Chicago Cubs shortstop Addison Russell smacked a bases-clearing long ball in the third inning of Tuesday's Game 6 of the 2016 World Series, becoming the first-ever player at his position to hit a grand slam on baseball's largest stage, per MLB Stat of the Day.
With the Cubs already nursing a 3-0 lead on the strength of a three-run first inning, Russell stepped up to the plate against Cleveland Indians reliever Dan Otero with the bases loaded and one out in the top of the third.
Russell was the first batter Otero faced upon replacing ineffective starting pitcher Josh Tomlin, who was ...
When Chicago Cubs shortstop Addison Russell knocked one over the fence in the second inning of last Monday's game against the San Diego Padres, it made him just the third shortstop in franchise history to collect 80 RBI in a single season, per ESPN Stats & Info.
The youngster joined Roy Smalley Jr. (in 1950) and Ernie Banks, who reached the total in each of his seven full seasons as Chicago's shortstop, per Baseball-Reference.com. Russell certainly has a long way to go to be mentioned in the same breath as Banks, but the 22-year-old is off to a good start in his ...
The Chicago Cubs starting rotation enters Tuesday's game against the St. Louis Cardinals with a cumulative 2.34 ERA, which would be the lowest combined mark by any team's starters since 1919, per MLB Stat of the Day.
No starting rotation has finished a season with an ERA below 2.50 since 1981, when the Houston Astros rotation posted a 2.43 mark during a strike-shortened season, per Christopher Kamka of CSN Chicago.
Good health has been a large part of the equation, with Chicago using just five starters all season, as Jake Arrieta, Jon Lester, John Lackey, Kyle Hendricks and Jason Hammel have each started ...
The Chicago Cubs enter Monday's game against the St. Louis Cardinals with a 12.5-game lead in the National League Central, making them just one of four teams in the divisional era (since 1969) to hold a lead of 10 or more games by June 19, per Elias Sports Bureau (via ESPN Stats & Info).
The 2001 Seattle Mariners had a whopping 19.5-game lead in the AL West at the same point in the year, while the 1999 Cleveland Indians (11 games) and 1986 New York Mets (10) also boasted double-digit advantages over their nearest divisional competitors.
The Cubs' huge margin becomes all ...
The Chicago Cubs improved to 24-6 with Sunday's 4-3 win over the Washington Nationals in 13 innings, becoming the first team since the 1984 Detroit Tigers (26-4) to win 24 or more of its first 30 games in a season, per MLB Stat of the Day.
Only the 10th team in MLB history to start 24-6 or better, the Cubs boast an astounding plus-102 run differential, leading all of the majors in both runs scored (184) and allowed (82).
They already have a commanding lead in the National League Central, sitting 7.5 games ahead of the Pittsburgh Pirates (17-14) and nine clear ...
With Saturday's 8-5 win over the Washington Nationals, the 2016 Chicago Cubs became the second-fastest major league team (since at least 1900) to reach a run differential of plus-100, per Sportsnet Stats.
The Cubs needed just 29 games to get to the century mark, trailing only a 1902 Pittsburgh Pirates club that got to plus-100 in its 26th game en route to finishing with a 103-36-3 record.
That Pirates team easily won the National League, but it didn't have an opportunity to play in the World Series, which was first contested the following year.
The Pirates lost to the Boston Red Sox (then ...
Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Jake Arrieta witnessed his home scoreless streak come to an end at 52.2 innings when he surrendered an RBI double to Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Alex Presley in the fifth inning of Thursday's eventual 7-2 Cubs victory, per Sportsnet Stats.
Arrieta's streak, unsurprisingly, is the longest of its kind by any Cubs pitcher in Wrigley Field history.
Although Presley's RBI double was the only earned run charged to Arrieta on Thursday, the Cubs ace did walk four Brewers and allow three hits en route to his league-leading fifth win of the 2016 season.
Last year, he posted a 22-6 record to go ...
Chicago Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta tossed a no-hitter in Thursday's 16-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds, becoming just the second player ever to throw a pair of no-hitters without taking any losses in the time between, per ESPN Stats & Info.
Arrieta's other no-no occurred Aug. 30 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, helping him eventually take home National League Cy Young honors last season.
He made just nine regular-season starts between the two historic outings, which trails only Johnny Vander Meer (zero) and Warren Spahn (five) for fewest starts separating two no-hitters.
Vander Meer, of course, is the only pitcher besides Arrieta to ...
The 2015 Chicago Cubs are the first team since the 2011 Seattle Mariners to account for three of MLB's major end-of-season awards, per MLB Stat of the Day on Twitter.
Getting the honors are third baseman Kris Bryant (NL Rookie of the Year), starting pitcher Jake Arrieta (NL Cy Young) and manager Joe Maddon (NL Manager of the Year).
The 23-year-old Bryant was unsurprisingly a unanimous selection, after finishing the season with 25 home runs, 99 RBI, 87 runs, 13 stolen bases, a .275 batting average, a .369 on-base percentage and a .488 slugging percentage.
Maddon, who was previously selected as the AL ...
Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch for the 30th time this season during Tuesday's 4-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds, joining Don Baylor (1986) as the only two players in MLB history to hit 30 home runs and get hit by 30 pitches in the same season, per ESPN Stats & Info.
Rizzo also has exactly 30 home runs, as he has not hit one since Sept. 17 against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The 30 homers come as no surprise, with the 26-year-old having hit 32 last season and 23 in 2013.
His league-leading hit by pitch total, ...
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