Inlearningmode

I had to follow the game on my phone. What did Javy pimp today?

THIS

https://streamable.com/ejuc Thank you! That produced immense pleasure!

Been looking for video of the dinger. Anyone?

I don't believe in jinxes, but for those who are laughing at their lineup and the like, my inner 10 year old cub fan wants to say, "dude, shut up. You're going to make us lose!" Then I practice some mindfulness exercises, and I'm good again. Although I think I can say with about 87% certainty that Hernandez will have a big home run or something.

Looking on my phone and read from afar ( my arm outstretched out of the sight if my sleeping 3 year old) that it was a Fangraphs article. Boy talk about an abrupt surprise.

Great points made by many so far. There seems to be a growing consensus that the historically low BABIP is due to a rare confluence of factors. Thanks, Duke, for breaking down some of the nuance of what has frequently been summarized as "luck". FYI, hadn't seen this article posted, so just including this excerpt here: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-most-extraordinary-team-statistic/#more-232179 "1) Cubs, .251 BABIP against z-score: 3.6 You presumably knew about this. At least somewhat. People have been trying to investigate it for months. The Cubs just haven’t really allowed hits. Part of the equation has to be the pitching staff collectively avoiding hard contact. Another part is that the Cubs have the league-leading team defense. You understand that the Cubs thrive in this area. But have you really appreciated how insane this is? The Cubs, as a team, have yielded a .251 BABIP. The next-best mark in all of baseball is .284, shared by the Blue Jays and Dodgers. That’s a difference of 33 points! The difference between first and second is bigger than the difference between second and 28th. This isn’t just the most extraordinary team statistic of 2016. It’s the most extraordinary team statistic, by an extraordinary margin. The Cubs own what would be the lowest BABIP allowed in the last 40 years, not counting strike-shortened seasons. And that’s not even adjusting for context. Like, say, how the league-average BABIP in 1978 was .275, instead of this year’s .297. The Cubs allowed a .256 BABIP in April. It was .245 in May, and .257 in June. It was .267 in July, and .254 in August. It’s at .220 — literally .220 — in September. I mean, look, I don’t know. Whatever it is, it just is. The Cubs are amazing. This is where they’ve been most amazing. I’ve genuinely never seen anything like it, and I’m almost certain you haven’t, either."

"The only thing the Cubs did do differently is adjust their starting rotation, setting up Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks for Games 1 and 2. They’ll pitch Saturday and Sunday in Cincinnati, giving each of them five days off before their playoff starts. It also gives Jake Arrieta a much longer break if he’s the Game 3 pitcher, same with John Lackey (or Jason Hammel) if needed for Game 4." http://www.espn.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/41644/joe-maddon-on-whats-to-come-for-the-cubs-beat-up-the-day

Further evidence for the "Jon Lester is likable" thesis. http://www.espn.com/espn/now?nowId=21-0571913664613850892-4

Wasn't quite sure where to post this, it's a couple years old but quite interesting, in that it describes some of McLeod's philosophy/approach. With the possibility that he might leave soon, it seemed timely to share. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/jason-mcleod-on-scouting-and-player-development/ As someone who works in the field of psychology, I found this tidbit particularly interesting: “If the talent is similar – and even sometimes when it’s not – the guys who truly love to play are what you want. They’re going to get the most out of their ability. For an amateur scout, that’s a hard thing to get at. When one of our scouts beats other teams on a player, very often it’s on the makeup – how the guy is wired. Some area scouts have a way of really getting to know a player — as well the people the player is surrounded by – and those are the scouts who usually make hay.”

Man, very moving. I'm a newbee to the forum, but this story and others above helped to bring Fred to life. Thank you for sharing.

http://www.espn.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_/id/123795/the-growing-legend-of-kris-bryant Most WAR in first two seasons – position players in MLB history 1956-57 Frank Robinson: 13.4 1939-40 Ted Williams: 13.0 2015-16 Kris Bryant: 13.1<< 1936-37 Joe DiMaggio: 12.8 >>On pace for 14.2 I'm starting to have the feeling that Kris Bryant is good at playing baseball

http://www.espn.com/blog/buster-olney/insider/post?id=14278 If someone could give a summary of the stuff not seen, much obliged

Has one of you been doing some moonlighting on BBTN? https://twitter.com/BBTN/status/774072855583715329/photo/1

When anything is historically good, it probably deserves a thread of some sort http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/heres-why-the-cubs-are-on-pace-to-be-the-single-best-defensive-team-ever/

"It didn't hurt that Hendricks had a GPA better than 4.0 and probably had more in common with the average Ivy League student than he did with anyone else." Respect. http://www.espn.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/40946/from-high-school-underdog-to-era-leader-rise-of-kyle-hendricks

Excellent analysis!

Anyone read any good pieces or have personal insights around Jake's relative worsening in his control?

Hadn't seen one specifically dedicated to the rotation as a whole. A question to kick off: if the postseason came today, who do you think Joe puts as the first three starters?

Boom

Keith Law FTW

Talk about turning the other cheek