Well, that wasn’t a particularly competitive National Championship Game. Of course, that doesn’t mean the BCS “got it wrong” – without the BCS, Notre Dame may have played a lesser team in a bowl, finished undefeated, and been voted a unanimous national champion. That’s not me defending the BCS, mind you, and I look forward to the baby-steps version of a playoff in the coming years.
Yahoo’s Andy Behrens takes on a handful of pressing questions about the 2013 Chicago Cubs from the fantasy baseball perspective – but, buried within are interesting nuggets of more universal interest. For example, on the bounce-back possibilities of Starlin Castro: “Castro’s fantasy value dipped slightly last year, thanks to a 24-point drop in batting average (and a 29-point drop in BABIP), but he still finished at No. 85 in the overall ranks. Nobody lost their league because they spent an early pick on a 14-homer, 25-steal shortstop. Remember, Castro is actually seven months younger than Rizzo. There’s growth potential here. And even if Castro never makes the jump to the top tier at short, he’s already a respectable contributor across all five categories, relative to position averages. I’d be surprised if Castro’s batting average doesn’t climb back to the .300-.310 neighborhood this season, with his power and speed numbers holding steady. His batted-ball rates didn’t really change substantially from 2011 to 2012, so there’s no obvious reason to fret about last year’s .283 AVG. The guy can hit. He’s never been an on-base machine (.336 career OBP), nor is he a defensive whiz, so it’s fair to think of him as a player who’s perhaps more valuable in fantasy than real-life.” The fantasy stuff doesn’t much matter to me, but I do know that fantasy pundits are going to dig deep into the peripherals of the peripherals of the peripherals before forming an official position on what a guy is going to do next year. So, if Andy says there aren’t any reasons to believe that Castro’s BABIP dip last year was much other than bad luck, then I’m excited to see just how much better he can hit in 2013.
Former Cubs closer Lee Smith is trying to keep cool about his 11th time waiting on Hall of Fame voting results.
Speaking of podcasts, I don’t watch ‘The New Girl’ on FOX, so I can’t vouch for this Jake Johnson fella, but he appeared on Grantland’s Andy Greenwald’s Hollywood Prospectus podcast yesterday, and, he goes into a long, insightful, and kind of foul description of what it’s like to be a Cubs fan. They start into it at about the 4 minute mark. It’s pretty great.
Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here.
Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.
The Cubs did all their scoring in the first, and made it stand up for the win with generally good pitching and generally good defense. Jameson Taillon looked solid again in his second start, locating well, giving up no barrels,...
For the second straight night, the Cubs are jumping all over the Astros in the first inning. After a couple hits from Nico Hoerner and Ian Happ to get things going, Michael Busch hit a sac fly, Christopher Morel walked,...
What a road it's been - continues to be - for Cubs outfield prospect Brennen Davis. The former top prospect was on a rocket ship to Triple-A in 2021, and then mostly lost the last two years to various injuries....
So much for all those words of optimism and negative X-rays. After colliding with the outfield wall last night, Cody Bellinger fractured his rib (Update: It's actually TWO fractured right ribs) and will hit the injured list today. Chicago Cubs...
CUBS LINEUP — The Chicago Cubs took Game 1 against the Houston Astros in convincing fashion last night. So tonight, they'll go for the quick series win against Spencer Arrighetti at Wrigley Field (it'd be a good idea to win...
Ed. Note: Since this article was published, a CT scan revealed a rib fracture for Cody Bellinger, who is now on the Injured List. You can find all the details of that news in our most recent article right here....
With Cody Bellinger headed to the Injured List with a rib fracture, the Cubs are in need of another outfielder: center field prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong is coming back up to the big leagues for the second time. https://twitter.com/670TheScore/status/1783217891195625709 Crow-Armstrong, 22,...
Hey, we're just having some early-season fun. So allow me to present the 'Mike Tauchman Is Clearly Better Than' list. As of this moment, Mike Tauchman has ... ... a higher wRC+ (151) than Pete Alonso, Fernando Tatis Jr., and...
Name a player hotter than Kevin Alcántara right now. Go ahead, I'll wait. (He's already raking again today. Literally as I type this.) More on Alcántara's big day and the Smokies home run parade last night in today's Cubs Farm...
Just three starts into his San Francisco Giants career, Blake Snell is heading to the injured list with a left-adductor strain. Oof. You hate to even say it — and who really knows if this was related — but early...
The Los Angeles Dodgers (15-11) and Will Smith (four hits last time out) are favored (-199) on the moneyline for their matchup with the Washington Nationals (10-13) on Thursday at 4:05 PM ET on MLB Network.Los Angeles' Yoshinobu Yamamoto and...
The Cubs did all their scoring in the first, and made it stand up for the win with generally good pitching and generally good defense. Jameson Taillon looked solid again in his second start, locating well, giving up no barrels,...
The Seattle Mariners (12-12) visit the Texas Rangers (13-12) at 2:35 PM ET Thursday for a sluggers' duel between two of the best home-run hitters in baseball. Caleb Raleigh has racked up six homers this season (No. 9 in the...
The San Diego Padres (14-13) are favorites (-150) on the moneyline when they take on the Colorado Rockies (6-19) Thursday at 3:10 PM ET, live on SDPA.Randy Vasquez will get the ball for San Diego while Colorado will counter with...
After winning three games in a row, the Los Angeles Dodgers (15-11) play on the road against the Washington Nationals (10-13) at 4:05 PM ET on Thursday.The probable starters are Yoshinobu Yamamoto (1-1) for the Dodgers and MacKenzie Gore (2-1)...
The Kansas City Royals (15-10) are favored on the moneyline (-121) in Thursday's contest versus the Toronto Blue Jays (13-12). Game time is at 2:10 PM ET on SNET. The Blue Jays, with +168 odds, are favored against the spread...
The Houston Astros (7-18) visit the Chicago Cubs (15-9) at 2:20 PM ET Thursday for a sluggers' duel between two of the best home-run hitters in baseball. Jose Altuve has racked up six homers this season (No. 9 in the...
The Boston Red Sox versus the Cleveland Guardians is a game to see on a Thursday MLB schedule that features 10 competitive contests.There are typically plenty of MLB player prop bets available for each and every matchup. Scroll down to...
The Colorado Rockies (6-19) face off against the San Diego Padres (14-13) at home on Thursday beginning at 3:10 PM ET.The probable starters are Randy Vasquez (0-1) for the Padres and Dakota Hudson (0-4) for the Rockies.Padres vs. Rockies Pitcher...
The Milwaukee Brewers (15-8) are set to take on the Pittsburgh Pirates (13-12) Thursday at 12:35 PM ET, airing on BSWI. The Brewers are listed as -128 favorites by sportsbooks, while the underdog Pirates have +107 odds for the contest.Freddy...