2015 Chicago Cubs --- Road to a Dynasty

[Getty51]

Justin Grimm (Left) and Mike Olt (Middle) and Neil Ramirez (Right) have been placed on the disabled list due to injuries suffered in the two previous games.

The Cubs have an off day scheduled for tomorrow so it is yet to be seen exactly what moves will be made.

[Getty51]

Chris Denorfia has been activated from the disabled List and placed on the active roster.


Brian Schlitter has been called up to the majors to join the slightly over worked bullpen.

The third move is


Kris Bryant
Wonder kid extraordinaire has been called up to be the clubs everyday third basemen. It was a matter of time before the Cubs called Bryant up and the unfortunate injury to Mike Olt made the call up of Bryant all the more evident.

[Getty51]

Chicago (AP) - James Shields (0-1, 3.00) @ Kyle Hendricks (1-0, 6.35)

The big day has finally arrived! All Cubs Fans everywhere rejoice, they called off work they sat down wherever they were and determined that it was time to celebrate the new era of Kris Bryant being called up.

To celebrate his debut the wonder kid would bat clean up. Bryant hit a two out, two strike homer to DEEEP left field. This would bring the Cubs tally to 5 on the year and the first of what hopefully will be many for Bryant. He was given the silent treatment in the dugout but I'm sure that won't last long.

In the bottom of the 4th Miguel Montero was able to drive in Jorge Soler on a groundout to 2nd base.

Anthony Rizzo refused to be out done by Bryant and hit is own solo homer to left off of Dale Thayer in the bottom of the 6th inning making it 4-0 Cubs.

A sac fly by Will Venable drove in the first Padres run in the 7th inning.

Kyle Hendricks went out to finish the 8th but was unable to do so and was taken out in favor of Pedro Strop following two runners getting on base with one out. Strop was able to work out of the jam without any runners scoring.

In the 9th Hector Rondon came in for the 6th time this season. He would face 3-4-5 for the Padres and he would set them down in order for his 6th save of the year.

Final Score
Padres 1 on 5 hits
Cubs 4 on 9 hits

W: Kyle Hendricks (2-0)
L: James Shields (0-2)
S: Hector Rondon (6)

[Getty51]

Chicago (AP) - Andrew Cashner (1-0, 1.10) vs Jon Lester (1-0, 3.65)

The first inning was highlighted by a two out solo home run by Anthony Rizzo, who seems to be getting hot here on the home stand with his second homer in as many games and his third of the year.

Welcome back to the team off of the DL, Chris Denorfia in the 4th inning hit a two run homer over the center field wall that scored himself and Miguel Montero for a 3-0 lead.

Starlin Castro added to the lead with an RBI double down the line that scored the pitcher Jon Lester. 4-0 He was followed by a two rbi single by Anthony Rizzo scoring Castro and Arismendy Alcantara from 3rd. 6-0

Andrew Cashner, the former Cub would not make it through any more batters after Rizzo and Odrisamer Despaigne would be called on to finish the inning.

In the Top of the 5th Jon Lester served up his own long ball to Will Middlebrooks who hit his first homer of the year to left field of the solo variety.

The game then got very quiet and in the top of the 9th inning Jon Lester remained on the mound nearing 100 pitches. Despite walking one in the 9th, Lester was able to complete the game.

"Jon was dominant all game, looked like the guy everyone expected, he made one mistake pitch that resulted in a home run but other than that was phenomenal." Was how one source close to the team put it.

Lester's line: 9.0IP, 4H, 1R, 1ER, 1W, 11K

Final Score:
Padres 1 Cashner (1-1)
Cubs 6 Lester (2-0)

[Getty51]

Cubs bolster bullpen in preparation for road stretch.
Chicago (AP) - Following Jon Lester's complete game win against the Padres, the casual fan wouldn't expect a move that would add to the bullpen in Chicago, but the front office must be looking at the schedule and seeing that there is a 13 game stretch coming up without off days which may lead to the bullpen being severely overworked.

With the recent activation of Chris Denorfia, the Cubs have an extra outfielder and three catchers. So the front office has sent Matt Szczur back to AAA Iowa to get regular at bats and have called up Gonzalez Germen who has seen action in the majors for multiple years.

