Weekend Catch-Up: Cubs Beat Up on Reds, Happ, Q, Lester, Machado, More

The Cubs took this weekend’s series from the Reds, which was nice to see. It’s been a choppy start to the year, without question, but the Cubs need to beat up on bad teams, at a minimum. This weekend, they did. The headlines, if you missed anything …

Friday, May 18

• Thanks to a rainout, the Cubs are gonna have a hellacious stretch of games late in the year.
• The adjustments – in both directions – for Yu Darvish give me hope.
• With the MLB Draft looming, it’s time to look at four mock drafts.
• The Cubs reportedly have discussed a Manny Machado trade, but he’s not their preferred path to improvement.
• Injuries all around the NL Central, and news from around the league.
• Anthony Rizzo sure has some strange numbers this year.
• The Cubs won big over the Reds to open up their weekend series.

Saturday, May 19

• Heyward’s concussion, Montgomery’s role, and more in the Bullets.
• Jon Lester’s great outing is the version of himself we want to see.
• Addison Russell is on quite a hot streak thanks to whiffing a little more (not a typo).
• MLB Draft takes among Saturday’s Minor League Daily bits.
• The Cubs lost a horrible, horrible game to open the doubleheader against the Reds.
• Tempers flared and benches cleared in that one.
• The Cubs blew the Reds out in the second game, which included Ian Happ homering again.

Sunday, May 20

• The Smokies are getting back into contention, and another couple great pitching performances down on the farm.
• Joe Maddon didn’t mince words about the ugly first loss the day before.
• At least Ian Happ and Jose Quintana had awesome games.
• Kyle Schwarber and Javy Baez went back-to-back, Baez made an incredible play, and Schwarber was ejected.
• And, in the end, the Cubs pulled off the win and took the series from the Reds. Quite a day.