I believe it was the philosopher Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, along with his partner Ke$ha Rose Sebert, who wisely observed: “I wish somebody would have told me, babe, some day these will be the good old days.”
I kid-ish, but those are words that’ve been on my mind a lot lately, particularly with respect to the Cubs 2020 season.
It’s become a little too common, I reckon, for most of us to look back on 2015 and 2016 as the best years to be a Cubs fan – often with longing and despair. And, sure, those were legitimately special seasons, but I wouldn’t sleep on 2020. This Cubs team has a LOT to offer, from a new manager (who’s been sufficiently solid that we don’t even talk about how weird it is that it’s DAVID FREAKIN’ ROSS), to the no-hitter, to Jon Lester’s final(?) season, to Yu Darvish’s Cy Young bid, to Jason Heyward’s utterly unexpected offensive explosion, to Ian Happ’s rise, to Willson Contreras’s framing, to Jason Kipnis’s everything, and to the fact that the Cubs are pretty much cruising towards their first NL Central title since 2017.
*This* is a great year to be a Cubs fan. Don’t let nostalgia blind you to the good old days of Cubs fandom happening right now.
Cardinals Manager Mike Shildt Suspended
In case you missed all the hoopla on Tuesday, the Cardinals and Brewers got into a bit of a dustup when Ryan Braun’s bat hit Yadi Molina’s glove and the benches cleared. In the fallout, Cardinals Manager Mik Shildt has been suspended one game, a sentence he’ll serve in the second half of a seven-inning double-header (which really makes it feel like hardly a suspension at all, or maybe seven-ninths of a suspension).
In any case, Shildt is being suspended for “actions that contributed to inciting the benches-clearing incident,” actions he doesn’t seem to feel particularly bad about:
“I hear chirping out of the dugout – we don’t start things,” Shildt said after the game. “But we’re not going to take it. I heard something that I didn’t appreciate.
…
“I don’t know where the insult came from. I feel like it was more directed to me, quite honestly,” Shildt said. “Did I do anything to warrant it? Perhaps. I was staring in the dugout. I will accept that. My hearing doesn’t suffer at all with a mask on. … There was a look in the dugout, there was something said, and at that point, all bets are off.”
“All bets are off” is exactly the sort of mature, thoughtful response you hope to hear from your manager in the middle of a pandemic, just two weeks away from the playoffs, when yours was a team that was entirely shut down because of an outbreak. /s
Expanded Playoffs Freakout
Ever since Rob Manfred strongly implied that an expanded postseason format could linger on beyond 2020, people have generally been freaking out online. And I don’t blame them. But as Ken Rosenthal points out, we’re really nowhere near needing to freak out.
Don’t freak out over the prospect of expanded playoffs just yet. Column: https://t.co/Riq9FyxReR
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) September 17, 2020
For one, Manfred is not able to unilaterally change the postseason. He was able to do it this year with the approval of the players, approval that extends to this season only. For another, the expanded postseason conversation that existed before COVID-19 was about a 14-team format, not the current 16-team behemoth. And for yet another point, we may not even see any playoff expansion in next season, with the CBA up for negotiation after the year.
And when we get to that point, the choice won’t simply be between 10 teams, 14 teams, and 16 teams; there could be any number of completely unique formats on the table with any number of supporters and detractors. For now, this is just a 2020 thing. Let’s worry about the playoffs when we worry about the playoffs.
Jacob deGrom Departs After 2.0 IP, But Will He Return?
One of the biggest obstacles standing between Yu Darvish and his first Cy Young award is the two-time reigning Cy Young champion Jacob deGrom. But deGrom just hit a huge bump in the road, himself.
Last night, deGrom allowed three runs in two innings and was forced to leave the game with a right hamstring spasm. Listening to him discuss the injury/departure after the game, you can tell he was frustrated by (and perhaps even overtly aware of) the impact this could have on his shot at three straight Cy Young awards:
Here's Jacob deGrom on balancing his desire to pitch through discomfort with the idea that he needs to be smart about it: pic.twitter.com/0BRnsRU1uh
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) September 17, 2020
But the story isn’t over there.
The Mets will send deGrom through various tests over the coming days, and he’s clearly hoping to return immediately to get not one, but two more starts before the season is through:
Jacob deGrom says he thinks he can make two more starts this season, as he would regardless of injury.
"I think it's something we can manage," he said of his hamstring injury.
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) September 17, 2020
Needless to say, the outcome here (whether or not he starts and how effective he is if he does) is going to have huge ramifications on the Cy Young race. Stay tuned. And also watch Trevor Bauer’s starts and hope he stinks.
Rockies Shut Down Jon Gray
Remember when Jon Gray was all the rage last deadline and offseason? Everybody wanted a piece of the 28-year-old righty coming off several solid seasons in a row with theoretical upside to spare, but the Rockies fought off the desire to trade him at every turn, prioritizing another run at the division in 2020. Now, unfortunately, he’s been shut down for the rest of the year thanks to right shoulder inflammation that first popped up back on September 2nd. Worse, in the eight 2020 starts Gray did make this year, he wasn’t very good at all: 6.69 ERA, abysmal strikeout rate, hard contact way up, velocity way down.
So what comes next? Well given the financial picture across baseball, his poor results, his injury, and his expected RAISE from $5.6 million in salary via arbitration, Jon Gray is a pretty obvious non-tender candidate in what’s going to be a dramatic uptick in non-tenders this offseason. The guys at MLBTR are already talking about it.
If he is indeed non-tendered, how about a buy-low option for the Cubs? Something to keep an eye on.
Odds and Ends:
• MLB is pushing for higher voter turnout:
Major League Baseball has joined the Civic Alliance, a nonpartisan group of businesses pushing for higher voter turnout. https://t.co/RwlnNdgvZm
— AP Sports (@AP_Sports) September 17, 2020
• This was seriously one of the weirdest bounces you’ll ever see. In fact, it was so lucky I can’t believe it happened TO the Cardinals and not for them:
No … Way: Brandon Woodruff Just Accidentally Kicked the Ball for a Force Out at First Basehttps://t.co/I6gXzJLFc3
— Baseball is Fun (@flippingbats) September 16, 2020
• You threw DJ LeMahieu a 48 MPH pitch? Really? What’d you think was gonna happen?
What Did You THINK DJ LeMahieu Was Gonna Do to a 48 MPH Pitch?https://t.co/7PSFsIRoJ6 pic.twitter.com/rZpN2HKnH2
— Baseball is Fun (@flippingbats) September 16, 2020