Lester Great Again, Cubs Feeling Sexy, Changes to the Game, and Other Bullets

Congratulations to Michael today as he marries a wonderful woman, and I’m really excited to get to watch. Owing to the timing of the wedding and reception, you can presume that coverage of the game will be spotty tonight, at best.

  • Jon Lester just continues to put together good start after good start, allowing just a couple solo homers last night over his six innings of work, and Joe Maddon offered high praise (Cubs.com): “That might be the best stuff he’s had all year, from my angle. You can see the hitters’ reaction to the pitch – it was there, the velocity was there. He just continues to trend in the right direction.” A happy note on the velocity front: Lester, who has been working through depressed velocity for the second straight season (it’s normal and natural, and he can still succeed) actually hit 94.4 mph at one point last night. Clearly he was feeling good.
  • Lester’s 2.28 ERA is fifth best in the NL, and is nearly 20 points lower than in his Cy Young finalist season two years ago.
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    (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)

  • In their preceding seven games, the Cubs had homered just twice. Last night, they homered three times.
  • I’m not sure how this works in conjunction with a lack of tight butts, but the Cubs are feeling sexy:
  • I am with Michael on all of these, with only one possible exception:
  • So, I’m 100% with him on all but the more teams in the playoffs. I have concerns about diluting the special-ness of the regular season race to the playoffs (i.e., does anyone even give a rip about the NBA regular season?), but at the same time, I do think it would probably help address tanking, and would also probably be a logistical requirement of expansion and re-alignment. So, then, whether I want expanded playoffs or not, specifically, if I want the other stuff, I think I have to want the expanded playoffs. Thus, I’m actually on board 100% with Michael’s thoughts.
  • All-Star caps are out, and it’s an especially good look for the Cubs, in my opinion (I always liked the Expos look):
  • Please trade for extra IFA pool space, Cubs:
  • Since the Cubs have one of the smaller IFA pools as it is, and already are eh hem connected to several top prospects in the upcoming class, my guess is they don’t currently have anywhere close to enough money available to sign Mesa. So, unless you see them soon dealing for extra pool space, you can count them out on one of the best international prospects in years.
  • The plight of a modern Cardinals fan. I have some sympathy, but I also have lots of smiles:
  • Kyle Schwarber, excellent shoe-tier:
  • Jorge Soler had already cooled a bit from his surging hot start with the Royals (finally), and now he has a broken foot. That guy. So much physical talent that might never be realized.
  • Swiss army knives, a moon light, and much more are your Deals of the Day at Amazon. Also, the Nike/Under Armour sale at the MLB Shop ends tonight, so here’s the Cubs stuff.
  • And for you Bears fans, these things are awesome:
  • 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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