#Cubs, #MLB, and #MiLB news, notes, and commentary, four days a week, rain or shine. Cubs leave the A’s flat as a pancake and are flying high before the Home Opener Friday.
WELCOME to today’s episode of Cub Tracks news and notes™, a greatest-hits collection of Chicago-style beat writers and bloggers, ground from #Cubs, #MiLB, and #MLB baseball, overheated, steeped in writers’ tears, and then cold-brewed overnight for maximum flavor. No artificial intelligences were deployed, employed, entranced, or embalmed in the commission of this missive (apparently I might be training some though). Cub Tracks eagerly awaits the advent of robotic umpires and has already amended the three laws. The going is weird. Cub Tracks turned pro a long time ago.
Cub Tracks. Where the great ones run away.
Lance Lynn retired Tuesday, so it’s less likely that we’ll see him in blue.
These Cubs are not hard to take, eh? Let’s bring them home with this kind of production. I mean, yeah, The A’s, the easiest part of this daunting early schedule, but still, that was an impressive display of offensive fireworks.
Jameson Taillon was impressive as well, throwing 6 innings of two-run ball.
I saw where Justin Steele is just mixing in a curveball, another offering to flesh out his deliveries. The home runs were off sliders that got too much plate, he said. It’ll work out in the end. He’s also messing with his angles.
Let’s all enjoy the day off and get ready for the home opener. I’ll get ready to watch my radio.
*means autoplay on, (directions to emove for Firefox and Chrome). {$} means paywall. {$} means limited views. Italics are often used on this page as sarcasm font. The powers that be have enabled real sarcasm font in the comments.
- Andy Martinez (Marquee Sports Network*): Cubs Takeaways: What we learned as Cubs sweep Athletics in three-game set. “The Cubs completed the sweep with a 10-2 win over the A’s and improved to 5-4…” The AP has more*.
- Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune* {$}): With Seiya Suzuki and Kyle Tucker locked in, the Chicago Cubs roll to a sweep of the A’s with a 10-2 rout. “The combination of Tucker and Suzuki in the prime spots of the batting order sets up a deep lineup…”
- Theo De Rosa (MLB.com*): Suzuki more aggressive at plate, powers Cubs to sweep of A’s. “Is Chicago warm yet?” Suzuki asked via interpreter Edwin Stanberry…
- Jason Ross (North Side Baseball*): By raising Ben Brown’s arm angle, can the Cubs raise his floor? “Despite Brown’s ability to create swings and misses, he rarely forced hitters to chase his pitches out of the zone.”
- Andy Martinez (Marquee Sports Network*): How Colin Rea’s unheralded performance helped Cubs’ pitching staff. “Rea picked up the save on Monday, pitching three scoreless innings for the Cubs.”
- Maddie Lee (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Some Cubs hitters were already swinging torpedo bats when Yankees made them famous. “Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner are among the Cubs who have used the reverse-tapered bats in games.”
- Mitch Widmeier (North Side Baseball*): Don’t freak out about Pete Crow-Armstrong’s alow atart at the plate. “Taking a deeper look into the numbers tells the real story.”
- Phil Rogers (Forbes* {$}): Kyle Tucker is showing why the Cubs should want to keep him. “… Tucker has come out raking in the last season before his impending free agency.” ESPN Says he’s the 19th best player.
Food for thought:
Please be reminded that Cub Tracks and Bleed Cubbie Blue do not necessarily endorse the content of articles, podcasts, or videos that are linked to in this series. We are 100% in favor of human sportswriting and will not wittingly publish A. I. driven articles or content. Thanks for reading!