Addison Russell, masher of baseballs.
A first-round pick by the Oakland A's in 2012, Russell has flashed elite potential since his debut with Chicago last season. But over the past month-plus, the 22-year-old shortstop has elevated his game like a helium ...
The Chicago Cubs were already on the short list of MLB heavyweights.
Now that they've acquired flamethrowing closer Aroldis Chapman, they'll tip the scales.
The Cubs official twitter account confirmed the deal:
Gleyber Torres, a 19-year-old shortstop, is the Cubs' No. 2 prospect and OF Billy McKinney is ranked 8th, according to Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter. Reliever Adam Warren has a 5.91 ERA in 29 appearances for the Cubs this year after spending the last four seasons with the Yankees. Rashad Crawford is a 22-year-old outfielder currently slashing .255/.327/.386 in High-A.
For now, though, let's focus on what this deal would mean for the ...
The Chicago Cubs are the best team in baseball.
That's true on the stat sheet, where they lead the solar system with a plus-129 run differential. And it's true in the standings, where Chicago paces the National League Central, and every other team in every other division, with a 36-15 record.
So it stands to reason the Cubs would be well-represented in the 2016 MLB All-Star Game.
And they are, at least in the first round of voting results released Wednesday.
Boy, are they.
A whopping five Chicago players lead at their respective positions: first baseman Anthony Rizzo, second baseman Ben Zobrist, shortstop Addison Russell, ...
They don't hand out trophies in early May.
No one understands that truism better than the average Chicago Cubs fan. A 107-year-and-counting championship drought is bound to feature more than a few hot starts.
But after finishing a four-game sweep of the Washington Nationals in dramatic fashion with a 4-3, 13-inning victory Sunday at Wrigley Field, the Cubs solidified their status as the best team in baseball.
Sunday's win, which came on a walk-off home run by Javier Baez, moved Chicago to 24-6. That's the Cubs' best 30-game start since 1907, when they won the first of two consecutive titles, as SportsCenter highlighted:
That ...
After pounding the Cincinnati Reds 9-0 Sunday, the Chicago Cubs have now scored 38 runs in their last four games.
So, naturally, there's offensive optimism aplenty for Chicago. Lob a dart at the lineup card and, chances are, you'll hit a guy swinging at least a moderately hot stick.
One Chicago hitter, though, is making a particularly compelling case at the plate: First baseman Anthony Rizzo, who clubbed a pair of home runs in Sunday's rout and appears primed for a career power binge.
Here is one of his most recent bombs, courtesy of MLB's official Twitter feed:
Rizzo has smacked five home runs ...
There were doubters—critics and naysayers who said Jake Arrieta was destined for regression after his otherworldly 2015 campaign.
Instead, the Chicago Cubs right-hander and reigning National League Cy Young Award winner has blasted deeper into the stratosphere.
On Thursday in Cincinnati, Arrieta defined dominant, twirling a no-hitter for the second straight season in a 16-0 Cubs drubbing of the Cincinnati Reds. In the process of hammering down those 27 historic outs, he cemented his status as baseball's best pitcher.
In fact, USA Today's Bob Nightengale made that bold-but-true assertion before the feat was even complete:
No, the Reds aren't an offensive juggernaut. But they've got ...
When Kyle Schwarber was carted off the field Thursday after a scary outfield collision with teammate Dexter Fowler, Chicago Cubs fans everywhere held their breath.
Why wouldn't they? We're talking about a former first-round pick with game-changing power who's fresh off a breakout rookie campaign that saw him crack 16 home runs in 69 games.
And we're talking about a franchise that, preseason hype aside, is perennially waiting for the other accursed shoe to drop.
As of this writing, the extent of Schwarber's injuries is unknown. X-rays on his ankle came back negative, per Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune, and an MRI ...
In the second inning of his second spring start Monday against the San Diego Padres, Jake Arrieta put a man on base for fun.
Well, OK, not for fun. He did it—"it" being an intentional walk to the Friars' Derek Norris—because he wanted to work out of the stretch. Apparently, Arrieta wasn't confident he'd get a chance if he left it up to the opposition.
That's about the only thing the Chicago Cubs right-hander and reigning National League Cy Young Award winner isn't confident in these days.
He's coming off a career-defining season that saw him fly into the firmament of MLB stars. ...
The young, upstart Chicago Cubs have gotten a little longer in the tooth this offseason—and that's a good thing.
First, they signed 37-year-old right-hander John Lackey to a two-year, $32 million deal that was finalized on Tuesday, per Ronald Blum of the Associated Press. Then, later that same day, they inked 34-year-old super-utility man Ben Zobrist to a four-year, $56 million pact, per Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal.
To help make room for Zobrist, the Cubs concurrently traded 25-year-old middle infielder Starlin Castro to the New York Yankees for right-hander Adam Warren and a player to be named later, per ESPN the Magazine's ...
« Previous Page — Next Page »
