Congratulations to BN’er Roy, who was the winner of the signed Anthony Rizzo bat in the Opening Day contest (he is very excited, which hopefully soothes your sadness at not winning, yourself). Hopefully when he receives the bat, he can send a picture.
Also congratulations to Bob, Jared, and Jeff for finishing at the top of the standings among BN’ers (still waiting to hear back from the two others in the top five), and they’ve won a BN shirt. Outside of how horribly, horribly awful my team did, this contest was a lot of fun, and I appreciate folks playing (and appreciate folks who didn’t play putting up with the posts).
With yesterday’s postponed game, the Cubs have reshuffled the rotation a bit. Jake Arrieta still goes today, and Travis Wood still goes on Friday. That means Jason Hammel is getting bumped back to Saturday, and Kyle Hendricks is bumped back to Sunday. Jon Lester will get an extra day of rest, then, and will start again on Monday.
The Cubs’ 28.63 average age is the 6th lowest in baseball (Cubs.com). The youngest team, the Rangers, is at 27.92, so there’s not a huge spread there.
The Cubs picked up their new potties yesterday – 74 of them – in a deal that looks like it will involve only cash (no players). They’ll be placed outside of Gate K on Waveland, and on the left field side of the main concourse. Bathroom problems plagued well-hydrated fans on Opening Night, especially early in the game.
Gordon Wittenmyer writes about the eventual coming of Kris Bryant – and the relationship to yesterday’s cancellation – and the discomfort of the last couple weeks.
And Patrick Mooney on the pressure Mike Olt is or isn’t feeling with Bryant looming. Great quotes from Joe Maddon in that one about how he works with the players on the 25-man roster whom you might otherwise think of as transient or temporary.
It is impossible to care deeply about the game of baseball – actually watching and enjoying it – and simultaneously obsess over statistics that help you process and understand the game. Apparently.
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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