Sports
The 8th Inning Game
Yesterday the Cubs sent rookie Matt Shaw, who had been playing first base, back to Triple-A Iowa. We don’t know if this is a short term thing due to the recent injuries, but did they make the right move? I saw no, particularly because he would have made that catch that Workman did not last night. Right now the Cub bats are not the problem and they need good fielding.
Despite the fact that the Chicago Cubs record at 11-8 is decent and their run production has been good the early returns are that they have the same old bullpen after it blew another lead in route to a 10-4 loss to the Padres last night. Frankly, the poor performance of the bullpen must be laid at Jed Hoyer’s feet as his approach of yearly rebuild using castoffs from other teams translates to every season being a crap shoot. The continual poor off season performance is why I think Hoyer should be replaced sooner rather than later.
Good news, the Chicago Cubs won 2 of 3 games against the LA Dodgers over the weekend. Bad news, they lost their best pitcher Justin Steele to injury for the rest of the season.
Early Results
A MLB team cannot win their division in April, but they can lose it. Going in to the middle of April we are seeing positive results from the Chicago Cubs, although they suffered the first set back of the season when Justin Steele was put on the 15 day IL. Right now they are at the top of the NL Central with a half game lead but that doesn’t matter as much as the +28 run differential that is the best in the league. The runs they scored during this last home stand in cold April weather is a very positive sign.
On Friday the Cubs start a 6 game road trip in Los Angeles and then San Diego, and I think these games are a good early test for the Cubs. I want to see them win at least two games in LA and win one in San Diego. The Dodgers have actually fallen back to earth going 6-4 over the last ten while the Padres has jumped up to the top of the NL West over the Dodgers and Giants. I will feel good about a split on this road trip.
The sun has come down on my last night here in Phoenix. We saw two Cubs spring training games, and they won one and lost the other.
Cubs win! Cubs win! Cubs win!
PSA. Chicago Cubs pitchers and catchers report to spring training in 8 days on February 9. The first spring training game is on February 20, 2025.
Good Teams Have Painful Loses
There is no consolation today for lifelong Detroit Lions fans. A loss in the first playoff game after having the best regular season record is particularly painful. Detroit fans can look back to the Detroit Red Wings, who had similar heartbreaking losses to the Devils in the 94-95 Stanley Cup finals and to the Oilers in 2005-06. The loss to the Devils was particularly hard because the Wings had not been in the finals for so long, had the best regular season record, and got swept. The next year the Wings again had the best regular season record and then lost to the Avalanche in the conference finals. Finally, the Wings won the Stanley Cup in 96-97.
Being a lifelong Cubs fan, I know the feeling of rooting for a team that were perennial losers to finally become a good team. I learned I would much rather feel the pain of a playoff loss than the feel the frustration of the Cubs being out of contention after the first month of the regular season. Painful loses are part of the consequences of being a good team, otherwise you are never in position to have such loses.
The Lions have built a firm foundation and there is no reason to not believe that Holmes and Campbell will learn from this and continue building upon that foundation. There are no guarantees next year will be just as good as this year, but there is every reason to look forward to next.