Winning It All With Back-Ups, Hendricks’ Excellence, Super Bowl Fun, and Other Bullets

February 5, 2018, by Brett Taylor Chicago Cubs

That was a perfectly enjoyable Super Bowl. I know that most non-Patriots fans were mostly just glad to see them lose (personally, I kinda like seeing the greatest do great things, so I wanted to see Tom Brady pull off another comeback), but it was also cool to see Philadelphia get a championship (those fans are nuts), and to see a back-up quarterback (Nick Foles) take the reins from an MVP-caliber player (Carson Wentz) and perform so well throughout the playoffs. Given the disproportionate importance of the QB in football, and the historically great QB on the other side, it was especially incredible to see.

Baseball wouldn’t really have an exact equivalent of that, since you’ve got four or five starting pitchers going in the postseason anyway, and then eight-plus positional players. I guess if I had to come up with a near equivalent, it would kinda be like the Cubs losing Jose Quintana, Jon Lester, and Kyle Hendricks in one fell swoop in September (bite your tongue), and then Mike Montgomery, Eddie Butler, and Jen-Ho Tseng blitzing through the postseason. IT COULD HAPPEN!

… also, that reminds me: the Cubs could really stand to sign another pitcher.

Kyle Hendricks, man. Just look at how the pitches look exactly the same for so long, and then look at where they end up:

Kyle Hendricks, Tunnels. pic.twitter.com/rsf6Zo5rlb

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) February 3, 2018

Speaking of Hendricks, he snuck into MLB Network’s top ten starting pitchers right now, there at the number 10 spot. I think it’s fair to have him in that conversation, given how consistently good he’s been the last three years, but I also think I’d probably have Jose Quintana just ahead of him right now. Here’s the rest of the top ten for your FIGHT-FIGHT-FIGHT:

1. Clayton Kershaw
2. Corey Kluber
3. Chris Sale
4. Max Scherzer
5. Stephen Strasburg
6. Madison Bumgarner
7. Noah Syndergaard
8. Carlos Carrasco
9. Justin Verlander
10. Kyle Hendricks

Who has the most “swag” on the Cubs? You know who:

Who has the most SWAG on the #Cubs?
Kelly Crull has more on "The King of Swag" here: https://t.co/PN6UJQgu1v pic.twitter.com/JlI2IAcUJV

— NBC Sports Chicago (@NBCSChicago) February 4, 2018

This is undoubtedly true, but teams will still be looking to pick up wins wherever they can in free agency (and older players can still help, obviously), and also, it will be used as reason number one why players fight hard for shorter service time requirements for free agency in the next CBA:

#BlueJays GM Ross Atkins "when you're talking about free agency you're talking about aging players and the trend of overpaying a player's aging curves has come to an end across baseball"

— Pitch Talks (@PitchTalks) February 2, 2018

Flipping through the “faces” of each of the 30 franchises, and wondering which team has already had its face, and which team currently has him. For the Cubs, I think the current “face” – if you have to pick just one guy – is Ernie Banks. He is, after all, “Mr. Cub.” But is it possible in 10+ years we’re talking about Anthony Rizzo or Kris Bryant? Sure. It’s *possible*.
Welp, the chase is over:

https://twitter.com/faridyu/status/960354508034502656

This is actually says so much:

The early nineties were the best pic.twitter.com/PDxUnxIYvl

— Patrick Dubuque (@euqubud) February 4, 2018

This also says so much:

I am as stoked about another year for Bartolo as anyone, but this being at the top on Yahoo's MLB page pretty much sums up the state of things. pic.twitter.com/4JRXaznPJg

— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) February 5, 2018

If you missed any of the headlines this weekend, make sure you catch yourself up here.
Hands down, the best ad during the Super Bowl was an NFL ad:

NFL and the Giants freaking crushed it with this one. pic.twitter.com/KvmjpyHtbO

— The Ten-Yard Line (@TheTenYardLine) February 5, 2018

The Cubs didn’t have a Super Bowl ad, but I imagine this is what it would have been:

*Cubs Super Bowl Commercial*
[Kris Bryant walks in, smiling, generally fit and handsome, donning Cubs cap]
KB: Hey Anthony. Are you ready to hit some baseballs far?
[camera pans to reveal Anthony Rizzo, covered in blood, having clearly just removed Ryan Braun's arm]
AR: Yes.

— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) February 5, 2018