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Today’s Reflections
- Yeah, the Cubs won the first game in LA LA LAND, but that was also the game that they had (barely) the fewest LOB. Over the three games, the Cubs had 25 runners LOB. Twenty-five. That ain’t gonna work from here on out. I probably have — let’s see — not quite, but almost that many crumbs on my shirt.
- But, WOW, was Nico Hoerner fantastic! Probably his most over-looked play was the relay from Seiya Suzuki to nail the runner at third. But the almost-most overlooked play is linked below.
- It seems a wee bit early to not know most of the pitchers in the bullpen, but, hey, it happens every year. Other than September, does it really matter when it happens? It might as well be early and often.
- Oh, I also wanted to point out the Athletic article below by Ryan Dempster (Yeah, I know! He writes pretty well). The article is about the three best MLB leaders he played with in his career. No. 1, took a millisecond, maybe. No. 2, a bit of a surprise, but there’s a lot going on behind the scenes and he’s always highly spoken of. And No. 3 reminded me, oh, yeah, he played on other teams, and I think the player is an excellent selection.
- Enjoy the articles and I’ll see you in a couple of days with a few wins over the Padres in our pocket. P.S. Shaw’s been working his tail off, so I thought I’d give him a shout-out.
- Cody Christie (Diamond Centric): MLB Power Rankings Through A Third-Order Lens. “An updated look at how every MLB team stacks up when context matters as much as results.”
- Thomas Domol (North Side Baseball): Cubs Week in Review: Historic Run Reveals Club’s Muscle, Resolve. “An inspiring 10-game win streak firmly planted the North Siders back in the conversation as one of baseball’s best teams. Their prolific offense has the club rolling, but persistent injuries prove a nagging puzzle to solve.”
- Jordan Bastian (MLB.com): Shaw making impact early as Cubs’ super sub. “Once the trade rumors faded, Shaw still had to solve how he fit into the roster puzzle. Roughly a month into this season, it has become clearer how Shaw is being utilized.”
- Jordan Campbell (Cubbies Crib): Cubs News: Riley Martin injury, Ethan Roberts rehab assignment, Yacksel Ríos. “Ethan Roberts started a minor-league rehab assignment with the Iowa Cubs on Saturday. Roberts will likely have one more outing before being activated. If the Cubs are going to rely on internal depth to get them through this wave of injuries, they will need someone like Yacksel Ríos to become a legitimate option in the bullpen.“
- Ryan Dempster (The Athletic {$}): Ryan Dempster: These are the 3 best MLB leaders I played with in 16 seasons. “I learned a lot about routine from him. (He) understood the different ways the smallest edge could help you win a game. He was always looking for that edge like a master card player: If he found a tell, he would exploit it to his advantage like no other.”
- Gordon Edes (Chicago Sun-Times {$}): Cubs drop finale in measuring-stick series against the Dodgers. “We should have a better idea by early August, when the Dodgers jet to Chicago for three games in Wrigley. But while this late-April exercise gave fans an excuse to contemplate autumn possibilities, the teams parted company knowing nothing certain other than it would do well for them to keep an eye on each other.”
- Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): Are Cubs already starting to run out of pitching? ‘It is a constant source of concern’ “Building a bigger and better pitching staff became the top offseason priority after the Cubs were eliminated from last year’s playoffs. “We need to keep replenishing,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said. “It is a constant source of concern.””
- Maddie Dickens (Chicago Cubs on SI): Moisés Ballesteros Is Making a Case for His First All-Star Selection. “Moisés Ballesteros is putting up silly numbers right now as a clear frontrunner for the NL Rookie of the Year. But he isn’t just outperforming rookies; he is neck and neck with some of the best designated hitters in the game.“
- Randy Holt (North Side Baseball): Defense Wins Games: How the 2026 Cubs Are Proving An Old Sports Adage True. “ The offense has experienced positive regression, and the pitching staff has held together in the wake of an abnormal number of injuries to the bullpen. What we shouldn’t do, however, is underrate the role of defense in this early season turnaround.”
- Michael Cerami (Bleacher Nation): The Dodgers Are Probably Getting Pretty Sick of Nico Hoerner’s Defense. “Last night, Nico Hoerner made (at least) two incredible defensive plays, both of which wound up having a pretty profound impact on the outcome of that contest. They have got to be so sick of Nico Hoerner. And I love that for us.
- Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Cubs’ LOB Woes Doom Them in Losses to Dodgers. “Despite missing three of the game’s top-25 ERA leaders, Chicago hitters were routinely flummoxed by Dodgers pitching. ….. Sunday, the Cubs stranded 12 runners in a game that saw them fail to score despite walking six times and being hit by two pitches.”
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Food For Thought:
- Five experienced blues musicians fan the flames, blowing in gusts on the glowing embers of their shared passion. Under the artistic direction of producer Vincent Beaulne (vocals, guitar, slide guitar), Daniel Bonin (bass), Gilles Schetagne (drums), Laurent Trudel (vocals, guitar, harmonica and banjo) and Dave Turner (alto and baritone saxophones) set the 12-bar chord progressions ablaze with their intense and masterful playing.
- This is blues at its best: original, torrid, vigorous, reaching a fever pitch with their wild rides across the pentatonic scale! “The blues is nothin’ but a good man feelin’ bad”, so speaks the bluesman. But in this case, the syncopated rhythms phrase the languorous laments just as much as the “Happy Blues”, as the one and only BB King used to call them.
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