Let's pretend for just a moment that Theo Epstein isn't some sort of divine power, which, if you polled those in Chicago, is the pervasive feeling since baseball underwent its version of an apocalypse: a Chicago Cubs World Series win.
We'll then acknowledge that the Cubs president of baseball operations cannot possibly lure every free agent to his club. That would mean free-agent closer Aroldis Chapman and center fielder Dexter Fowler, key components to the 2016 squad, may not return.
Truth is it's unlikely that either will rejoin the Cubs in 2017 because, well, Epstein really isn't superhuman. Though after being the ...
The Chicago Cubs did their part to make this World Series look a lot more interesting.
By winning Game 5 at Wrigley Field, Chicago sent the series back to Cleveland for a pivotal Game 6. The Cleveland Indians lead the series 3-2.
It's a series that has been largely defined by pitching, as both teams have played erratic offense at best. So many of the keys to Tuesday’s game lie at the plate.
But that’s not all that will determine whether or not this series goes a full seven games.Begin Slideshow
It's rare for the National League team in a World Series to be disadvantaged in the games it plays at home.
The theory, after all, is that an American League team, which uses a designated hitter throughout most of the year, is forced to sit one of its regulars. But in the case of Kyle Schwarber's miraculous return to the Chicago Cubs lineup during the World Series—he tore his ACL and LCL on April 7 and was ruled out for the season—his team found itself in that AL-like conundrum.
Though Schwarber has been cleared to hit, doctors prohibited him from playing in the ...
There’s a growing conundrum plaguing the minds of baseball’s best executives. To a man, each is searching for the sport’s most elusive prize: a shutdown bullpen.
See, hundreds of pitchers are drafted and signed by all 30 organizations every year. But none enters the sport’s professional ranks wanting to pitch in relief. Each has intentions on being a starter, as is evident by the oft-used phrase “he was sent to the bullpen,” which has an inherently negative connotation.
Baseball’s best all-time reliever, Mariano Rivera, began his MLB career as a starter. Such was the case for prized closers Kenley Jansen of the ...
The 2016 baseball season is now to two organizations, which just so happen to be the sport’s most tortured.
The Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs will take baseball’s two longest championship droughts into Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday.
But after winning the American League Championship Series and National League Championship Series respectively, each seemed to craft a blueprint for how to get to October’s Fall Classic.Begin Slideshow
For the last 107 seasons, any hope the Chicago Cubs held heading into postseason play was almost immediately followed by agony.
What took place in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the National League Division Series on Tuesday night is supposed to happen to the Cubs. Chicago is never the team that dishes out heartbreak.
But at AT&T Park, the Cubs borrowed—or maybe stole—some of the magic that has guided the San Francisco Giants to World Series titles in each of the last three even years.
Down by three runs, with a decisive Game 5 on the minds of everyone in attendance ...
CHICAGO — To understand the psyche of Chicago Cubs fans is not to be a team historian.
Steve Bartman and the Curse of the Billy Goat are integral events in the long-suffering organization's history. As are countless postseason disappointments.
But almost universally, fans of the team are not a group that dwells on its heartbreak. Cubs nation is not depressed, like a person in mourning. The World Series-starved fanbase is more giddy, like expecting parents.
The tenor around Wrigleyville, the appropriately named area that is home to Wrigley Field, is somewhat a result of the group of young players president of baseball operations ...
Through the first two months of the MLB season, it seemed as if Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Jake Arrieta was cruising toward a nine-figure contract and recognition as one of baseball’s best at his position.
Arrieta followed up his 2015 Cy Young campaign by posting a 1.74 ERA through his first 15 starts, the highlight of which was a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds on April 21. Then on June 27 against the same Cincinnati team he no-hit a little more than two months earlier, it all came to a screeching halt, and Arrieta’s surging stardom took a U-turn.
That day, Arrieta needed ...
There's a saying in baseball: "A team never wants to lead the league in meetings."
The implication being that when a club holds a meeting, it's almost universally to discuss what is going wrong and how to repair it. But teams rarely find themselves where the Chicago Cubs stand, having already clinched the NL Central and preparing for the playoffs.
Manager Joe Maddon had three scheduled meetings on the books in the past few days, two of which were to answer a question most playoff-bound franchises would love to ponder: Which of his three starters—Jake Arrieta, Jon Lester or Kyle Hendricks—should be ...
Kyle Hendricks is like the frosting on a birthday cake. Peanut butter on toast. Hot fudge on a sundae.
The Chicago Cub is the best starting pitcher on MLB's top team, which stood 78-45 through Sunday's action.
Though the right-hander boasts an MLB-best 2.16 ERA, the Cubs would likely still be firmly in playoff position without him. Chicago is loaded with position players who were heralded as the organization's future when they were climbing the minor league ranks a few years ago. First baseman Anthony Rizzo, third baseman/outfielder Kris Bryant and shortstop Addison Russell are just a few of those players who ...
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