The Big 3s of the big 3

Cubs/Brewers/Cardinals
Player         Team  Pos  G    AB    R    H   2B  3B  HR  RBI  BB   SO  SB  CS  AVG    OBP   SLG
Baez, J        CHC   SS   53   218   37   67  17   1  13  34   15   75   2   2  .307  .350  .573
Rizzo, A       CHC   1B   50   190   36   55  10   1  15  42   26   32   2   1  .289  .404  .589
Bryant, K      CHC   3B   51   191   43   54  15   1  13  35   33   39   1   0  .283  .403  .576
Cain, L        MIL   CF   53   224   34   59  18   0   4  24   16   39   5   3  .263  .317  .397
Yelich, C      MIL   RF   50   179   44   56   7   1  21  45   34   38  10   1  .313  .427  .715
Moustakas, M   MIL   2B   51   201   34   54  13   0  15  36   17   44   3   0  .269  .332  .557
DeJong, P      STL   SS   55   204   41   58  17   1   8  26   29   41   4   0  .284  .385  .495
Goldschmidt, P STL   1B   55   211   36   58   4   0  11  26   29   64   0   1  .275  .365  .450
Molina, Y      STL   C    50   189   18   50  13   0   4  33    7   17   4   0  .265  .294  .397

The Cardinals top players are simply not keeping up with the Cubs and Brewers. We will see how the Cardinals fare against the Cubs this weekend. The Cardinals need wins badly.

CENTRAL
            W     L     %     GB
Chi Cubs    31    23   .574   -
Milwaukee   32    25   .561   0.5
St. Louis   27    28   .491   4.5
Pittsburgh  27    28   .491   4.5
Cincinnati  26    30   .464   6.0

ISU and UofI in NCAA championship baseball!

Illinois State University #3 (34-24) and University of Illinois #2 (36-19) has made it to the NCAA College World Series field of 64!

The 2019 College World Series begins June 15 and runs through June 25/26, and it'll be back at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska — marking the 70th straight year the city has hosted the event.

The CWS consists of two double elimination brackets. The winners of each faces off in a best-of-three finals series.

In the first round, ISU will face #2 Indiana (36-21) and UoI will face #3 Clemson (34-24)

Larry Jackson (Cardinal/Cubbie) collection

Why I collect Larry Jackson cards:

Silly reasons.
- He played with the Cardinals and the Cubs.
- His card years are in scope with what I collect.
- His cards don't cost an arm and a leg like other good players. This is because most have forgotten him and he is not a HoFer.

Legit Reasons:
- He was popular and a good player. Larry is a 5 time All-Star
- His adjusted earned run average (ERA+) is better than that of a dozen Hall of Famers, including Nolan Ryan.
- He was a game wins league leader in 1964 with Cubs with 24 wins
- He was also a runner up to Cy Young award in 1964
- 1709 carrer strikeouts
- Four top 10 WHIPs years
- - 1957 NL 1.203 (7th)
- - 1960 NL 1.230 (10th)
- - 1961 NL 1.227 (5th)
- - 1964 NL 1.085 (6th)
- He had 149 complete games with 37 shutouts being 1st place in 1966 with 5 shutouts.
- Larry started 38 games in 1960, so he was considered a durable work horse pitcher.

My modest collection:

Year	Brand	Series	Card Number	Name	Team	Photo
1959	Topps	Standard	399	Larry Jackson	Stl Cardinals	photo link
1963	Topps	Standard	095	Larry Jackson	Chi Cubs	photo link
1964	Topps	Standard	444	Larry Jackson	Chi Cubs	photo link
1965	Topps	Standard	010	Larry Jackson	Chi Cubs	photo link
1965	Topps	Standard	420	Larry Jackson	Chi Cubs	photo link
1968	Topps	Standard	081	Larry Jackson	Phi Phillies	photo link

Cub's Hitting

Cubs hitting as of May 15th - 40 games in (25 wins - 15 losses):

RK  Player         Pos   G   AB   R   H  2B  3B  HR  XBH  RBI  BB  SB  AVG   OBP    
1   Baez, J         2B  40  171  31  55  14   1  11   26   29  10   2  .322  .357   
2   Bryant, K       3B  39  146  32  39  12   1   8   21   26  28   1  .267  .400   
3   Contreras, W     C  37  119  23  36   6   0  10   16   25  18   1  .303  .410   
4   Rizzo, A        1B  37  139  25  35   7   1  10   18   29  21   1  .252  .379   
5   Heyward, J      RF  38  133  18  32   2   2   6   10   18  21   4  .241  .344   