[Getty51]

Starlin Castro celebrates his first inning home run
Chicago (AP) - Tyson Ross (0-1, 4.76) vs Jake Arrieta (1-1, 5.06)

In the top of the first with two outs following a walk and a hit, Will Venable was able to drive two runs in on a base knock up the middle. Venable was then driven in on the next at bat by the catcher Nieves. Arrieta would then get out of the inning but looked shaky. Problems abounded on his location following a Justin Upton come backer that nearly took his head off and instead bounced off of his glove. 3-0 Padres

Starlin Castro fought to get some of that momentum back with a solo homer in the bottom of the inning, his first of the year.

Another Arrieta walk would lead to allowing another run, this time following a two out error by Jorge Soler that allowed the run to come all the way around from first base. 4-1

Arrieta settled down following that and was able to get through the 5th inning but after going back out for the 6th he gave up a lead off double which resulted in Edwin Jackson being called upon.

With two outs in the bottom of the 6th an error by the 2nd baseman Jedd Gyorko on an Anthony Rizzo ground ball allowed pinch hitter Chris Denorfia to score to make it 4-2. That would be all the Cubs could muster and Brian Schlitter would be called to the mound.

Schlitter would get through the 7th without incident. In the bottom half of the inning, Wellington Castillo was brought on to pinch hit and for just the 4th hit of the game for the Cubs was able to drive in Chris Coghlan to make it a 1 run game. 4-3. Tyson Ross would be pulled in favor of Dale Thayer as the Padres hoped to shut down the Cubs rally. Arismendy Alcantara would put an end to any hope of that for Thayer and the Padres with a double of his own driving in Castillo to tie the game up at 4.

Dexter Fowler added to the damage with an RBI single to left field to take the LEAD 5-4 and to knock out Thayer in favor of Nick Vincent. Starlin Castro piled on with another double in the inning as the Cubs were really showing signs of a breakthrough now with a 6-4 lead. Anthony Rizzo continued the onslaught in the 7th inning and drove Castro in with an RBI single. That would be all that the Cubs would get in the inning but 5 runs are nothing to blink at.

Pedro Strop was called upon next to keep the 7-4 lead in tact and he did just that with a 3 up and 3 down inning.

Frank Garces was the next Padres pitcher and he did not fair any better than the rest of the Padres bullpen and gave up an RBI groundout to pinch hitter Jonathan Herrera to extend the lead to 8-4.

Instead of going to Hector Rondon in the situation, the Cubs went to Phil Coke to finish the game off in the 9th. He would do that to solidify a major comeback for a young Cubs team despite a two out error by second baseman Arismendy Alcantara.

The Cubs went Sweeping and it was good!

Final Score
Padres 4 on 8 hits
Cubs 8 on 10 hits (Just 2 going into the 7th inning)

W: Brian Schlitter (1-0)
L: Dale Thayer (0-1)

[Getty51]

Chicago (AP) - Travis Wood (1-0, 2.25) vs.A.J. Burnett (1-0, 3.60)

Warning:! Trying a new layout!

Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh Pirates
Apr 20, 2015	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chicago (8-4)	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	4	6	14
Pittsburgh (7-5)	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	9
W: Travis Wood (2-0) L: A.J. Burnett (1-1)

Scoring Summary
SCORING DETAILS			CHC	PIT
PIT	2	Gregory Polanco doubles to left. Jody Mercer scores	0	1
CHC	3	Chris Denorfia singles to left. Anthony Rizzo scores	1	1
CHC	4	Dexter Fowler solo home run to right	2	1
CHC	9	Starlin Castro doubles to center. Alcantara scores, Fowler to third.	3	1
CHC	9	Anthony Rizzo doubles to right. Fowler scores, Castro scores.	5	1
CHC	9	Kris Bryant singles to center. Rizzo scores.	6	1

Chicago Cubs
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Fowler	5	2	2	1	0	1		.364
Castro	5	1	2	1	0	2		.353
Rizzo	5	2	3	2	0	1		.308
Bryant	4	0	2	1	1	1		.250
Coghlan	5	0	1	0	0	0		.304
Denorfia	4	0	1	1	0	0		.429
Montero	4	0	0	0	0	0		.209
Wood	3	0	1	0	0	2		.167
Castillo	1	0	0	0	0	0		.167
Alcantara	4	1	2	0	0	0		.253
BATTING: 2B: Rizzo (1) HR: Fowler (2) RBI: Fowler (10), Castro (9), Rizzo 2 (10), Denorfia (3), Bryant (3)

