Catching Up in the Standings, Heyward’s Heat, Good TV Sign, and Other Bullets

Jun 13, 2019

The best version of ‘Landslide’ is the Smashing Pumpkins version. Sorry if this offends.

A 3-4 road trip through Colorado and Los Angeles never would have been a bad outcome, and by salvaging the final game of the series against the Rockies, the Cubs have left open a very realistic chance at that 3-4 road trip if they can split with the Dodgers. That may sound like a low bar, but the Dodgers are the best team in the NL, playing at home, and the Cubs are going West. It’s just one of those stretches where you take a near .500-ish record and be happy about it.

… but hey, if the Cubs want to win the series and thus have a winning road trip? That’d be lovely, too.

It took more than two and a half months, but after tonight’s game against the Dodgers, the Cubs will have *FINALLY* played the same number of games as the Brewers (and thus will have the same number of scheduled off-days going forward). It’s been such a wonky early schedule because the rainouts MLB was clearly anticipating didn’t actually happen. The back-end of the schedule is still brutal for the Cubs, but at least the volume of games from here on out is equal.

Also, if the Cubs can win tonight, they’ll be fully and completely tied with the Brewers atop the standings:

NL Central standings check, with the Cubs finally pulling even with the Brewers in games played tonight (and hopefully in record, too). Reds finally not in last place. pic.twitter.com/8HyVbafR4d
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) June 13, 2019

Still can’t get enough of Javy Baez enjoying every second of his homer after Anthony Rizzo got plunked:

Proper punctuation.#EverybodyIn @budweiserusa pic.twitter.com/bFiMXNEDZB

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) June 13, 2019

Jason Heyward is back into a nice hot stretch, hitting .311/.407/.500 (137 wRC+) since May 19. The best part is that there really isn’t anything obviously flukey in there aside from a slightly inflated HR/FB rate. The walk and strikeout rates look very good and sustainable, the BABIP is high but not crazy high, and he’s making a ton of hard contact in the air, while keeping down the ground balls and the soft contact.

(Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

A good sign on the Cubs’ TV network carriage front, as its partner in Marquee, Sinclair Broadcasting, has already nailed down a carriage deal for the FOX RSNs it bought from Disney:

Charter agrees to a deal in principle to keep carrying the Fox-branded RSNs. The SBJ Media newsletter is out: https://t.co/RVLJHYXHKx pic.twitter.com/puCO9AKjsL
— John Ourand (@Ourand_SBJ) June 13, 2019

Although they aren’t precisely the same thing, and Marquee is going to be more expensive than most, it’s probably a good sign that Sinclair is getting carriage deals already for the FOX RSNs, and suggests the process could be smooth for the Cubs’ TV network, too.

Happy 34th birthday to Pedro Strop:

Birthday hats to the left!

Happy birthday, @pstrop46! #EverybodyIn pic.twitter.com/3Jyahy76eU

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) June 13, 2019

Our latest podcast episode over at The Athletic:

🎙 Today on Onto Waveland → @PJ_Mooney and @Brett_A_Taylor talk about the latest with the Cubs.

⚾️ Wild ending in Colorado
⚾️ Teammates almost getting injured??

Listen: https://t.co/RG8xfwIrvx

— The Athletic Chicago (@TheAthleticCHI) June 13, 2019

How nice that Cardinals fans had something to cheer:

The St. Louis Blues are Stanley Cup Champions! #TeamSTL #WeAllBleedBlue pic.twitter.com/lkZ9QVvIhg

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) June 13, 2019

Our friends at Obvious Shirts came up with a new one for folks who want to show support for Joe Maddon:

NOW AVAILABLE! Joe Maddon has been the greatest manager in #Cubs history, & if you’ve got some thoughts on his future, now you can say it in with our shirt. Proceeds donated to Joe’s @Maddonrespect90 Foundation.
https://t.co/y7ahYpqWfm pic.twitter.com/nCjHKLgHdT
— OBVIOUS SHIRTS (@obvious_shirts) June 13, 2019

That sounds good to me if the development keeps coming:

Mitch Trubisky Wants to Be a Bear For Life https://t.co/8waQFKVF6t pic.twitter.com/KI4dUY67m0

— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) June 12, 2019

It’s, um, challenging to discern exactly what the Bulls front office views as an appropriate strategy:

Hmm: Bulls Believed to Be Open to Trading Almost Anyone https://t.co/8Rt0FcWB7p pic.twitter.com/Um0b1c6WzD

— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) June 12, 2019

Sodastream, picture scanner, massage devices, and more are your Deals of the Day at Amazon.

written by

Brett Taylor

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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