NEWSLETTER
Thanks to Michael for the heads up: the follow-up season to ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ now has a release date on Netflix (October 9), and I am nervous and excited. That first season is one of the best limited series I’ve ever seen, and not so much because it is scary – thought it is quite terrifying – but instead because it’s just such an excellent story and well-crafted show. If you’ve not watched it and can stomach the scariness of it, I *highly* recommend. Obviously I can’t speak to whether the second season will be as good, but dang, man. That first season. Whew. It gripped me.
• Also scary? The Cubs scoring just three runs in their last 33 innings of play. It’s pretty hard to pull that off, and it shakes your spine when it happens. Please serve up some meatballs this week, Pirates pitchers. Three of the four the Cubs are scheduled to face (JT Brubaker, Steven Brault, and Chad Kuhl) are coming off arguably their best starts of the year, so …
• Pretty much every Cubs bat is in a tremendous slump right now, so it’s kinda silly to do a “hey, wow, have you noticed this guy has been bad lately?” thing. But since Ian Happ’s tremendous slump started the day after his initial return from the scratched cornea, it’s harder not to notice this performance over the last 14 games: .161/.254/.304, 52 wRC+, 33.3% K rate, 11.1% BB rate, 48.6% groundball rate, 14.3% line drive rate, 34.3% hard contact rate. Across the board, it’s been a brutal 14 games for him. Meaningless stretch in a normal season? Absolutely. I’d barely bat an eye (no pun intended). But given the rapidly approaching postseason and the literal eye injury, it’s impossible not to wonder if there’s some signal here. Here’s hoping Happ remedies things this week, because the Cubs seriously need his bat (you know, given everyone else stinking at the dish).
• Speaking of guys who are slumping, I’ve just reached such a point of frustration on this particular topic, and I’ll let my in-the-moment Tweet stream stand:
In a related point, I've asked the question before: do you want to help guys feel better, or do you want to win games? Right now, Kris Bryant – especially in that spot, especially against righties – is not helping you win games.
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) September 21, 2020
Let me be quite clear, with the playoffs around the corner: we are rapidly approaching the point where I don't think the question is whether Bryant should move down in the order. The question is whether he should start at all against righties right now. It must be asked.
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) September 21, 2020
• More horror:
The #Cubs offense over the last two weeks has been so bad that Kris Bryant, who's very noticeably struggling, has actually been the third BEST hitter on the team. pic.twitter.com/7k9nJXYOQP
— Michael Cerami (@Michael_Cerami) September 21, 2020
• At least Bryant does continue to play excellent defense this year:
Before tonight's game, Ross said: "KB's playing some of the best third base I've seen him play since maybe early on in his career."
Entered night with 3 DRS (after having -6 in 2019).
Nice play here in the ninth… pic.twitter.com/KO7Ur19NCe
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) September 21, 2020
• One positive thing to share from the Kyle Schwarber benching thing (expanded discussion here), is that Schwarber is still gonna Schwarber:
Happ, on Schwarber staying in dugout after being pulled:
"To see him out there in the dugout throughout the game — probably the loudest guy in the dugout, honestly, for the next seven, eight innings — it just speaks to his character. He's a great person and we all love him."
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) September 21, 2020
• This isn’t just an independently good thing to do, this is something MLB *NEEDS* to be doing for the long-term health of the sport:
MLB joins @MLB_PLAYERS in committing $10 million to fund innovative programs designed by @Player_Alliance to improve representation of Black Americans in all levels of baseball. pic.twitter.com/AZqskJ6gcL
— MLB (@MLB) September 21, 2020
• Just a great shot of Clark Street and Wrigley Field, from … early 1930s or so? That’d be my guess:
There’s just something about Wrigley Field. #Cubs pic.twitter.com/iAYhuuGhkC
— BaseballHistoryNut (@nut_history) September 20, 2020
• Giant fancy TVs, irons, razors, clothes, and more are your Deals of the Day at Amazon. #ad
• Michael believes:
I used the free bet I got for signing up with PointsBet to put $100 on the #Cubs to win the World Series at +1600 because I BELIEVE.
GO: https://t.co/d7vafODncj pic.twitter.com/nuWCvTlxW8
— Michael Cerami (@Michael_Cerami) September 21, 2020
