The Cubs Have Miraculously Caught the Pirates and Other Bullets

The team’s win last night, combined with Pittsburgh’s loss, means the Cubs are now tied with the Pirates for fourth place in the NL Central. You’ll forgive me if I don’t share Mike Quade’s enthusiasm for the feat.

  • About the Brewers’ series, Quade offered another pearl in a seemingly endless string of completely oblivious ridiculousness. “A little bit different than [playing] Houston,” he said. “There won’t be a ‘kids day’ against these guys.” Yeah. Playing the “kids” against a division-leading team that has a 0.00001% chance of missing the playoffs would be totally inappropriate. You’ve saved the Cubs, Mike!
  • Jon Heyman says the Cubs are the second most likely team to land Prince Fielder, but I don’t put much stock in it. See if you can figure out where Heyman goes wrong: “It’s hard to say what they might try considering they don’t have a GM yet (and aren’t likely to hire one this month). But with Carlos Peña a free agent, they would appear to have an opening. They could also take a poke at the NL Central-rival Brewers by stealing their biggest star and set themselves up for three-fourths of a superb under-30 infield, with also 21-year-old shortstop Starlin Castro and 25-year-old second baseman Darwin Barney.”
  • Marlon Byrd wants to stay in Chicago, and reflects on a season punctuated by a mid-season broken face.
  • As noted in yesterday’s call-up post, the Tennessee Smokies (Cubs’ AA affiliate) lost in the Southern League Championship Series, marking the end of their otherwise successful season.
  • The Red Eye’s Chris Sosa wistfully imagines Ozzie Guillen managing on the North Side.
  • Movie Night at Wrigley Field will start October 1 with a screening of ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,’ which is, of course, appropriate. Tickets range from $10 (bleachers) up to $75 (VIP lawn with food and drink).
  • written by

    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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