The rich get richer. The good get better. It doesn't always work that way, but sometimes it does.
Just ask the Chicago Cubs.
One year after winning their first World Series since the debut of the Model T Ford, the Cubs are positioned for another deep postseason run.
Their potent lineup remains intact. They expect a full, healthy season from Kyle Schwarber. They plugged the hole in the back of their bullpen by acquiring closer Wade Davis and signing veteran setup man Koji Uehara.
FanGraphs projects a 95-67 record for Chicago in 2017, but that feels more like the Cubs' floor than their ceiling.
That's ...
Last winter, the Chicago Cubs signed Jason Heyward to an eight-year, $184 million contract. Less than 11 months later, they won their first World Series since the Teddy Roosevelt administration.
Here's the rub: They did it as much in spite of Heyward as because of him.
Heyward played 142 games in his first season on the North Side and won a Gold Glove for his work in right field. His exploits in the batter's box, however, defined abysmal.
He hit .230 and set career lows in on-base percentage (.306) and slugging percentage (.325). It's not as if his stat line was undone by ...
Not even the defending champs can rest on their laurels.
The Chicago Cubs aren't, clearly, as they made their first big splash of the offseason Wednesday, acquiring All-Star closer Wade Davis from the Kansas City Royals, per Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com.
It's a simple, straight-up swap, with 24-year-old outfielder Jorge Soler going to Kansas City. That's no small sacrifice for the Cubs, as we'll delve into shortly.
For now, though, let's focus on what Chicago got: a replacement for free-agent flamethrower Aroldis Chapman and a nice dose of security at the back end of the bullpen.
Davis has been nothing short of ...
You can exhale, Chicago Cubs fans. It finally happened.
After 108 years of waiting, you watched your team storm the field and hoist a trophy. You watched the Cubbies win the final game of the postseason 8-7 Wednesday night at Progressive Field.
You did not have to wait until next year.
It wasn't easy. The Cleveland Indians kept pushing back. They came awfully close, in fact, to turning Cubs skipper Joe Maddon and closer Aroldis Chapman into a pair of goats, to invoke the Windy City's least favorite barnyard creature.
In the end, Chicago's heroics prevailed against the Tribe and Mother Nature. Just barely.
Things ...
Kyle Hendricks might win the National League Cy Young Award. He's MLB's reigning ERA king. By any measure, 2016 has been a very good year for the Chicago Cubs right-hander.
On Friday, he has a chance to cement his breakout season and go from very good to immortal by pitching the Cubbies to the championship brink.
Nothing will be decided in Game 3. But with the series knotted 1-1, it's a pivotal contest. In World Series history, teams with a 2-1 advantage have won it all 56 times and lost just 27 times, per WhoWins.com.
It's a big game symbolically, too. The North ...
The World Series is returning to Chicago's North Side for the first time since 1945. That's the lead storyline ahead of Friday's pivotal Game 3, which is scheduled to be aired at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.
Here's an intriguing subplot: Unlikely Cubs offensive catalyst Kyle Schwarber will be on the bench.
Schwarber was not medically cleared to play the field Thursday, nearly seven months after tearing the ACL and LCL in his left knee, per the Cubs' official Twitter feed.
He served as the designated hitter in the first two games of the World Series, and he did so with distinction.
Specifically, Schwarber ...
Jake Arrieta, line one is for you. It's destiny calling—and it's urgent.
Don't worry. We're not going to get too melodramatic after the Chicago Cubs' dispiriting 6-0 loss to the Cleveland Indians in Game 1 of the World Series at Progressive Field on Tuesday.
Wednesday's Game 2, which will begin an hour early at 7:08 p.m. ET on Fox because of the threat of rain, isn't a must-win for Chicago.
It's a best-of-seven series; the math is simple.
It is, however, a really-should-win, as well as an opportunity for Arrieta to overcome his checkered postseason past.
Overall, Arrieta owns a 4.11 ERA in 30.2 career ...
The Chicago Cubs acquired Aroldis Chapman because he's a flamethrower.
In the 2016 postseason, he's ignited a disconcerting number of fires.
Yes, Chapman can melt the radar gun with his triple-digit heater, and he's impersonated his unhittable self in stretches.
The recent numbers, however, paint a less flattering picture.
In 6.1 playoff innings with the Cubs, Chapman has allowed six hits, three walks and three earned runs and has converted only three of five save opportunities.
Chicago is up 3-2 to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series, so it's not as if Chapman is destined to become a footnote in the ...
The Chicago Cubs are one win away from the World Series, and Jon Lester is back among the pantheon of postseason studs.
On Thursday, the Cubs defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-4 at Chavez Ravine to grab a 3-2 lead in the National League Championship Series. Game 6 will be played Saturday at Wrigley Field.
For his part, Lester twirled seven innings of five-hit, one-run ball with one walk and six strikeouts. He got the win, moving his 2016 playoff record to 2-0 and his ERA to 0.86.
Nothing is over until the Cubs bust their century-plus championship drought, as Lester himself noted.
"This ...
The Chicago Cubs have no shortage of burgeoning stars.
Toss a fungo bat during Chicago's pregame warm-ups, and you're likely to hit a young stud: Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Addison Russell—the list goes on.
In Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the San Francisco Giants on Friday, second baseman Javier Baez nudged his name closer to the top of the Cubs' up-and-comer leaderboard.
With the score knotted 0-0 in the bottom of the eighth, Baez crushed a solo homer off Giants starter Johnny Cueto, much to the delight of the long-suffering Wrigley Field masses.
MLB.com's Cut4 offered a look at the ...
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