“If We Had to Dive, We Were Going to Dive,” and Other Cubs Bullets

As you can see by his not one, but TWO posts this morning (both of which I was already going to do…), Brett is feeling a little bit better after his surgery. I think his time on the IL will be the minimum, and he’ll be back doing baseball (writing) activities early this week.

  • I don’t know about you, but I slept like a baby last night. The Cubs beat the Dodgers in the opener at Wrigley Field, and it was as tense as an early-April game gets. I mean from start to finish, this game had a ton of action, with the Dodgers constantly threatening (and the Cubs continuously extending their lead) right up until the very last play:
  • A few more inches towards the hole and that ball soars past Michael Busch scoring two and tying the game. And even if Nico Hoerner had managed to glove it, Busch was nowhere near the bag. So it would’ve been a footrace to first base between James Outman and Adbert Alzolay. Instead, Busch made a fantastic play and the Cubs won their fifth game in a row. They’re now tied with the Red Sox with the longest active winning streak in MLB.
  • And you can credit Nico Hoerner for preparing Busch on that play: “Nico was telling me we were just trying to keep everything from getting to the outfield,” Michael Busch said via Cubs.com. “So if we had to dive, we were going to dive, and two pitches later I had to dive.” What a quote. Hoerner, of course, had a fantastic diving play himself, earlier in the game.
  • Speaking of Michael Busch, he had another hit (his first Cubs homer) and a walk in this one, bringing his season slash line up to .316/.417/.474 (140 wRC+) after some early season bad luck. And the defense at first, while not elite, has been perfectly fine. It’s been a really great start for him and his Cubs career. I’m excited about his future, which the Cubs control through at least 2029 (his age-31 season).
  • Despite how tight yesterday’s game was (and the fact that Kyle Hendricks lasted only 4.0 IP), the Cubs didn’t use Mark Leiter Jr. or Hector Neris last night, which is HUGE for today/the rest of the series. You can thank Drew Smyly for that. He was so good yesterday and absolutely squashed the Dodgers momentum during his 2.2 innings of work. I feel a lot better about the Cubs chances knowing at least two of their top relievers are fully rested and ready to go tonight. I guess Craig Counsell deserves some love for that bullpen management too. Jordan Wicks will be starting for the Cubs today against Yoshinobu Yamamoto. 3:05 start time. So eat a good lunch and buckle back up.
  • Circling back to the defense: Michael Busch and Nico Hoerner may have grabbed the headlines, but Nick Madrigal’s defense was absolutely nails yesterday. Not only did he make multiple diving or quick-twitch stops, his arm strength seems to be a lot better this year. And while we’re at it, he’s already got 5 hits (including two doubles) in 15 PAs. Still no barrels, but he’s clearly contributing on both sides of the ball. Getting him more starts at third base, right now, is more about his PLUS glove there than the issues Christopher Morel is having.
  • These Dodgers, though, man. That is one tough lineup. Opening every game against Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, and Will Smith is just incredibly tough. This is the one team/lineup that I think makes sense for an opener (a tactic on which I’m otherwise not really sold). The Cubs aren’t doing that today or tomorrow, though, with Jordan Wicks and Shota Imanaga scheduled to go. Not that the sample carries much weight, but the Dodgers have been equally good against both lefties (133 wRC+) and righties (134 wRC+) so far this season.
  • In case you missed the news yesterday, in his pursuit to collect 1M Cubs baseball cards, die-hard Cubs fan Beau Thompson was invited to Wrigley and gifted a custom-made card of himself to put him over the top. They gave him the Marquee treatment and everything:
  • The rest of the Cubs minor league seasons kicked off yesterday, and there were some notable performances. James Triantos went 4-5, Pablo Aliendo hit his first homer of the season, and so did Jefferson Rojas, who’s going to fly up the prospect rankings this season.
  • I mean, this is an 18-year-old hitting an opposite field home run at High-A … this kid might just be incredible.
  • written by

    Michael Cerami began covering the Chicago Cubs for Bleacher Nation as a part-time contributor in 2015. One year later, he joined Bleacher Nation full-time, covering the Chicago Cubs and Major League Baseball. Today, Michael runs Bleacher Nation, contributing as a writer (Cubs, MLB) and an editor for all sections of the site, including the Chicago Bears, Bulls, and Blackhawks, as well as MLB, NBA, NHL, and NFL. In 2019, Michael was the co-host of NBC Sports Chicago's Cubs Post-Game Show Outside the Ivy. You can find him on Twitter/X @Michael_Cerami

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