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.
  • 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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