https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/page/154/?d=7enhttps://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/suddenly-javier-assad-is-a-mid-rotation-starter-r268/The Chicago Cubs’ starting rotation has hit a rough patch. After a strong first half in which they had a 4.01 ERA (good for 10th-best in baseball, according to FanGraphs), the production has fallen dramatically in the second half. Entering Tuesday, their 5.54 ERA from starters since the All-Star...268Wed, 16 Aug 2023 14:46:11 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/the-cubs-toughest-opponents-now-are-their-past-selves-and-the-calendar-r267/When players, coaches, broadcasters, and fans spend April reciting the old saw about every game counting the same in the standings, it seems forced. It feels like manufactured urgency. In April, we are all young, and life is long, and there is time to kill. Under the aegis of the promise of a lo...267Wed, 16 Aug 2023 12:22:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/3-up-3-down-javier-assad-cody-bellinger-adbert-alzolay/Has anyone ever told you that you are their “Cub” person? More broadly defined, have you been told you are the person people come to to talk about the Cubs? Most of my life, I have faithfully served as many offices’ “Cub Guy,” fielding questions and anecdotes during the good times and the b...266Tue, 15 Aug 2023 19:07:46 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/looking-ahead-whom-might-the-cubs-face-in-the-playoffs-r262/The Cubs are in good position in the push for a berth in the National League playoffs. They enter the new week 3.5 games out of the division lead, and just a half-game out of the final Wild Card spot. They’ve proved their mettle in a prolonged hot stretch since the All-Star break, taking two of...262Tue, 15 Aug 2023 16:14:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/why-cody-bellinger-not-christian-yelich-is-the-nl-comeback-player-of-the-year-r260/This Cubs team has some pretty exciting talents on it: Justin Steele will all but certainly finish top ten in the Cy Young voting, the middle infield combo of Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner may double-up on gold gloves, and Tucker Barnhart is batting .308 in the second half (through 13 at-bats…...260Tue, 15 Aug 2023 13:00:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/the-evolution-of-christopher-morel-and-the-clutch-moment-r263/Christopher Morel stepped to the plate on Wednesday night with the game on the line. With runners on second and third, one out, and a one-run deficit in the ninth inning, the Chicago Cubs just needed some decent contact in order to at least extend the game against the New York Mets. Unfortu...263Mon, 14 Aug 2023 12:24:02 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/for-the-first-time-since-2016-the-cubs-can-handle-the-heat-of-elite-competition-r261/At the crest of the huge prospect wave that became the core of their World Series-winning team, the organization was right on the cutting edge of everything. In 2015, they were an elite pitch-framing team, at a time when that craft was as well-understood, valuable, and easily quantified as ever....261Sun, 13 Aug 2023 12:21:02 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/a-look-back-at-the-1998-chicago-cubs-part-two-kerry-woods-debut-r252/Throughout spring and the first weeks of the season, the open question around the Cubs was when Kerry Wood would be brought up from the minors. After being drafted 4th overall in the 1995 amateur draft and ranked as the number four prospect going into 1998 by Baseball America (behind Ben Grieve,...252Sat, 12 Aug 2023 12:44:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/how-can-the-cubs-shore-up-their-rotation-down-the-stretch-r258/The Cubs’ rotation right now, heading down the stretch here in 2023 and in the heat of a playoff chase, is far from settled. Justin Steele has been a lockdown option atop the rotation, but he’s already gone past his previous career high in innings (119 innings pitched last year, 121 already this...258Sat, 12 Aug 2023 12:20:02 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/cubs-quips-contract-extensions-adbert-alzolay-and-the-mike-tauchman-fan-club-r259/Lock them up! Lock them up! Jed! Since you’ve so wisely decided to be a buyer as the Cubs inexorably march toward the playoffs, now is the time to sign Cody Bellinger and Marcus Stroman to contract extensions. Cody’s a mere lad of 28, and his National League July player of the month statu...259Fri, 11 Aug 2023 16:14:02 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/is-2023-a-success-even-if-the-cubs-miss-the-playoffs-r254/The Cubs are, as of this writing prior to the games of August 9, in possession of the third Wild Card in the National League (by percentage points over the Reds) and just a game and a half back of the Brewers for first in the division. Had you told that to any Cubs fan on Opening Day of the seas...254Thu, 10 Aug 2023 18:08:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/i-am-begging-david-ross-to-just-steal-the-bases-next-time-r256/It would have been unreasonable to hope for the Cubs to win every series for the rest of this season. Losing a set to a strip-mined, understaffed, half-interested Mets team stings, though, and the final frame of Wednesday's loss was especially frustrating. Trailing by two runs to start the ninth...256Thu, 10 Aug 2023 12:39:01 +0000