Thank God for the Chicago Cubs. That was all I could think in the second half of that embarrassing Chicago Bears game. I was absolutely enraged throughout, but then I got to reflect back on the Cubs beating the Diamondbacks to at least avoid a sweep, and keep themselves in a good playoff position. It’s easy to forget that the Cubs didn’t come into this season with any hype or much projected hope for a playoff spot. This remains a very, very good and fun year for the Cubs. Thank God.
- Kyle Hendricks looked very good to me yesterday overall, continuing a trend that has lasted over two weeks at this point. From the Tribune: “Over their last 17 games, the Cubs rotation owns the lowest ERA in the majors (2.14).” That’s without Marcus Stroman, too.
- A good bounce-back for Hendricks, too, after that so-so, wind-assisted outing against the Giants. Hendricks’ season ERA stands at 3.71, about 14% better than league average by ERA-. You’re taking that all day.
- This was a great play from Ian Happ to double up Emmanuel Rivera at second base, which killed some growing momentum for the Diamondbacks in the 5th:
- I could argue that with the way Happ executed that play, Rivera had no shot either way. If he stays close enough to the bag to avoid that happening, then he is EASILY thrown out at third if Happ lets it bounce (it was a force play at third). So basically, he had to guess a little earlier that Happ was going to catch it – but it’s not like he was 25 feet off the bag. He barely strayed at all! Just a combination of bad luck on the ball placement and perfect execution by Happ.
- From Happ, who talked about his history on the infield (Tribune): โIโve got to remind some of these guys, they havenโt seen me playing field the big leagues, I did it, not only second, third, but also played first for (Anthony Rizzo) a couple of times, you know?โ Happ said with a smirk. โYou donโt lose that, some of those little things youโve done your whole life. So itโs nice when you can show it off a little bit.โ
- Thinking out loud. Jeimer Candelario left yesterday’s game with some back tightness. If he has to go on the IL, you know who I would call up to replace him? Pete Crow-Armstrong. Because if Candelario is out, you’d have Cody Bellinger at first base pretty much every day, and maybe you would want PCA to cover the spacious opposing center fields this week in Denver and Arizona.
- Not that I’m rooting for a Candelario injury of any substantial length, of course. I wonder if he’s been fighting through some stuff, though. He’s hit just .096/.197/.288/29 wRC+ (26.2% K) over the past two weeks, and maybe he’s another Cub who just needs some rest.
- Speaking of which, it seemed/seems like Dansby Swanson falls into the camp of guys who could use a day off, but his big day yesterday now allows you to squint and say he’s actually been really hot lately! .355/.412/.516/155 wRC+ over the past week (it was closer to league average until yesterday). That’s mostly me just being playful about tiny sample sizes, but (1) it really was good to see him have a big day, and (2) I do like that the strikeout rate has been below 20% going back nine games now. Since I don’t think Swanson was ever going to get a day off, you instead just have to root for the idea that he was in a lull over the past month and will play his way out of it.
- From Swanson (The Athletic): โIt was obviously a grind for a few weeks, might have been longer,โ Swanson said. โBut it was definitely a grind. The one thing the staff here reminded me of recently was to just be an athlete, just go play. It started to work out and definitely starting to be more comfortable at the plate.โ
- Major prospect injury news for the Yankees, where Jasson Dominguez had been writing headlines over the week because of his performance, but now gets a sad headline:
- Dominguez, who has a long and bright future ahead, is almost certainly not going to be rushed back so the Yankees can have his bat available as soon as possible in April or May. I wonder how that will impact their offseason, because I’m sure at least part of the thinking on bringing Dominguez up now in the first place was to evaluate him for center field on Opening Day. Now that’s no longer an option.
- Speaking of the Yankees, thanks for the assist against the Brewers yesterday. Despite taking a no-hitter into the 11TH INNING(!), and at one point having a two-run lead, the Brewers found a way to lose:
- Speaking of the Brewers. This is the problem you invite with publicly-owned stadiums in the first place. Teams are always going to want more, more, more, and taxpayers are not going to want to pay any more:
- Hence, you have the Brewers threatening to leave Milwaukee, with MLB pressuring Wisconsin to pony up more funds to update the stadium. If the Brewers owned their own stadium, this would all be a lot simpler. My guess is that this all still gets resolved eventually, but there’s likely to be more and more loud fighting about who should pay for what in the months ahead. (My short answer? Anything that is LEGITIMATELY necessary for the stadium to operate, the state should pay for. It’s their house. But anything that is above and beyond? The Brewers should pay for. Seems obvious enough – but of course, that just invites fighting about what counts as necessary, and what counts as above and beyond.)
- It’s a thing of beauty: