A Chicago Cubs Fan Community Since February 9, 2005
The date in the headline likely sounds familiar to you. Of course, it’s the date of The Sandberg Game, in which Ryne Sandberg burst on the national scene with a 5-for-6 performance that included game-tying home runs in the ninth AND 10th innings. The Cubs came from deficits of 7-1 and 9-3 to defeat the […]
4 months ago | 6 reads
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article first appeared here Nov. 6, 2024, when Kyle Hendricks signed with the Angels. With the news of his retirement, I thought you’d enjoy reading it again. It’s been updated to include his 2025 season. One thing to remember about Kyle Hendricks’ mostly good-to-great 11 seasons in a Cubs uniform is that […]
4 months ago | 9 reads
Let me preface this article by saying the chances of the Cubs actually signing Kyle Schwarber as a free agent are pretty close to zero. He’s become a folk hero in Philadelphia and had four monstrous offensive seasons from 2022-25, hitting 46 or more home runs in three of the four years, and his 56 […]
4 months ago | 6 reads
We cover the coverage like PCA covers center field. So long, Professor. Cade was jobbed, too. Some things are set in stone, and some ain’t. One day, this will all be so much hieroglyphics. Hell, maybe we’re going backward and can read tablets in the original instead of swallowing them for our daily bread. The […]
4 months ago | 5 reads
It’s another week here at BCB After Dark: the hippest hangout for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in out of the cold. It’s always good to see you. Let us check your coat. We still have a few tables available. The hostess will seat you now. Bring your […]
4 months ago | 8 reads
The Baseball Writers Association of America announced the Rookie of the Year Award tonight and Braves catcher Drake Baldwin won the National League award over second-place right-hander Cade Horton of the Cubs. Baldwin received 21 first-place votes and 183 points. Horton received the other nine first-place votes and a vote total of 139. First baseman […]
4 months ago | 12 reads
The first thing to know about this game is that it was an unusually warm day for April in Chicago. It was 85 degrees at game time, and wound up being 92 degrees, which is still, 45 years later, the highest temperature ever recorded in Chicago in the month of April. This was just the […]
4 months ago | 7 reads
Coming off last night’s Fall Stars Game, it’s a great time to check back in with the Cubs Boys of Autumn playing for the Mesa Solar Sox in the Arizona Fall League. The home run derby and the Fall Stars Game meant it was a short week for the Solar Sox with only four games […]
4 months ago | 5 reads
As you’ll recall, Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were placed on administrative leave by Major League Baseball last July while the league investigated charges that the two had rigged pitches as part of a gambling scheme. In fact, Ortiz was pulled from a planned start against the Cubs at Wrigley Field July […]
4 months ago | 8 reads
Happy Monday, everyone. We’ve had a busy weekend with news. The biggest story to break this weekend is likely the breaking betting scandal news coming out of the Cleveland Guardians camp. Though, if you’ve been following the news all season long, it perhaps shouldn’t come as a surprise. We’ll have more in-depth news about that […]
4 months ago | 9 reads
Hippo Vaughn re-ups and other stories. Happy birthday, Micah Bowie* and other former Cubs! On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue is pleased to present a Cubs-centric look at baseball’s colorful past. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow the various narrative paths. “Maybe I called it wrong, but it’s official.” — Tom Connolly, HoF Umpire. Today […]
4 months ago | 5 reads
As the first snows of late fall hit the streets of Chicago there is still baseball out in the Arizona desert where it’s been mid-80s and sunny since I arrived on Thursday. Last night in addition to the perfect weather, visitors at the Cubs Spring Training home, Sloan Park, were also treated to quite the […]
4 months ago | 6 reads
Many of you will likely remember Tim Blackwell, one of the typical “good field, no hit” catchers of the era. Blackwell usually sported a walrus mustache; that’s how I remember him. But as you can see in the photo at the top of this post, he wore a beard for a while as a Cub. […]
4 months ago | 4 reads
We cover the coverage like PCA covers center field. Pete was jobbed. Tatis ranked 37th in baseball with 8 Outs Above Average (OAA) while Crow-Armstrong tied with Witt for the MLB lead with 24 OAA. By MLB Statcast’s Runs Prevented metric, Crow-Armstrong led baseball with 22 while Tatis was 31st with 7. I mean, dayum. That’s cold. […]
4 months ago | 7 reads
It’s Hot Stove season and the regular rumor mill of team and player option decisions is running hot. We know who has a qualifying offer and we’ll argue about who will accept those offers between now and November 18. Spoiler alert: Kyle Tucker is likely to decline the qualifying offer he got from the Cubs […]
4 months ago | 9 reads
Every Cubs fan knows about the “Billy Goat Curse.” Every Cubs fan also knows, or should, that the “Billy Goat Curse” is nonsense, invented by a newspaper reporter more than 20 years after William “Billy Goat” Sianis’ goat was refused entry to Wrigley Field during the 1945 World Series. It’s made for some fun stories […]
4 months ago | 7 reads
We cover the coverage like PCA covers center field. This is all so theatre of the absurd, because we know all of the free agents will sign with the Dodgers for jewelry. I’ve heard that the Dodgers made an offer to 2027, seeking to buy the whole season, should there be one, and also optioned […]
4 months ago | 6 reads
A version of this story ran in 2021 on the anniversary date of this game. I repost it here, lightly edited, with some added notes on Dave Rosello’s career. Dave (sometimes called “Davey”) Rosello is a footnote in Cubs history. He played six years for the Cubs, mostly as a backup middle infielder, and batted […]
4 months ago | 7 reads
Perhaps some of you would view a Cubs signing of Dylan Cease as something that would “right a wrong” — that is, Cease was a major part of the deal that brought José Quintana to the Cubs, and Quintana generally wasn’t very good on the North Side, while Cease went on to have some very […]
4 months ago | 8 reads
Good morning.
4 months ago | 3 reads
The Rajah arrives, Glenn Beckert packs his bags for San Diego, Bruce Sutter wins the Cy Young, Nomar Garciaparra* heads for Chicago, and other stories. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue is pleased to present a Cubs-centric look at baseball’s colorful past. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow the various narrative paths. “Maybe I […]
4 months ago | 10 reads
As the Cubs make a qualifying offer to Kyle Tucker that he will almost certainly decline, he takes home some hardware: Even while missing time with some injuries, Tucker batted .266/.377/.464 with 22 home runs and 25 stolen bases in 136 games for the Cubs. It was a calculated risk for Jed Hoyer to trade […]
4 months ago | 6 reads
Thursday was the deadline for teams to make qualifying offers to their players who are free agents and the Cubs did so for two such players. Kyle Tucker was an obvious choice to make the offer of $22.025 million. Just as obvious is the fact that he’ll turn it down and head toward another team […]
4 months ago | 7 reads
A version of this story originally ran April 8, 2019, the 50th anniversary of this historic event. I repost it here as part of this walkoff wins series, with some minor edits and a few notes on Willie Smith’s career. To understand the true meaning of Willie Smith’s walkoff two-run homer on April 8, 1969, […]
4 months ago | 5 reads
The Cubs had a one-year, $6 million option for Colin Rea for 2026. They’re going to keep him for next year, but on a different deal: So that’s a slight increase in his 2026 salary from the previous option year, and if Rea does well enough in 2026, the team can keep him for 2027 […]
4 months ago | 13 reads