Its a celebratory Wednesday at BCB After Dark: the coolest club for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad.
Please excuse the mess. We still haven’t taken all the plastic down. The floor might be a bit messy. It stinks of beer in here. But you’re welcome to come in. There’s no cover charge. We still have a few tables available. Bring your own beverage, as everything we have has been sprayed on people.BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything
else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.
The Cubs beat the Pirates today 8-4 to clinch their first playoff spot since 2020 and their first in a full season since 2018. Some have argued that the Cubs shouldn’t have celebrated clinching a playoff spot, saying they should save that for division titles, playoff wins or at least clinching home field. But I say . . . Hit it, Judy!
Last night I asked you who you thought was the Cubs MVP for the 2025 season. It was a runaway with 52 percent of you saying that second baseman Nico Hoerner was the most valuable player on the Cubs this year. Center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong was second with 15 percent and rookie Cade Horton was third with 12 percent.
Here’s the part with the jazz and the movies. You’re always free to skip that.
Tonight we have vocalist Samara Joy at the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands a few months ago. Here she performs three songs—“Beware My Heart”,“Left Alone” and “No More Blues.”
I’m feeling better, but I still have a slight fever, a slight sore thought and a slight cough. So I’m still banished to the spare bedroom in my house when anyone else is home. At least there’s a TV there and a library of books.
The second bracket of our planned science fiction tournament is planned to cover the years 1961 to 1976. Science fiction got very dark and dystopian in this period, and most of the films here reflect that. We’ve also got a lot of foreign films in this period.
There are four films that I think must be included in any bracket from those years:
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Solaris (1972)
La Jetée (1962)
I feel pretty strongly about La Jetée. First, it’s a terrific film, although the title credits technically call it a “Photo Novel.” Second, it’s under a half an hour long and that means most of you can watch it in your spare time. And finally, the film 12 Monkeys (1995) is a semi-remake of it and if that film makes our final bracket, it would make an interesting comparison.
Two films I’m highly likely to include but maybe I can be talked out of:
Alphaville (1965)
Fantastic Planet (1973)
That’s six films which leaves us with, at most, two more slots. Among those I’m considering for those final two slots are:
The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
The Andromeda Strain (1971)
Logan’s Run (1976)
THX 1138 (1971)
Westworld (1973)
Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
Rollerball (1975)
The Day of the Triffids (1963)
As much as I love François Truffaut, I’m leaning against Fahrenheit 451. It’s more of an interesting movie than a good one in my mind, and it’s definitely not among his best works. (He’s directing a film in English and he didn’t speak English is one problem with it.) And doing some checking, it’s not the easiest film to get ahold of. You can’t rent it anywhere, although the Blu-Rays are cheap to buy online.
A Clockwork Orange—do we already have Stanley Kubrick covered with 2001? Of course, we have several John Ford films in the Western tournament. Logan’s Run was a big deal when it came out, but it has always struck me as rather silly. On the other hand, it’s not the only film on this list you could say that about.
I haven’t seen The Andromeda Strain, The Day of the Triffids or THX 1138, so I can’t comment on their quality. I’d have to watch them if I included them. But I generally try to watch all the films again in these tournaments anyway.
So tonight I’m asking for your input on these films, whether or not they should be included. Also, if you’ve got one from this time period that I’ve missed, I want to hear about it. I’ve got four definites and two strong probables, so there are only one or two more spots.
Welcome back to everyone who skips the music and movies.
Tonight I’m going back to a topic that Craig Counsell, Jed Hoyer and the rest of the front office is going to have to address in the next ten days: In what order should the Cubs three top starters pitch in the Wild Card Series?
It seems almost certain that the Cubs are going to play the Padres in the Wild Card round. The Brewers magic number to clinch the division title is six with ten games to play. Could the Cubs catch them? Not likely. With the Padres win over the Mets tonight, their magic number to clinch the WC2 spot is the same six with ten games left. Again, possible, but not likely, especially since San Diego clinched the season series with the Mets with tonight’s win.
With this Cubs large lead over the Padres and their large deficit to the Brewers, they certainly have room to set up their rotation as they want. So how do you want?
So what is the best order to attack the Padres? It’s clear that the best three Cubs starters this year have been Cade Horton, Shōta Imanaga and Matthew Boyd. You can argue that Taillon has been better than Boyd lately, but 1) that’s a small sample size and 2) Taillon missed almost three weeks with an injury, after earlier missing six weeks with an injury.
The other reason to start Boyd over Taillon is that the Padres hit right-handed pitching better than lefties. As a team, the Padres have a .724 OPS against right-handed pitching, good for 15th in the majors. Against southpaws, the Padres OPS drops to .682, or 19th in the majors.
So do you want to break up the two left-handers and got Imanaga, Horton, Boyd? Or maybe you want to save Imanaga for a possible win-or-go-home Game 3 (which would set him up to start Game One against the Brewers should the Cubs sweep). Or do you go with the Cubs best pitcher, Cade Horton, in Game One? That’s a lot of pressure to put on a rookie to start Game One. On the other hand, should the Cubs lose Game One, that’s even more pressure to put on a rookie in Games Two or Three.
Or maybe you just want to hit the Padres with two lefties off the bat?
I’m going to give you every possibility of Boyd, Horton and Imanaga to choose from, plus one “Wild Card” possibility of Horton, Imanaga and Taillon, which would replace Boyd with Taillon for game three. If you really feel that the Cubs should go Imanaga, Horton, Taillon, just vote for the one version with Taillon. Imanaga would have to go in Game One or Two because it would be malpractice to get eliminated from the Wild Card without getting a start out of a left-hander against the Padres.
Thank you for stopping by. It’s been a great week. Get home safely. If you’ve been partying too hard, let us call you a ride. Don’t forget anything at your table. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again next time for more BCB After Dark.
