By Steve Rhodes

The Cubs went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position on Sunday, leading commentators to muse that if only they hit a little better in those situations, they’d be a winning team.
And if my grandmother had balls she’d be my grandfather, as the old saying goes.
Just like how the Cubs would have a winning record if the bullpen hadn’t blown so many games early in the season. We’re so close!
Beg to differ. See, that’s what bad teams do. They don’t hit with runners on, they blow games late, they hit but don’t pitch, or pitch but don’t hit . . . they might be good in one phase of the game, but playoff teams are good in at least two if not more phases of the game.
It’s not that the Cubs are close to being a contender because of the way they lose games; it’s that the way they lose games are indicative of a team that isn’t close to being a contender.

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Posted on May 20, 2013

By Jim Coffman

As the Cubs’ Ryan Sweeney bumbled around the bases in the fourth inning on Sunday and eventually crash-landed at third, turning what should have been a lead-off triple into an absolute gift out for the Mets, it occurred to me again: So many major leaguers are the last guys a youth baseball coach wants his charges to emulate.
Sometimes you just can’t believe these guys are playing at the highest level of baseball.

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Posted on May 20, 2013

By Roger Wallenstein

“Welcome to Orange County,” the Southwest flight attendant blurted over the PA as the aircraft bounced onto the tarmac last Thursday.
The airport sits in the city of Santa Ana; we were looking forward to watching the Sox play in Anaheim. We had hotel reservations in Garden Grove, and before the two days had ended we think we may have been in Tustin, Irvine and maybe even Costa Mesa.
It’s all Orange County, home of the Los Angeles – located in Los Angeles County – Angels of Anaheim. No wonder these guys are 10 games under .500. They’re confused. They don’t know who they are. Not Albert Pujols nor Josh Hamilton nor Mike Trout can make sense of this.

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Posted on May 20, 2013

This Season’s Team Had More Heart Than Hallmark On Valentine’s Day

Our way of saying thanks in 10 parts.
1. Here Come The Bulls, There Went The Bulls.

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Posted on May 16, 2013

By Dan O’Shea

The No. 2 player in standard format Yahoo! fantasy baseball leagues is someone who not a lot of people heard of before this season, let alone had listed on their preseason draft rankings: Brewers shortstop Jean Segura. Ranked at No. 264 overall in Yahoo! leagues before the year began, Segura has six home runs, 13 stolen bases and an OPS of 1.000 through the first month-and-a-half of the season.
He has all the markings of a highly valuable fantasy baseball player (power, speed, plate patience) and if he keeps up his current pace, he could be considered a top 10 fantasy player going into 2014. He is also only 23 years old. In short, he is the player Cubs fans would like Starlin Castro to be.

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Posted on May 15, 2013

By Jim Coffman

In 2008, I had the chance to attend Game 1 of the National League Division Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Wrigley Field. I arrived late (I know, I know, I’m a bad fan – all I can say is I’ll try to do better), and found that Mark DeRosa had launched an opposite field home run in the second inning and the Cubs led 2-0 in the third.
The place was lousy with optimism. It was palpable. The Cubs had won 97 games that season, we were clearly better than the team from Southern California, and we were led by master strategist Lou Piniella. It was only a matter of time before the team recorded the three necessary victories over the Dodgers and moved on to what we were sure would be better things in the National League Championship Series and then maybe even the World Series.
One problem, though: Cubs starting pitcher Ryan Dempster wasn’t particularly sharp. He had already handed out several bases on balls and, then in the fifth, he walked the bases loaded. Up stepped young Dodger first baseman James Loney and just like that, the walks came a cropper. Loney launched a grand slam and in an instant a two-run lead became a two-run deficit.
And in another instant, tens of thousands of Cubs fans shut it down. Again, it was palpable. How could we have been so stupid as to have believed in this team?

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Posted on May 14, 2013

By Steve Rhodes

Did you know the Cubs are looking at the success of the Nationals as a blueprint for their own rebuilding?
Also, the Orioles and the A’s.
And the Cardinals, the Reds and the Red Sox.
Oh, don’t forget the Rays and the Pirates.
Why not throw in the Braves, the Giants and the Tigers?
Guess what: It’s not really useful to look at other franchises for winning formulas.
Why?
Because every franchise (and every market) is governed by a unique set of circumstances.
And that’s why their formulas are all different.

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Posted on May 13, 2013

By Roger Wallenstein

Compared to the thousands of people who use the Red Line to get to work every day, Sox fans really have little to complain about.
Starting Sunday, the CTA will close its nine southernmost stations on the Red Line, including 35th-Sox, which lets fans off just a half-block from the Cell. Five months from now, the CTA promises that the new tracks will make travel “faster, smoother, better.”
We’ll see about that, but in the meantime, fans going to U.S. Cellular on the “L” can use the Green Line – after transferring at Roosevelt – which lets them off two blocks further east. Judging from comments to a Sun-Times article posted on Friday, this will be a minor inconvenience. Sox vice-president of communications Scott Reifert went so far to say, “We really don’t think it will have a huge impact on us.”
The way the team has been playing, you wonder if Reifert was saying, “Impact? What impact? Why would anyone travel – on the ‘L’ or otherwise – to see this miserable team?”

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Posted on May 13, 2013

By i9 Sports

When our children head out to play sports this spring, the pressure to win is so intense; a troubling new survey reveals 59% of young athletes say they expect to get hurt as part of the game. What’s even more surprising – kids polled say coaches, teammates and in some cases even their own parents have tried to make them play injured and even suggested they hurt another player. 69% of young athletes who were hurt say they continued to play hurt and half of them say they hid their injuries so they could play.
The just released survey of 210 boys and 138 girls (ages 8 – 14) who play sports reveals:
* 63% say they have been hurt playing sports. 59% say it’s part of the game and they expect it.
* 64% say they’re afraid someone will hurt them while playing sports.
* 11% say they were offered gifts or money to hurt another player.
The survey was commissioned by the non-profit arm of i9 Sports. The survey also reveals:

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Posted on May 8, 2013

Another Beachwood Thought Experiment

* Alfonso Soriano would be crumpled up and crying behind a vending machine in the bowels of Wrigley Field.
* Nate Robinson would be playing a very nice center field.
* That goat would be so worn out that the only thing left it could curse would be the urinals.
* Giving up unearned runs would be a concept with which he would be unfamiliar.
* Baseball’s first man-to-man defense.

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Posted on May 7, 2013