The rains came and washed away Saturday soccer, so the kiddos are going to have to make due with playing inside today after being teased by great weather the past week, when we had them running around outside like maniacs every day. Maybe it’ll still clear up a bit this afternoon.

• The Cubs’ rotation continued its absurd streak of success with Kyle Hendricks’ beautiful outing yesterday. It coincided with Jon Lester getting hurt, and although I tend to think it’s more about the talented arms in the rotation and the teams they were facing, I’ll never dump on a catcher who sees a nice narrative arc:

The Cubs' rotation has a 1.56 ERA in 8 games (52 IP) since Jon Lester got hurt.

Willson Contreras: "I think that got into their minds, like, 'Our biggest guy, Lester, went out. We have to take his spot.' Even when he comes back, I hope they keep the same mentality out there."

— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) April 20, 2019

• It’ll take Yu Darvish today to keep the good streak going (think he could be the fourth straight 7.0+ inning scoreless start?), and here’s a wonderful bit of humanity:

https://twitter.com/InfieldChatter/status/1119239226250235904

• Oh, and about the scoreless streak for the starters – it wasn’t just the starters:

Cubs' shutout streak ends at 31 innings. Per STATS, was longest run for Chicago since a 31-inning run from July 4-8, 1976.

— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) April 19, 2019

• Wow. I had no idea it was THAT strong of a streak. Way to go, Brad Brach. (His three hits allowed in the 9th inning yesterday ended the scoreless streak.)
• Oh, and one more wow:

#Cubs already have more 10+ strikeout performances by pitchers this season (2 – Hendricks today and Quintana's 11 on April 11) than they did last season (1 – Quintana's 10 on June 6)

— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) April 19, 2019

• It was a scary moment quickly forgotten in the game, and hopefully we never hear about it again:

Hendricks said the 110mph liner got him on the top of the left foot, but surprisingly, it doesn't hurt much and he's moving OK.

— Tony Andracki (@TonyAndracki23) April 19, 2019

• Joe Maddon isn’t ready to say just what Addison Russell’s role will look like when he returns from his domestic violence suspension, or whether he’ll need additional at bats in the minors before returning (Cubs.com). There are still a couple weeks before those decisions will have to be made. He did say this, though: “The guys have been great. They’ve been great. But again, Addison being well, he’s still one of the best shortstops in the game.”
• I don’t really have anything for this, but the picture was too … good? delicate? precious? captionable? to not share:

• The Brewers lost late to the Dodgers last night, as Kiké Hernandez did something off of Josh Hader that no one has ever done:

.@kikehndez hit the first 0-2 homer EVER off Josh Hader.

Opponents were 4-81 AB (.049 AVG) with 62 Ks. pic.twitter.com/Ls0YaUBCmL

— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) April 20, 2019

• Even Hader can miss his spot badly on pitch 34, it seems. Also, not so sure about this headline …

https://twitter.com/BleacherNation/status/1119579204625022978

• The Cardinals also lost yesterday, so, paired with the Cubs win, here’s what the middle of the NL Central looks like right now, which is pretty crazy when you consider how things started:

• This guy is just going to keep teasing us:

Maples struck out 3, showing the whole SL-FB-CV mix. That included Josh Thole, LHH, on three pitches: all fastballs. Not sure I can recall Maples getting an all-FB K during this three year run.

Ever so tantalizing.

— Cubs Prospects – Bryan Smith (@cubprospects) April 20, 2019

• Charging gear, fancy sheets, and more are your Deals of the Day at Amazon today.
• Confidence:

If the Schedule and Trubisky Are the Bears’ Biggest Concerns, We’re Not Worried https://t.co/jzcNekMGw5 pic.twitter.com/ES6EEcYIx2

— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) April 18, 2019