The area around Wrigley Field was declared a “no peddling zone” Wednesday by a federal judge… which means that a two-dollar independent magazine called “Chicago Baseball” will not be permitted for sale as it has been for twenty years…even though vendors sold it on public property.
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Quigley approached a few reporters and noted the game’s start time is 7:08 p.m.in Chicago, which is an hour behind the East Coast.
KERI: You know, it will be interesting to see. The Billy Goat curse is potentially the worst of the six cliches we’ve already mentioned because it could likely be the most shopworn by the end of October. But a better measure of his deft touch is evident in the way he’s moved players in and out and up and down in the line-up and from one position to another (catcher to left field, third base to center to first, etc.) without apparent damage to play or morale.
Comfortable home or away: The Cubs had a one-game difference in their home and road win totals.
The Kansas City Royals were just happy to be invited to the party a year ago, ending a 29-year postseason drought before squeaking through a dramatic wild-card game against the Athletics.
Finally, we have a five-game series to see if the power structure has changed.
Late in the season, as the New York Mets closed in on their NL East championship, one opponent after another sat in the visitors’ dugout at Citi Field and commended manager Terry Collins. Since 1945, this year’s 97 wins has been equaled only once, in 2008, when Sweet Lou Piniella was the manager.
Each year the Cubs are among the baseball’s most-bet teams.
SIEGEL: (Laughter). Now, waiting for either the Cubs or the Pirates – whoever wins that game – are the St. Louis Cardinals who are in the playoffs for what seems to be the 700th season in a row. But his best job of managing came in the first couple months, when the Cubs held their collective heads above water while Maddon learned his team and his young players got their feet wet. “Go out and play, man. You’ve been playing all year”. And they do an excellent job. It’s hard to know if they can pull that off. After seven years, the Cubs are back in the postseason, which is right where Maddon expected them to be when he signed on with the team.
“They’re really, really behind you around here…my (bleeping) (bleep)”.
SIEGEL: Jonah Keri, who covers baseball for Grantland. We hoped that Javy Baez would “make the adjustment’ at the plate that would transform him into an honest-to-God Major League player”.
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Speaking about Epstein, the current Cubs president is often deemed the smartest man in the room, no matter what room he’s in.
