NEWSLETTER
Don’t forget, there’s a Bucs +73 points promo tonight from DraftKings (yes, you read that correctly), so if you haven’t checked it out. Full details here.
•  Like I said in the EBS last night, Alec Mills has been the Cubs’ best starting pitcher this year, and as Jordan Bastian reminds us, success has pretty much always been the case when he’s been in the Cubs’ rotation:
In his MLB career, Alec Mills now has a 3.81 ERA with 144 K vs. 44 BB in 174.2 IP as a starting pitcher.
The righty has a 5.24 ERA in 25 career games as a reliever.
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) September 9, 2021
•  There remains a caveat to Mills’ success, which should nevertheless get him a rotation spot next year: he is still struggling against lefties. There’s been improvement over last year when they OBLITERATED HIM, but the lefty slash line since Mills moved into the rotation is still pretty rough: .293/.357/.479 (4.70 FIP). At some level, you’re just going to have to tolerate that lefties get a good look at him, and while he can probably keep incrementally improving, this will probably be an issue going forward. It’s a big part of the reason that you will have to proactively pull him earlier than you might otherwise expect, for example like last night when it seemed like he was cruising but he was about to have to face Joey Votto again. You might also have to continue to look ahead on the schedule and try to avoid certain match-ups if possible.
•  Last night, though, he was just flat out great, inducing terrible contact all night long, never letting Reds batters look particularly comfortable or on-time.
•  Jason Heyward on how he’s thinking about the Cubs’ play right now (Cubs.com): “This is the first time in my career being in that position to play spoiler. It’s a lot of fun playing good baseball, of course. But when you have some incentive to do it and go out there together, it’s really nice to see results.” That’s a long career to have never been out of it in the second half (at least not until the very end, like 2019), and I hadn’t thought about these guys thinking of themselves now as spoilers. The Cubs did knock the Reds out of the second Wild Card spot in this series. Have to give yourself something as an added layer for wanting to win the game, I suppose.
•  It’s true, though. The Cubs are going to get lots of spoiler chances from here, including seven against the hated Cardinals, which feels even more spoiler-y. So, hey, maybe it’s a can’t-lose situation for the Cubs when they play the Cardinals – the losses help in the reverse standings, but the wins help them play spoiler against the dang Cardinals.
•  The dinger-happy Cubs are coming up on a franchise record:
The Cubs have now homered in 15 consecutive games, their longest stretch since also homering in 15 straight from April 23-May 9, 2019. It's the longest active streak in the NL.
Their streak is two games shy of matching a franchise record 17 straight Aug. 19-Sept. 5, 1998. #Cubs
— Meghan Montemurro (@M_Montemurro) September 9, 2021
•  Consider that this stretch has taken place *AFTER* the Cubs traded three of the biggest home-run hitters of the team’s history. That’s pretty wild. Also, it’s pretty darn appropriate that the franchise record took place in 1998 when Sammy Sosa was going off (among some other dudes in that era). Matching or exceeding that would be pretty cool for this group.
•  This is apparently the play when Michael Hermosillo may have initially strained his left forearm, and it’s pretty easy to see how it’s possible:
Cubs bench coach/acting manager Andy Green said Michael Hermosillo believes he first injured his left forearm on this slide into home plate (9/3 vs. PIT).
"It's really unfortunate, because he was doing a lot of really, really good things for us," Green said. pic.twitter.com/a9iXA9ykU9
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) September 8, 2021
•  I wrote up my thoughts on the suckiness of Hermosillo’s season ending at this point. The roster-related stuff is just going to suck from a decision-making perspective. For his part, Hermosillo obviously hopes he just gets a chance to stick into next year to show he belongs (Cubs.com): “I hope. I pray. I definitely love it here, love the guys, love the management. They’ve helped me a lot. … I think there’s some things that I hopefully showed that will put that in the back of their head. But at the end of the day, I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing regardless. Obviously, I’ll get back from this injury, be healthy going into the offseason and then, yeah, just hopefully be ready to compete for a job next year.”
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•  THE DISRESPECT:
The Giants are planning on having another bullpen game on Friday at Chicago. Kevin Gausman will go on Saturday. Sounds like the Giants are leaning toward using another bullpen game on Sunday rather than move up Logan Webb. Scott Kazmir will be in the mix to start the finale.
— Maria I. Guardado (@mi_guardado) September 8, 2021
•  Cubs outfield prospect Alexander Canario was eligible for the Dominican Winter League’s draft, and went FOURTH OVERALL, surrounded by quality prospects:
Alexander Canario goes fourth overall in LIDOM’s draft. Good company in the first round. He’ll play (or at least be rostered) with Aguilas in winter ball in the DR. https://t.co/MJ7SJdz4RM
— Cubs Prospects – Bryan Smith (@cubprospects) September 9, 2021
•  Fun mash-up here of a couple former Chicago baseball players:
Alfonso Soriano is in Cooperstown for the Hall of Fame festivities, where he ran into an adoring fan.
Also, Alf is still JACKED. pic.twitter.com/qWXz6YwUwT
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) September 9, 2021
