The Missing Sauce, What Else to Say, Castellanos Doubles, Thompson Shines, and Other Cubs Bullets

The Wife signed me up for a couple try-this-out meditation/yoga/etc. type classes this morning, which feels wholly appropriate given where things are with the Cubs. Perhaps I will be very zen for this afternoon’s game, regardless of the outcome …

  • If that Kris Bryant drive in the 7th yesterday had gone just about 15 feet further, it’s a game-winning grand slam, and maybe today’s conversation is entirely different, even if the performance was more or less exactly the same. That’s baseball. But the thing is, over the course of 162 games, you are *always* going to have a lot of those “ooh, so close” moments, and if they keep going against you, then you’re probably not winning a lot of games – which is why we notice them in the first place.
  • There is no magic bean that makes that ball go a little further in that moment. But there is some kind of secret sauce underneath the surface, permeating throughout the organization over the course of several years, that does make a difference in those close games, so maybe it doesn’t come down to that particular fly ball. And the Cubs’ secret sauce the last few years simply hasn’t tasted very good. That’s a concept we’ll have to explore more in the early part of the offseason – something went wrong deeper in the org a few years ago, and I think we’re seeing the spoiled fruits now in the way these games keep shaking out.
  • (Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images)

  • Anthony Rizzo’s affect here really seems to say it all, even setting his words aside. The whole thing has a – very appropriate – “I don’t know what else I can effing do” feel to it:
  • If you want to keep feeling bad about the loss and the state of things, here you go, as this sums it up well:
  • Not a lot to enjoy yesterday, but this has been neat to follow:
  • It really sucks that Keegan Thompson missed this year, because he got so lost in the shuffle of the upper-level arms, and he could have emerged as a very near-term fill-in starter (or more). Glad he’s healthy again and getting extra work in the Arizona Fall League, which is a very tough place to pitch:
  • Thompson, 24, is thought of as one of those high-floor, low-ceiling arms, because he’s got a ton of usable pitches and is extremely polished with his approach and command. The question with those types is always whether they can make the leap to AAA/MLB and continue getting outs without getting blown up. A spike in Thompson’s strikeout rate would certainly make things interesting, though he’d have to show that it’s because of the stuff more than the polish – otherwise, it won’t play when facing more advanced competition. Really looking forward to his 2020 season. This is a guy who reached AA in his first full professional season.
  • The Captain:
  • Let this speak to you, if it speaks to you:
  • HOLY. CRAP:
  • Pretty awesome for our friends at Obvious Shirts – you can get their stuff online, but also AT WRIGLEY FIELD:

    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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