Cole Hamels has struggled this season, but his track record and performance away from Texas make him a good, calculated risk for the Cubs.
he non-waiver trade deadline is 3 p.m. Tuesday and Cubs President Theo Epstein said he believes the Cubs will make a deal. Here are some questions and answers regarding the team’s needs and the trading landscape. How did the Cubs get to this point with their pitching needs? The starting pitchers haven’t pitched deep into games with any regularity, thus causing stress on a bullpen that has been effective and resilient despite injuries to valuable late-inning specialists such as Brandon Morrow and Carl Edwards Jr.
Despite a late start, a long game and a hard-to-watch loss, the Cubs commanded a sizable Chicago-area TV audience through Game 3 of their National League Championship Series with the Dodgers. Driven by was faith, loyalty or utter disbelief, TBS’ telecast of the three-hour, 39-minute game Tuesday night, which didn’t get underway until after 8, continued to flicker in an average of 18.5 percent of area TV homes.
Carl Edwards Jr. admitted he was willing to allow one run if he could turn a double play after inheriting a scary situation Tuesday night. But Edwards turned in one of his most impressive performances of the season by striking out three consecutive batters and stranding the tying run at third base in the seventh inning of the Cubs’ 2-1 loss to the Reds. “I was going to take that,” Edwards said of the possibility of giving up a run for two outs.
The Cubs acquired lefty reliever Justin Wilson and catcher Alex Avila from the Tigers in exchange for third baseman Jeimer Candelario and minor-league shortstop/third baseman Isaac Paredes, the teams announced on Monday. Wilson, 29, is in the midst of a great season for the Tigers. He took over as closer and has saved 13 games in 15 tries with a 2.68 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and 55 strikeouts against 16 walks in 40 1/3 innings.
After the Nationals stole seven bases Tuesday night, Cubs catcher Miguel Montero pointed his frustration toward starter Jake Arrieta: "When you really look at it, the pitcher doesn't give me any time."
One diamond for each year of the drought
Yadier Molina pleaded ignorance to why a ball stuck to the middle of his chest protector in a strange occurrence in Thursday's 6-4 victory over the Cardinals. "I got Velcro," Cubs manager Joe Maddon quipped after the Gold Glove catcher couldn't find Brett Cecil's wild pitch on a third strike that enabled Matt Szczur to reach first base and ignite the Cubs' game-winning rally in the seventh inning.
Spring Training is officially underway with the reporting of pitchers and catchers, which also signifies the true beginning of the Chicago Cubs‘ reign as World Series champions. While some players fight for final roster spots and others look to solidify their roles on the 25-man roster, the Cubs will look to become the first team to win back-to-back titles since the New York Yankees won three in a row from 1998-2000.
For half of the Chicago Cubs starting infield, their professional careers did not begin in the Windy City, including All-Star first baseman Anthony Rizzo. After being drafted by the Boston Red Sox in 2007 and traded to the San Diego Padres in 2010, Rizzo was shipped off to Chicago following the 2012 season for pitcher Andrew Cashner.
Chicago Cubs slugger Kris Bryant has been voted the National League MVP -- capping off a stellar season for the 24-year-old. Bryant received 29 of a possible 30 first-place votes; Washington Nationals second baseman Daniel Murphy was the runner-up. Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager was third after he was the unanimous winner of the NL Rookie of the Year award on Monday.
Cubs fans will remember Ben Zobrist's 10th-inning double and the groundout that ended a curse, but many thrilling plays led up to those highlights.
Across the city before Game 7, from Wrigley to cemeteries, Cubs fans paid tribute to those lost and anticipated the future. In the end, no one could have predicted the outpouring to come.
The city of Chicago plans to honor its World Series champion Cubs with a parade and rally on Friday.
By one measure, Zobrist had the sixth-highest leverage hit in World Series history
On the night the Chicago Cubs won the World Series, Theo Epstein, the man who rescued them from organizational rubble and molded them into a champion, and Tom Ricketts, the man who hired him, embraced for almost a minute amid flying Champagne corks popped by the 25 men who did what 108 years of Cubs
Wednesday night’s dramatic Game 7 of the World Series, as expected, led to some impressive ratings for Fox.
Here's how the Cubs can bring home Game 7 of the World Series
Three years ago, Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks was in New Hampshire during the minor-league offseason finishing his economics degree at Dartmouth College.
This World Series will go the distance after a Cubs explosion on offense in Game 6