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The Rundown: Cubs Hoping Rest Resets Offense, Horton Tossing Baskets of Goose Eggs, MLB Promotes First Female Ump

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“Now there’s a look in your eyes like black holes in the sky.” – Shine On You Crazy Diamond I-IX by Pink Floyd

All Cubs fans desperately needed yesterday’s day off, for mental health reasons alone. I’d like to take this time to remind everybody that the Brewers have played at a .733 clip over their past 61 games, which is unsustainable. Secondly, if Milwaukee does continue to play that well, no team will catch and/or beat them. Finally, the Cubs still have baseball’s third-best record, second-best in the National League, and a 98% chance of making the playoffs. All good things.

There’s good news on the horizon, too. Chicago’s runs created per 27 outs is about 0.60 better than Milwaukee’s, so the Cubs should be able to whittle into that four-game deficit. As a team, their ISO is also about 25% better than the Brewers. If the Cubs can find a way to bust out their bats, that should help reverse course. The North Siders hit three homers in Wednesday’s 6-1 win over the Reds, one each by Dansby Swanson, Ian Happ, and Seiya Suzuki, which bodes well for a potential breakout. Now it’s time to get Kyle Tucker and Michael Busch back into the Sacred Order of Big Flies.

The Cubs are also near the top of the league in barrel rate and exit velocity, areas where the Brewers struggle. Yes, Chicago’s North Side Baseballers are slumping, and at the worst possible time, too. But those stats tell us a course correction is coming for both teams, so let’s exercise a little patience.

Take a deep breath, and let’s focus on beating the Cardinals this weekend. The Cubs will finish with 95-96 wins if they can play .600 ball the rest of the way. That’s a weighty task, but not impossible. If 96 wins doesn’t take the NL Central, then hats off to the team that wins 97 or more.

Cubs News & Notes


Ball Four

The Cubs may have no chance if Jacob Misiorowski is impervious to bug-covered donuts. Thankfully, he is not. I was at the State Fair on Thursday and politely passed on this delicacy.

Did I bug you? I didn’t mean to.


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Central Intelligence

How About That!

Jen Pawol will work the bases in Saturday’s Marlins-Braves game, making her MLB’s first regular-season female umpire.

Executives are calling this year’s trade deadline one of the best ever.

Tonight’s historic matchup between the Blue Jays and Dodgers pits Max Scherzer against Clayton Kershaw. Both future Hall-of-Famers are members of the 3,000 strikeout club.

Mike Trout needs two more home runs to reach 400 for his career. Imagine where he’d be had he been able to stay consistently healthy.

Opponents are convinced the Red Sox are stealing signs again.

Extra Innings

What are the offensive ramifications if Tucker walks and Owen Caissie replaces him? Do we think Caissie can hit 20-25 taters with 85-95 ribeyes as a rookie? I’m sure there will be a drop in BA, OBP, and OPS, and Tucker is better defensively.

 

They Said It

  • “Just doing the best I can. Gotta grind through it. Try and figure it out and turn it around. I mean, it’s fine. I gotta do my job regardless of how I feel. I’ll just continue that the best I can.” – Tucker
  • “I don’t know how much is pain, discomfort, how much is bad habits [Tucker] got into to compensate for something, and just how much is a slump. There’s no question it’s had some impact on him.” – Jed Hoyer
  • “There’s a lot of good things happening there, it’s just [Kyle’s] missing some pitches he feels like he should hit. That’s hitting sometimes. You miss a pitch you should hit, a pitcher makes a good pitch and you’re walking back to the dugout. That’s the fine line of hitting in the big leagues.” – Craig Counsell
  • “They’re vulnerable against lefties. When Tucker isn’t hitting them, they’re going to have trouble. But he usually does, so that sets up that whole middle of their lineup. Since you asked, I didn’t think they would touch their offense at the deadline. They have the pieces already there to do damage both in power and speed.” – Anonymous Coach
  • “What we were doing for the first two months — while unbelievably fun — I think at some level, you kind of knew that wasn’t sustainable. I mean, you look at all the underlying numbers, we were gonna have some regression. I think now we’re due for the opposite. When you look at our numbers over the last like nine weeks or so, I think we’re due for some of these guys to come out of their slumps. So I try to be pretty balanced about it.” – Hoyer

Friday Walk-Up Song

I’m sending complimentary entomophagy catering to Milwaukee’s clubhouse tonight.


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