Pittsburgh Pirates
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Marte	4	0	1	0	0	0		.306
Harrison	4	0	0	0	0	0		.375
McCutchen	4	0	2	0	0	1		.235
Walker	4	0	0	0	0	0		.298
Mercer	4	1	3	0	0	1		.300
Alvarez	4	0	0	0	0	3		.289
Polanco	4	0	3	1	0	0		.354
Cervelli	4	0	0	0	0	2		.213
Burnett	2	0	0	0	0	1		.222
Kang	1	0	0	0	0	0		.325
BATTING: 2B: Polanco (4) 3B: Mercer (1) RBI: Polanco (6) GIDP: Walker
BASERUNNING: SB: Polanco (2)

Chicago Cubs
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Wood (W, 2-0)	8.0	8	1	1	0	7		1.80
Rosscup	1.0	1	0	0	0	1		0.00

Pittsburgh Pirates
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Burnett (L, 1-1)	5.0	9	2	2	1	5		3.60
Caminero	2.0	0	0	0	0	2		5.40
Watson	1.1	3	3	3	0	0		4.38
Hughes	0.0	2	1	1	0	0		1.13
Bastardo	0.2	0	0	0	0	0		0.00

By the top of the 5th inning, AJ Burnett had given up 2 runs, struck out with two runners in scoring position in the bottom of the 4th and was already at 88 pitches before he even made it to the mound in the 5th. But despite two runners to reach in the inning was able to get through all 5 with just under 110 pitches thrown early on this season. But the good news for Cubs fans everywhere is that the Pirates, who the Cubs will see 4 times in Pittsburgh this week were forced to go to the bullpen early!

However, the problem with the plan of getting to the other teams bullpen, is you are supposed to find ways to score runs against the bullpen. The Cubs were unable to do that. Lucky for the Cubs, Travis Wood was able to get through 8 innings only allowing 1 run off of 8 hits.

Finally in the 9th the Cubs got to the bullpen and the Pirates where they would break through for 4 runs in the inning. With such a large cushion now in the 9th the Cubs and Zach Rosscup were able to easily hold off the Pirates for the win in game 1 of the series.

[Getty51]

Addison Russell promoted to majors!

Chicago (AP)- Less than a week ago, Kris Bryant was called up to the big league team and he proceeded to hit the first pitch he saw over the fence for a homer. Now the Cubs have called up #2 prospect Addison Russell to the big leagues. Russell looks to be the everyday 2nd basemen going forward, as that is where he has been playing in AAA Iowa and the player that was sent down to make room for Russell was Arismendy Alcantara who has been hot and cold in the Majors this year having some at bats where he drives pitches and others where he strikes out pathetically.

Russell unlike Bryant is being called up on an extended road trip and won't see or deal with the very critical Cubs fans for another week.

Other news around the league.
4.14.15 The Yankees and the Braves came to an agreement on a trade.
Yankees get C A.J. Pierzynski
Braves get 1B Greg Bird
Analysis: The Yanks get a catcher in their attempt to win now but the rebuilding Braves are the winner in this trade looking ahead. Bird is the #4 Yankee prospect according to MLB.com and the #3 1st base prospect. Time will tell what happens next.
1 Week Later Update: Pierzynski is 9/47 with 4 RBI's on the season in a backup role to Brian McCann.
Bird was immediately called up to the majors and is 1/12 backing up Freddie Freeman.
At this point both teams look to be losers.


4.20.15 Rangers and Angels came to an agreement.
Rangers get SP Matt Shoemaker
Angels get SP Martin Perez
Analysis: This trade between division rivals seems odd, especially with Shoemaker stepping in as the defacto Ace in Texas with Yu Darvish dealing with an injury. Perez will go to AAA for the Angels but could be called up quickly as they deal with injury issues of their own.



Editors Note: Hadn't noticed that you can see different teams Current Roster Strategy on their Roster page, here is a brief rundown of each team, I will attempt to adjust this once a month so you can see how teams adapt based on their season.

ATL: Rebuilding
FLA: Normal
Wash: Normal
NYM: Normal
PHI: Rebuilding
CHC: Normal
CIN: Normal
MIL: Normal
PIT: Normal
STL: Normal
ARZ: Normal
COL: Normal
LAD: Normal
SD: Normal
SF: Normal
BAL: Normal
BOS: Normal
NYY: Normal
TB: Normal
TOR: Normal
CWS: Normal
CLE: Normal
DET: Normal
KC: Normal
MIN: Rebuilding
LAA: Rebuilding
OAK: Normal
SEA: Normal
TEX: Normal
HOU: Normal