https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/page/153/?d=7enhttps://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/3-up-3-down-playoff-edition-r281/Have you ever gone on a “Stay-cation?” This was my kiddos' last weekend before school, so we took some time to enjoy the city. I have spent most of my professional life in Chicago. I highly recommend seeing Science Storms and The Blue Paradox at the Museum of Science and Industry.  If it is...281Mon, 21 Aug 2023 17:16:23 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/the-cubs-suddenly-have-a-shot-at-the-first-wild-card-spot-r280/The Cubs still have two series left against the NL Central-leading Brewers, and winning two out of three games in both would not only pull them within a game of Milwaukee, but assure them of the tiebreaker over the Crew if the two teams finished with the same record. Thus, they have some meaning...280Mon, 21 Aug 2023 17:10:16 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/how-good-are-the-2023-cubs-compared-to-the-2016-cubs-part-three-the-pitching-staff-r278/The premise behind this is simple: at each position, we’ll take a look at which roster had the better player(s). As you’d expect, the World Series winning roster will look a bit more stacked than the Wild Card hopeful one, but it’s an exercise meant to demonstrate that one size does not fit all...278Mon, 21 Aug 2023 14:13:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/choosing-drew-smyly-over-jordan-wicks-for-tuesday-night-is-stupid-r279/With the fifth spot in the Cubs' rotation coming up for the first time in a week and a half, a decision was due at the end of the team's series against the Royals at Wrigley Field Sunday. During their three-game set in Detroit to open a weeklong road trip, the Cubs will send Javier Assad to the...279Mon, 21 Aug 2023 12:36:38 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/how-good-are-the-2023-cubs-compared-to-the-2016-cubs-part-two-the-outfield-r277/The premise behind this is simple: we’ll look at which roster had the better player(s) at each position. As you’d expect, the World Series winning roster is going to look a little bit more stacked than the Wild Card hopeful one, but it’s an exercise meant to demonstrate that one size does not fi...277Sun, 20 Aug 2023 12:37:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/how-good-are-the-2023-cubs-compared-to-the-2016-cubs-part-one-the-infield-r276/The premise behind this is simple: we’ll look at which roster had the better player(s) at each position. As you’d expect, the World Series winning roster is going to look a little bit more stacked than the Wild Card hopeful one, but it’s an exercise meant to demonstrate that one size does not fi...276Sat, 19 Aug 2023 18:16:02 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/its-time-for-the-cubs-to-emulate-the-braves-r275/Let us look to the Atlanta Braves. After all, they're currently the class of the National League, and arguably the best team in baseball. They're also very unusual in the way they deploy their position players, by modern standards. Last year, Guillermo Heredia spent almost the entire season on A...275Sat, 19 Aug 2023 13:18:15 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/this-weekends-cubs-rotation-shuffle-brings-the-justin-steele-plan-into-focus-r274/After his start Saturday in Toronto, Justin Steele has 126 innings pitched this season. That's seven more than his previous career high, which he attained last season--before being shut down for the year with an injury after his start on Aug. 26. That was at the end of a lost campaign, though. T...274Fri, 18 Aug 2023 15:10:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/the-bullpen-wizardry-of-the-chicago-cubs-r270/I’ll ask you to think back to the golden era of the last Cubs core. Two of the biggest acquisitions those teams made were Aroldis Chapman for prospects and Wade Davis for Jorge Soler. Joe Maddon famously kept his “circle of trust” in the bullpen extremely tight, carefully deploying relievers eve...270Fri, 18 Aug 2023 12:04:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/do-the-cubs-have-a-rookie-of-the-year-curse-r269/Had social media been around in 1961 when former FCC chairman Newton Minow infamously described television as a “vast wasteland,” I can only imagine the adjectives he would’ve applied to Facebook. As a fascinating aside, Sherwood Schwartz and his production team had a little fun with Newton by n...269Thu, 17 Aug 2023 18:19:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/the-morel-compass-r273/That is one of the toughest rules for me to follow as a Dad of two rambunctious 4 and 6-year-olds. However, my undying love for this team and this sport draws me back. At times, I have been rewarded. July 31st, 2016. Travis Wood. Jon Lester. A magical win in a magical season. At times, I ha...273Thu, 17 Aug 2023 14:19:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/christopher-morel-saves-the-present-and-raises-questions-for-the-future-r271/At this stage of Christopher Morel's career, it's still hard to tell what kind of long-term role would best suit him. He hasn't found a defensive position at which he's truly good, and the one at which he comes closest to meeting that standard (second base) is filled for the Cubs through at leas...271Thu, 17 Aug 2023 12:07:42 +0000