And I think I’m about to drink an energy drink. Which I never do. But I think I’m gonna.
Ok. I just did it. I’ll meet you on the moon.
A general word on injuries: while it is correct to say that the Cubs are well-positioned – by design – absorb injuries like what happened to Kyle Schwarber, it is not correct to say that people should “relax” about it or “not worry about it.” Even as the Cubs do have options for left field and the lineup, and even if they do not lose significantly more (or any more) games in the near-term because of the injury, it’s far from a totally fine and OK thing. Every injury taps the depth. And then additional injuries keep chipping away at it. That’s why you have quality depth in the first place, because we all know that injuries can and will happen, but it is illogical to say that this is a reason to not worry about the Schwarber injury. Without him, the Cubs are inarguably at least slightly worse. Can they handle his loss better than most teams in baseball? Absolutely. Am I happy about that part? Sure. But I already knew about that part back in February and March. I was already happy about it. The Schwarber injury is the thing today, and it’s completely consistent to, on the one hand, be concerned about the impact of that injury (as well as be concerned about Schwarber, himself), and, on the other hand, take some comfort in knowing the Cubs have quality depth. You don’t have to be one thing or the other.[adinserter block=”1″]
One small impact to consider from the Schwarber injury: a new catcher will now be working with Jason Hammel tonight, on short notice, after Hammel and Schwarber worked together all Spring. Perhaps the overall quality of Miguel Montero and/or David Ross as catchers will offset that issue, but it’s something of a side bummer about the injury.
Setting aside the injury stuff, last night’s game was another incredible demonstration of what this offense is capable of. They’re brutally patient, not for patience’s sake, but because they’re not going to swing at YOUR pitch. That makes pitchers work so hard to get an out, because rarely will a Cubs hitter in this lineup give himself up on a pitcher’s pitch. To be sure, that was a pretty crummy pitching performance across the board last night for the Diamondbacks, but sometimes that’ll happen. And, against a lot of teams, your pitchers can be a little crummy and you’ll still claw out a win. Against these Cubs? I don’t see too many games where I’ll be able to say, “Man, the opposing pitching was so off in this one, and yet the Cubs kept letting them off the hook.”
You might have thought Dexter Fowler’s small sample 317 wRC+ and Anthony Rizzo’s 306 would be good bets for tops in baseball in the early going, but they’re actually 8th and 11th, respectively. The guy on top? Familiar face:
Your humorously small sample early leader in baseball in both OPS (1.833) and wRC+ (439)? This happy new Yankee. pic.twitter.com/PXB6QMHS7K
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.
In the top of the seventh inning of today's 8-3 win over the Miami Marlins, Alexander Canario trotted out to left field in place of Ian Happ. At first, we thought (or maybe just hoped) that Craig Counsell was giving...
And just like that the Chicago Cubs are the first team in the NL Central to reach 12 wins! They're not technically in first place yet because the Brewers (11-6) have played fewer games, but we're talking about a matter...
With a lefty Marlins starter on the mound this afternoon, Nico Hoerner lead off today's game for the Chicago Cubs. And he did it in style, ripping a leadoff double to the left-center field wall, before coming into score a...
*The Cubs were rained out yesterday, but today? Today, we've got a Friday 1:20 start at Wrigley Field, and that means all is right in the world. Before you take a look at the Cubs lineup against Miami, check out...
Happy Friday! Well, for everyone except for the pilots who were supposed to be manning the Colorado Rockies flight last week but instead allowed a member of the Rockies coaching staff to hop in the pilot's seat for a fun...
Justin Steele, arguably the single most irreplaceable player on the Chicago Cubs 2024 roster, went down with a hamstring injury just 4.2 innings into his Opening Day start against the Rangers on March 28. In his place, the Cubs sixth...
If you do this job long enough, it's really wild to see the range of topics that can somehow become attached to sports. That is to say, I did not envision myself at some point writing about flight safety, cockpit...
The Iowa Cubs were rained out, but the rest of the farm was in action, and so was Kevin Alcántara, who picked up four hits and now has seven in his last three games as he breaks out of an...
Well, the rain stole one from us yesterday, which is a blessing and a curse. On the bright side, the bullpen gets an extra day of rest (on top of the day Hayden Wesneski bought them). But on the flip...
The Chicago Cubs are against theft. Of bases: https://twitter.com/codifybaseball/status/1781046629103231339 The Chicago Cubs this year have stolen just three bases, the fewest in all of baseball. Dansby Swanson has stolen two bases, Nick Madrigal has stolen one. That's it. I don't...
In Game 1 of the opening round of the NBA Playoffs, the New York Knicks will go up against the Philadelphia 76ers.In their last time out, the Knicks won on Sunday 120-119 against the Bulls in overtime. The 76ers' last...
The New York Mets (11-8) and Harrison Bader, coming off a four-hit game, are underdogs (+157) on the moneyline and will look to upset the Los Angeles Dodgers (12-10) on Saturday at 4:05 PM ET on WPIX.Los Angeles' Gavin Stone...
The Arizona Diamondbacks (10-11) and Ketel Marte (four hits last time out) are favored (-122) on the moneyline for their matchup with the San Francisco Giants (9-12) on Saturday at 4:05 PM ET on ARID.Arizona's Zac Gallen and San Francisco's...
The Houston Astros (7-14) are favorites (-181) on the moneyline when they take on the Washington Nationals (8-11) Saturday at 4:05 PM ET, live on SCHN.Houston's Ronel Blanco and Washington's Trevor Williams have been named the starters for this contest.Astros...
The Pittsburgh Pirates (11-9) stumble into Saturday's matchup with the Boston Red Sox (11-10) looking to break a four-game losing streak. The contest starts at 4:05 PM ET on SportsNet PT with the Pirates listed as -121 favorites to right...
The Houston Astros (7-14) visit the Washington Nationals (8-11) for an away game at Nationals Park on Saturday. First pitch is at 4:05 PM ET.The Astros will give the nod to Ronel Blanco (2-0, 0.86 ERA), who is eyeing win...
The San Francisco Giants (9-12) play at home against the Arizona Diamondbacks (10-11) at Oracle Park. The game is set to begin at 4:05 PM ET on Saturday.The Diamondbacks will give the ball to Zac Gallen (3-0, 1.64 ERA), who...
The New York Mets (11-8) visit the Los Angeles Dodgers (12-10) on Saturday at 4:05 PM ET and look to build on a five-game winning streak.The Dodgers will give the ball to Gavin Stone (1-1, 3.68 ERA), who is eyeing...
The Pittsburgh Pirates (11-9) look to end a stretch of four losses as they match up against the Boston Red Sox (11-10) on Saturday at 4:05 PM ET.The Pirates will call on Mitch Keller (2-1) versus the Red Sox and...
The Chicago Cubs (12-7) hope to avoid an upset as -205 favorites when they take on Bryan De La Cruz (with homers in two straight contests) and the Miami Marlins (4-16). First pitch is at 2:20 PM ET Saturday, live...
NEWSLETTER
Another night of about four hours sleep, and I am huuuuurrrrrting today. But, no, that’s not why the “morning” Bullets are going up just shy of the afternoon. It’s because there were a bunch of things I wanted to make sure we got out first thing in the morning … and they just piled up! So if you didn’t already see, there’s an update on the Kyle Schwarber injury, there’s a really fun Munenori Kawasaki interview, there’s a look at Anthony Rizzo’s huge game, and the Minor League Daily is back!
