Sports
NFL’s first official sports betting partnerships include FanDuel, DraftKings, SlashGear
For as long as I can remember organized sports viewed betting as the biggest threat to the integrity of the game. More and more are now embracing the money, integrity be damned.
The Chicago Cubs is the worst hitting team in baseball, but this shouldn’t be a surprise. It seems obvious to me that the Cubs' front office does not properly evaluate hitting talent, every player on their team is a home run hitter. When Schwarber left they went and got a literal hitting duplicate, Joc Pederson, as a replacement. Nico Horner was the best hitter in spring training and they sent him back to the minors in favor of another home run hitter.
I can’t blame the manager, and I can’t really blame the players, they are who they area. The problem rests entirely with the front office. Really, one hit wonders. How lucky we were in 2016!
Spring training is complete for the Chicago Cubs. Opening day is on Thursday, 1 PM versus the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field. The weather forecast has temps in the mid 30s.
I don’t get this claim that baseball players can’t do contract negotiations and play ball at the same time. Lots of people do lots of things at the same time, all the time. Wait until Rizzo becomes a dad.
The NFL appears to be expanding the number of streaming options for games, but I don’t see info about an ability to stream out of market games. The NFL needs a reasonably priced equivalent to MLB’s At Bat app.
It doesn’t mean much, but the Cubs won their first spring training game today, 1-0 against the Padres.
We do not have the sunshine nor are the Cubs playing today as they did last year and we have much more snow on the ground. However, full training camp starts today and the first game is within weeks!
Tommy Lasorda, legendary Los Angeles Dodgers manager, has died - CNN
Among my oldest memories are from the seventies watching the World Series, which seemed to always be the New York Yankees versus the Los Angeles Dodgers, with my grandfather and grandmother. Even though my grandfather had strokes that left him speechless he was my father figure and so these are fond memories. My grandfather grew up in Milwaukee and so a fan of the Milwaukee Brewers but the Yankees were the villain and the Dodgers the hero for us during these games. Of course Lasorda was the manager of the Dodgers during those games, so news of his passing brought back these memories today.
The Jed Hoyer regime is not starting well in Chicago when it communicates b.s. like this. I see zero ways in which the trade of Yu Darvish to San Diego for little in return helps the Cubs in 2021. Maybe the Cubs will be competitive in the N.L. Central by default, but they won’t be competitive outside their division.
I am still bumming since learning on Friday that Len Kasper is leaving the Chicago Cubs to be the lead radio announcer for the White Sox. What I like about Len is that he is a genuine baseball guy, he isn’t a broadcaster who also does baseball, so moving from TV to radio makes sense. Of all sports baseball is best for radio.
My life experience with the Chicago Cubs has always been narrated by TV play-by-play guys: Jack Brickhouse, Harry Caray, Chip Caray, and Len Kasper. There have been a few others who have been briefly behind the mike, but these are the voices that replay in my head.
The first words are Jack’s calling another Dave Kingman home run. Most of the words are spoken by Harry, who was with me from teenager to adult. Chip is sentimental following his grandfathers death, where Len will always be part of the Cubs finally making it to and winning the World Series in 2016.
White Sox fans are getting a great baseball guy to tell them the White Sox story when baseball starts in 2021. I might try to listen to a few games, particularly when the White Sox come to Detroit and Len sits closer to Ernie Harwell’s seat. In the meantime I’ll watch for who will be next at broadcasting for the Cubs.
The dismantling of the 2016 Chicago Cubs has begun through the Cubs not making an offer to Kyle Schwarber. Unfortunately right now it seems though Kyle was a one hit wonder, but that hit will always be memorable to Cubs fans.
Last year I speculated that David Ross would be hired to manage the Cubs and wondered how well he would do. I think he has done a good job, but the issues about the Cub’s lineup persists. A team of Home Run hitters can be easily stopped by good pitching. Fortunately, this season was short enough so that their early lead held, but I don’t think they win their division if they played a full schedule.
The Chicago Cubs appear to be rounding in to their 2019 form.
Let’s play two! The Cubs have a COVID-19 double header today with the Cardinals in Wrigley. Rookie pitcher going in the first game.
Last year at this time the Chicago Cubs had no batter hitting .300 or higher, this year they have one, with another hitting .299. Slight improvement, but no real change and not surprising given the line up is the same. The problem stands, the Cubs have a lineup of sluggers not hitters and that will not get it done in the playoffs.
Forgot the strangest part about tonight’s seven inning, pandemic doubleheader, which is that the Cubs are the road team at Wrigley in game two.
Last year, about Chicago Cubs, I wrote:
The problem is not the hitting, although they could be more consistent. To me the problem is the bullpen, they are giving up too many runs in the 6 thru 9th innings. Nobody in the pen is reliable.
I could not imagine that at the same time a year later the Cubs would be playing under such strange circumstances like they will today, playing two seven inning games in a “pandemic” double-header. Yet, while the Cubs have the best record, the bullpen performance has not been much different.
The Chicago Cubs have now lost three games in a row. Normally that would not be a problem, but in a short season, it feels like they really need to win at least one game today against the Cardinals. Preferably win both.
The sunshine we have had this weekend pairs well with the first spring training games. #Cubs
Spring is here, go Cubs go!
