https://northsidebaseball.com/chicago-cubs-news/cubs/page/153/?d=7enhttps://northsidebaseball.com/chicago-cubs-news/cubs/how-much-of-a-two-pitch-pitcher-is-justin-steele-exactly-r784/The ace of the 2023 Chicago Cubs makes just his second start of 2024 (and, hopefully, his first full one) Monday night. Will we see him use his full arsenal? And what, exactly, does answering that question entail? By and large, Justin Steele is a two-pitch pitcher. He has a fastball (a cutte...784Mon, 06 May 2024 12:24:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/chicago-cubs-news/cubs/cade-horton-might-very-well-be-a-right-handed-justin-steele-r783/The top pitching prospect in the Cubs organization made his Triple-A debut Saturday, giving us a first glimpse at hard data on his pitch mix. As it turns out, it looks a lot (and maybe more than you'd have guessed) like the team's incumbent ace. The results were mixed in Cade Horton's first...783Sun, 05 May 2024 17:01:12 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/chicago-cubs-news/cubs/chicago-cubs-hitter-of-the-month-april-2024-r782/Despite dealing with mounting injuries, the Chicago Cubs went 18-12 over the first month of the season. Which hitters are most responsible for the team’s hot start to the season? Thirty games is quite a lot of data to analyze, especially given that the MLB season used to start during the sec...782Sun, 05 May 2024 12:15:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/chicago-cubs-news/cubs/unlocking-baseball-team-expansion-realignment-playoff-overhaul-r773/Get ready for a baseball revolution! Major League Baseball is on the brink of a seismic transformation, with plans for team expansion, geographic realignment, and a thrilling playoff overhaul. Brace yourself for a new era of competition, rivalry, and drama as MLB unveils its bold vision for the...773Sat, 04 May 2024 12:10:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/chicago-cubs-news/cubs/threading-the-needle-at-99-miles-per-hour-with-ben-brown-r780/A very good start went suddenly and (eventually) fatally bad for Ben Brown Thursday. It's a pattern we've seen from his before, and a reminder that he's still more clay than sculpture. About two-thirds of the way through his second pass through the Mets batting order, Ben Brown hit a speed b...780Fri, 03 May 2024 14:16:02 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/chicago-cubs-news/cubs/should-nick-madrigal-still-be-the-backup-third-baseman-r779/Despite a huge play Wednesday night that briefly rescued him from the bad books of Cubs fans, the team's backup third baseman is becoming almost unplayable. Is that role also becoming less important, anyway? If you’ve followed this space for any length of time, you know the Chicago Cubs’ thi...779Fri, 03 May 2024 12:10:02 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/chicago-cubs-news/cubs/cubs-mlb-pitcher-april-2024-shot-imanaga-javier-assad-mark-leiter/The Cubs pitching depth has been put to the ultimate test this season, and we’re only one month in. Somehow, the team is still doing very well, thanks to a few pitchers who have exceeded expectations in order to keep the Cubs in strong contention for the NL Central crown.  The Cubs pitching...777Thu, 02 May 2024 14:19:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/chicago-cubs-news/cubs/unique-opportunity-perfect-execution-cubs-win-on-rare-relay-to-home-plate-r778/After the offense had to scratch and claw to score a lone run in nine innings against the Mets Wednesday night, it fell to the Chicago Cubs' defense to save a narrow win. They rose to the challenge nicely. Some fans will quibble with Craig Counsell's choice to remove Shota Imanaga after seve...778Thu, 02 May 2024 12:24:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/chicago-cubs-news/cubs/the-torch-is-being-passed-slowly-from-one-cubs-catcher-to-the-other-r774/With a densely packed early schedule, the Cubs have maintained an equitable timeshare at catcher so far. They're not alone in trying to keep backstops fresh this way. Still, the balance needs to keep tilting toward the younger half of their unit. If you rewind the time continuum to the offse...774Wed, 01 May 2024 12:50:50 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/chicago-cubs-news/cubs/keegan-thompson-found-3-miles-per-hour-on-the-shuttle-from-des-moines-to-chicago-r772/Around the time the Chicago Cubs brought sidetracked reliever Keegan Thompson back from his exile in Iowa earlier this month, we wrote about how badly diminished Thompson looked there. That was true. It just hasn't been true since then. It's hard to fathom the leap in stuff Keegan Thompson h...772Tue, 30 Apr 2024 16:57:15 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/chicago-cubs-news/cubs/javier-assad-mike-tauchman-unsung-heroes-injury-updates/We tend to attend to the stars on any sports team, but in baseball, depth matters much more than star power. Beyond even the talent, there's the question of how players who only expected to be backups actually perform when called upon. So far, the Cubs' second line has passed that test with flyi...771Tue, 30 Apr 2024 15:04:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/chicago-cubs-news/cubs/how-mike-tauchman-keeps-winning-new-converts-r770/Injuries that have limited or removed all three of the Chicago Cubs' top outfielders should have dented their record more than it has so far. They're 18-11, atop the National League Central, and they owe a lot of that to a guy I didn't believe in at all. I spent the better part of 2023 refus...770Tue, 30 Apr 2024 11:37:42 +0000