By Thomas Chambers

Nobody knows streaks, mostly the bad ones, like Chicago. And, don’t we know in these parts, as you get older, you learn how to deal with them, manage expectations, if you have any, and appreciate any success that comes along. That’s the value of the streaks.
It comes to us that within the last year, two of the most monumental streaks in American sports history were broken, in smashing fashion.
Just hours ago, the Chicago Cubs did what they did. A seemingly nice bunch of people – and that’s important – who did it with such style, it seemed they turned the corner from BC to AD.

Read More

Posted on November 4, 2016

By Marty Gangler

So, that happened.
Just so many great things on the other side of a World Series Championship. Sure, all the clichés are there. You know, about being able to die in peace and wishing grandparents and family members could see this, yada yada. Sure, those are all great, and real, but when it comes down to it, when I’m about to die I’m probably going to do my best to just not die and I may not think about the Cubs at all, you know, because I might be about to die.
I guess my point is that for the living, the coolest thing about the Cubs winning it is that I don’t have to think about next season much at all. Who they need to move, who they are going to acquire, who’s on my hate list, etc. It’s all just Cubbie Blue gravy now.
I also think Steve Garvey is probably an OK guy now; same for Will Clark. Leon “Bull” Durham was a solid defensive first baseman and they put out a lot of great music in 1969, what else happened that year? Yeah, the goats (literal and otherwise), villains, and all the ghosts of losing past are all pretty much off the hook – except maybe Dusty. And it feels like a lot of sports fan baggage has been lifted off the Cub fan’s back. All this being said, it still hasn’t truly sunk in. I’m sure it will in a little more time. And even that will be nice.

Read More

Posted on November 3, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

Let’s get it out of the way: I don’t disagree with Joe Maddon bringing in Aroldis Chapman in the seventh inning to face the meat of Cleveland’s order in Game 6 on Tuesday night even though the Cubs had a five-run lead. There was a man on first, Francisco Lindor at the plate and Mike Napoli looming. Perhaps more importantly, the other bullpen options weren’t appetizing.
Chapman got the job done there with just two pitches. Sending him back out for the eighth made sense too – see if the Cubs add on and then, either way, hand the big lead over to Justin Grimm, who had warmed up alongside Chapman, in the ninth.
That’s where Maddon, as he has done so often during this postseason, absolutely lost his mind.

Read More

Posted on November 2, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

Yes, the Bears beat the (beat-up) Minnesota Vikings on Monday night. No, they aren’t suddenly a good team.
Yes, they scored (a not-whopping) 20 points with two actual touchdowns with Jay Cutler, who threw for one of them, back. No, Cutler isn’t suddenly a great quarterback.
Yes, Connor Barth was 2-for-2 on field goal attempts. No, that doesn’t mean he is no longer one of the worst kickers in the league.
Yes, Jordan Howard rushed for 153 yards on 26 carries. No, it’s not news that he’s better than Jeremy Langford and has been since training camp.
Yes, Cutler avoided throwing an interception. No, that doesn’t mean Cutler’s no longer a turnover machine. There’s this new thing out called “learning” – do it!

Read More

Posted on November 1, 2016

By Eric Emery

A week from now, it will all be over. And when I say “it,” I don’t mean Sunderland’s chances to avoid relegation. I mean the presidential election.

Read More

Posted on November 1, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

As I was saying about Aroldis Chapman . . . but man, that was reckless.
Also, Chapman’s eight-out performance on Sunday night has made everybody forget his failure to cover first base on a ground ball to Anthony Rizzo. Not me, I remember!
In fact, Respect 90 seems to have gone out the window this postseason.
The list of players who have violated this central tenet – Joe Maddon’s only rule! – is growing, from Willson Contreras to Jorge Soler to Jason Heyward (lollygagging a throw to second) to Chapman and even Rizzo, who didn’t run hard out of the box on a double that by all rights he should have been dead to rights on.
“Anthony thought it was going out, he did not run that hard,” Pat Hughes said. “A good throw would have had him.”

Read More

Posted on October 31, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

Joe Maddon left a note in the Cubs clubhouse Sunday night that players are encouraged to wear Halloween costumes on their flight to Cleveland for the final game/s of the World Series.
We have some ideas.

Read More

Posted on October 31, 2016

By Jim Coffman

How should a baseball fan react when desperation works?
Given that I am most desperate to not sound like Dusty Baker, I wish I could just take a deep breath and move on. But I can’t.
Baker capped off his season at the helm of the Nationals earlier in the playoffs by insinuating that Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was endangering the long-term health of pitchers Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen by pitching them so much in the National League Divisional Series.
He hadn’t seen anything yet.

Read More

Posted on October 31, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

A World Series championship will be won at Wrigley Field today for the first time since 1945. Unfortunately, then it was won by the Detroit Tigers and now it will be won by the Cleveland Indians. Wrigley Field has never seen the Cubs win a World Series on its field.
Or, the Cubs will send the Series back to Cleveland. Who knows. But it certainly feels like it’s over.

Read More

Posted on October 30, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

Bats go cold, team goes down 2-1, one of the best pitchers in the universe looms. Oh, and Jason Heyward is getting the start in right. What, us worry?
Coco Puffs
“Down the steps of the visitors’ dugout at Wrigley Field, a drain cover littered with used gum and sunflower-seed shells and tobacco spit and the other various detritus that finds its way into baseball players’ orbits greets those who walk by it. To the left, in a small alcove, is a urinal, a sink, a foamy-soap dispenser and a small cupboard, home to a rosin bag and a pump-spray bottle of Bullfrog sunscreen, which when combined make for a tacky substance pitchers use to get a better grip on the ball. Grimy does not begin to describe the entirety of the scene,” Jeff Passon writes for Yahoo! in “How The Indians Spoiled The Cubs’ Special Night.”

Read More

Posted on October 29, 2016