2 September 2010, 8:11 am
Soon the Chicago Cubs will probably be the seventh team in baseball to be officially taken out of 2010 playoff contention (their "elimination number" is 11). They currently have the second-worst record in the National League Central with 57-77 (.425). Despite not winning a World Series in 102 years, the Chicago Cubs are historically a decent team. Since starting in 1876, the franchise has a winning record of 10,222 wins and 9,678 losses. The Cubs have made it to the playoffs 18 times, won 16 National League pennants, and won the World Series in both 1907 and 1908 (defeating the Detroit Tigers and the Chicago White Sox, respectively). The past three seasons in a row the Cubs have had winning records; this year they probably will not. Let's look at the facts about this year: First game of season: Beaten by the Braves in Atlanta 5-16 (April 5) First home game of season: Defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 9-5 (April 12) Longest slump of season: Lost 19 of 23 consecutive games to the Astros, Rockies, Brewers, Reds, Giants, Cardinals, Padres, and Braves (July 27-August 20) Worst Loss of Season: Beaten by the Milwaukee Brewers 1-18 in Chicago (August 2) Best Victories of season: Defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 15-3 in Chicago (August 4) & Defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 14-2 in Chicago (August 30) MANAGERIAL CHANGE: On August 22, Lou Pinella stepped down from manager position early, saying he wanted to take care of his sick mother. Mike Quade became the interim Cubs manager. TRADES: - The Cubs trades RP Aaron Heilman (4.19 ERA) to the Arizona Diamondbacks for minor leaguers Scott Maine and Ryne White - The Cubs traded IF Aaron Miles (.283) & Jake Fox (.240) to the Oakland Athletics for RP Jeff Gray (4.91 ERA) & minor leaguers - The Cubs traded OF Milton Bradley (.273) to the Seattle Mariners for SP Carlos Silva (4.65 ERA) - The Cubs traded IF Andres Blanco (.250) to the Texas Rangers for a player to be named - The Cubs traded SP Ted Lilly (4.16 ERA) & IF Ryan Theriot (.287) to the Los Angeles Dodgers for 2B Blake DeWitt (.265) and minor leaguers Kyle Smitt & Brett Wallach - The Cubs traded 2B Mike Fontenot (.269) to the San Francisco Giants for minor leaguer Evan Crawford - The Cubs traded 1B Derrek Lee (.282) to the Atlanta Braves for minor leaguers Robinson Lopez, Tyrelle Harris & Jeffrey Lorick SEASON STATS: So far the Cubs have lost 12 of their 16 games against the Cincinnati Reds The Cubs have lost 10 of their 15 games against the Pittsburgh Pirates The Cubs have lost 8 of their 12 games against the Houston Astros The Cubs have won 7 of their 12 games against the Milwaukee Brewers The Cubs have won 5 of their 9 games against the St. Louis Cardinals Best Cubs batting average: SS Starlin Castro (.317 average, 3rd best in National League) Most Cubs home runs: LF Alfonso Soriano (21 home runs) Most Cubs RBI: 3B Aramis Ramirez (69 RBI) & LF Alfonso Soriano (69 RBI) Most Cubs wins: SP Ryan Dempster (12 wins, 9 losses) Best Cubs ERA: SP Ryan Dempster (3.71 ERA)* Most Cubs saves: RP Carlos Marmol (25 saves) *(Not counting former Cubs SP Ted Lilly [3.59 ERA]) Chicago Cubs team batting average = .262 Chicago Cubs team ERA: 4.37 Chicago Cubs team fielding percentage = .978 (worst in MLB) What are your thoughts on the Chicago Cubs? What do you have to say about the trades, about the season, the players, the management, next year, etc? http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CHC/ http://mlb.mlb.com/schedule/sortable.jsp?c_id=chc http://espn.go.com/mlb/statistics... Read More »
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