6   Almora Jr., A   CF  38  114  15  29   5   0   3    8   11   5   2  .254  .292     
7   Bote, D         3B  37  109  16  26   7   0   3   10   16  13   0  .239  .328     
8   Schwarber, K    LF  36  116  13  26   4   0   5    9   11  20   0  .224  .341     
9   Descalso, D     2B  36   95  15  22   5   0   2    7   12  11   1  .232  .308     
10  Zobrist, B      2B  26   83  12  20   1   0   0    1   10  14   0  .241  .343     

11  Caratini, V      C   6   14   4   8   3   0   1    4    5   3   0  .571  .647   
12  Zagunis, M      RF  23   30   2   7   3   0   0    3    4   4   0  .233  .324   
13  Hendricks, K     P   8   19   1   4   1   0   0    1    2   1   0  .211  .250  
14  Davis, T         C   6   15   2   3   0   0   1    1    4   2   0  .200  .294  
15  Russell, A      SS   6   12   2   3   1   0   1    2    2   2   0  .250  .357   

16  Lester, J        P   6    8   1   2   1   0   0    1    2   2   0  .250  .400   
17  Chatwood, T      P   9    4   1   1   1   0   0    1    0   0   0  .250  .250   
18  Darvish, Y       P   8   15   0   1   0   0   0    0    0   0   0  .067  .067   
19  Quintana, J      P   7   15   1   1   0   0   0    0    0   0   0  .067  .067  

The big 5 continue to be the big 5. Baez is on track for a 200+ hits, 100+ RBI, and 30+ HR year. Between Bryant's turn around in hitting and Rizzo missing games, Bryant has climbed to second. In fact, Bryant has made a big come back and may be able to save his year. Schwarber continues to struggle overall, while Almora has found his way out of his slump. With Zorbist missing so much time, and Russell coming in after missing so much time; I expect the two to switch places in a couple weeks. I also expect Darvish to fall back into last.

Here are the Cubs' stats 21 games in:

   Player           G  AB   R   H  2B  3B  HR  XBH RBI  BB  SO   AVG   OBP
1  Baez, J         21  89  19  28   6   1   7   14  18   5  27  .315  .351 
2  Heyward, J      19  59  14  20   1   0   4    5  11  14   9  .339  .461 
3  Contreras, W    20  59  14  19   5   0   6   11  16  12  19  .322  .467 
4  Bryant, K       20  77  13  17   7   0   1    8   8  11  19  .221  .341 
5  Descalso, D     18  55   9  17   5   0   1    6  10   7  13  .309  .387  

6  Rizzo, A        21  75  15  15   2   1   4    7  13  14  16  .200  .362 
7  Zobrist, B      18  60   7  15   0   0   0    0   5   9   9  .250  .343 
8  Bote, D         19  44   7  13   4   0   1    5   9   5  10  .295  .380 
9  Schwarber, K    18  66   8  13   1   0   3    4   6   6  21  .197  .264 
10  Almora Jr., A  20  52   4  10   0   0   0    0   4   5   9  .192  .263 

11  Caratini, V     6  14   4   8   3   0   1    4   5   3   4  .571  .647 
12  Zagunis, M     12  23   1   7   3   0   0    3   4   0   8  .304  .304  

Cubs Leaders 5/3/2019

Interesting Fact: Javier Baez and Sammy Sosa are the only two Cubs in the history of the franchise to have 20+ RBI going into May.

Runs                 Wins
Baez      25         Brach     3
Rizzo     21         Hamels    3
Contreras 19         Quintana  3
                     Darvish   2
Hits                 Hendricks 2
Baez      39         Lester    2
Heyward   28         Chatwood  1
Rizzo     27         Strop     1

Doubles              ERA
Bryant    10         Lester    1.73
Baez       9         Chatwood  2.51
Bote       6         Kintzler  2.60

Triples              Strike Outs
Baez       1         Quintana  38
Rizzo      1         Hamels    37
                     Darvish   33

Home Runs            WHIP
Baez      10         Kintzler  0.66
Contreras  8         Strop     0.83
Rizzo      8         Lester    0.96

RBIs 
Baez      25
Rizzo     23
Contreras 19

The clear batting leaders for the Cubs are Baez and Rizzo. Not a clear cut leader for Cubs pitching staff yet.