Nastiest Sliders, Darvish, More Wedding Fun, Cuba Deal, and Other Bullets

So, Alabama and Clemson again, eh? Shrug. I wouldn’t really care either way, but are people excited to see repeat match-ups in college football, or is that kinda boring?

• Before you watch these devastating sliders, can you guess which four Cubs pitchers make an appearance, and which pitcher appears twice? Had I been given that question before watching, I think I would have gotten three of the four, but I would have missed on the guy who appears twice:

https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/status/1079003260307062785

https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/status/1079367929651699712

• Dillon Maples is an obvious one, and I think he could have been on there more than once. But he wasn’t. Pedro Strop is also an obvious one, because he’s got one of the most productive sliders in baseball. I didn’t think about Steve Cishek, which was a whoops on my part. And then there’s Yu Darvish, who showed up twice in the first video. You didn’t forget about his nasty slider, right? Remember that whole discussion early in the year? He was definitely losing something on it, which in hindsight was probably health-related, but it would still sometimes make guys look silly.
• Man … please be healthy and effective in 2019, Yu. My dude can be so, so much fun to watch (in addition to, you know, helping the Cubs win games).
• The Cubs’ most valuable sliders in 2018 were, in order: Cishek, Strop, Randy Rosario, Luke Farrell, Justin Hancock, Anthony Bass, Alec Mills, Brandon Kintzler, and James Norwood (everyone after that either has negative value or doesn’t throw a slider). So that’s … um … a thing.
• Fun from the Rizzo Wedding last night:

https://twitter.com/Melissybk/status/1079262695944261633

It was only a matter time #ShirtlessTravisWood pic.twitter.com/s34Ou3oxeE

— Temporary Saints Fan ⚜️ (@Melissybk) December 30, 2018

• God bless NBC Sports Chicago for popping these highlights each day:

Bote. Rizzo.

What was your reaction when they went back-to-back for a Wrigley Walk-Off? pic.twitter.com/3Ch3sWcMDh

— Cubs Talk (@NBCSCubs) December 29, 2018

• How can you ever get enough of Sahadev Sharma? Here he is on MLBN talking about the Cubs’ offseason:

• The political machine is taking aim at MLB’s deal to protect Cuban players and push back against dangerous human trafficking. Nationals closer Sean Doolittle is having none of it:

This is really dangerous and irresponsible. The deal we have with Cuba isn’t perfect but it’s a big step in the right direction because players no longer have to flee Cuba in dangerous ways to come to the US and face exile from their homeland.https://t.co/DlCmkStrK3

— Sean Doolittle (@whatwouldDOOdo) December 29, 2018

mlb & mlbpa will need to continue to work with Cuba to make sure it’s working in the players’ best interest. BUT for now, it will all but end human trafficking, allowing players the freedom to leave and return to cuba to without facing retribution. It shouldn’t be scrapped.

— Sean Doolittle (@whatwouldDOOdo) December 29, 2018

• Was #FlyTheW still being used in the 2017 postseason? I feel like it was not, but maybe I’m misremembering. Anyway, hooray random cheap stuff:

Clearance time at Fanatics is fun because you can find extremely random (but cool) gear you never saw before for like seven bucks: https://t.co/UGxUD1xhkM pic.twitter.com/ZKPgKmsdX4

— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) December 30, 2018

• The Bears have a chance to land a first round bye today if they beat the Vikings and the Rams lose to the 49ers (not likely), so we’ll see what happens. What a freaking regular season either way.