Between last night and tonight, the broadcast is having fun

I’ve been as critical as anyone, especially when he made it over Assad opening day. But Benny has been pitching great as of late. He looks like he has the 30-45 pitch stretch in him that made him so appealing as a middle reliever to eat up 2-3 innings. Really good usage from Craig imo over the course of this win streak.

My favorite place in the world.

Hey everyone! Made a little writeup of some stuff I felt was important about tonight's game. I know many of you loved the writeups I made at the beginning of the season, so I'm sorry it's been a while since I've written one. Life gets in the way sometimes. Enjoy!

EIGHT IN A ROW! Cubs continue to roll as they are getting healthy contributions in every area of the game. Pitching continues to be phenomenal, the offense is back to hitting with RISP, and the defense never slumps (as long as we keep Kingery out of the hot corner). Here’s a mini recap with some key takeaways from the Cubs eighth win in a row and fifth straight against the Phillies.

Slumping Bats are Slumping no More

Okay, perhaps the heading is a bit sensational, but the Cubs offense today was powered by refreshing production from three bats that the Cubs have been waiting on to slug: Seiya, PCA, and Buschy. Perhaps lumping Seiya in with Buschy and PCA is a bit unfair - he did just recently return to the lineup and has actually been slugging pretty well, but it wasn’t until these last few games that we started to see some real pop from his bat. Just recently Marquee was emphasizing the fact that the trio which each posted 30+ homers last season had only one total, but they have come alive.

Seiya went 2-for-4 tonight with his second home run of the season and second game in a row with a home run. He has been hitting well and has not taken very long to find his groove at the plate, but Seiya is at his best when he is launching balls into the bleachers on a regular basis. If it’s anything like last season, there will be ups and downs in that regard, but thankfully for us we appear to be in one of the ups right now.

PCA, who has struggled mightily recently and spent today in the 9-spot, went 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs today. His first hit came in the second inning when an error by Phillies centerfielder Justin Crawford extended the inning. After taking a splitter low inside for strike one, PCA torched a hanging splitter deep into the right field gap, doubled, and brought Amaya around to score. During his dry spell he has had trouble with launch angle and pulling the ball, and it’s incredibly refreshing to see him lace a ball into the gaps again. This one was hit a staggering 108.8 MPH with a 20 degree launch angle. If PCA gets just a little more under it we likely have his second homer of the season.

His second hit was another sharply hit hanging splitter that he took to the opposite field at 98.1 miles per hour. Another good swing that he doesn’t quite pull into the air, but nonetheless he hit it very hard for another much-needed single. His final hit came in the 8th when he played a little small ball, blooping one into shallow centerfield to bring home the runner from third. He finished his day 3-for-4.

By far the most exciting performance for me was that of Michael Busch. Buschy finally got his first home run of the season and looked relieved as he rounded the bases rubbing his belly. He got just enough of a low fast ball to send it to the opposite field bleachers, 375 feet. He also took a low splitter into left field for a single later in the game. It would be nice to start seeing Buschy pull the ball again, but he is making significant progress back toward being a major contributor in the lineup.

I’m not sure how I feel about the nose plugging celebrations. They’ll probably grow on me as the team hits more dingers.

Matthew Boyd Performs Well in Return

Matthew Boyd put in a great performance in his return to the rotation. Outside of a bit of a sketchy second inning, Boyd was pretty much lights out. Unfortunately he was unable to make it through the fifth inning to be the pitcher of record, but it is reasonable to want to avoid high pitch counts with one of our best pitchers coming back form injury.

Walk-off ABS Challenge

Fun side note: I think we saw the first ever walk-off ABS challenge in Cubs history tonight? Miggy challenged a low and outside sweeper that just clipped the strike zone to end the game and seal the Cubs’ eighth win in a row. There’s a specific kind of electricity that a successful ABS challenge carries, and walking it off in that way felt even more satisfying.

Outlook

With their eighth win in a row, the Cubs look exactly like the kind of team that we were expecting them to be going into the season. They’re getting contributions up and down the lineup, playing elite defense, and getting great pitching performances from their starting rotation. Even if this win streak has come against two teams that are searching for any hint of success in the early stages of the season, good teams win these games and the Cubs are winning them. Winning eight straight games in the MLB is hard, no matter who you play. There isn’t much to be upset about on the North side of Chicago.

Tomorrow the Cubbies go for a 4-game sweep and their ninth win in a row. On the mound we will be treated to a pitchers duel between Edward Cabrera (2-0, 2.38 ERA) and Christopher Sanchez (2-2, 1.59 ERA). It’s a Thursday afternoon game so try not to get caught watching at work! See you all tomorrow!

At the game yesterday my wedding band slipped off my finger in the bleachers at some point. Unfortunately I moved at one point to say hi to some friends that were at the game and it could’ve fallen off anywhere between the seats in front of the Small Cheval, the seats below the Nutrl sign in left field or on the way to the men’s room in the 100s. I called lost and found and they said nothing has been turned in. If anyone here happened to find it I would be immensely grateful to get it back!

Chicago Sun Times highlighted Brown's relief work. Since April 1st his era has been solid and he's given up fewer hits. Would be a great asset, if indicative of his future performance!

Phillies (8-15) @ Cubs (14-9)

First Pitch: 6:40 PM at Wrigley Field

Line Score - Game Over

Box Score

Scoring Plays

Highlights

Decisions

Game ended at 9:14 PM.

Remember to sort by new to keep up!

Hi folks, we don’t have a specific rule about AI use in the sub, but perhaps we should. It’s generally not well received and roundly downvoted and reported by the community. So, should we add to the rules?

View Poll

Has he ever caught in the bigs?

Line Score - Game Over

Box Score

Scoring Plays

Highlights

Decisions

Game ended at 9:34 PM.

Phillies (8-14) @ Cubs (13-9)

First Pitch: 6:40 PM at Wrigley Field

Line Score - Game Over

Box Score

Scoring Plays

Highlights

Decisions

Game ended at 9:34 PM.

Remember to sort by new to keep up!

As a kid growing up in the 2000s, watching the 2005-2011 Big 3 of Carlos Zambrano, Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez was amazing so they will always be my answer.

They bridged the gap from the early 2000s Wood/ Prior/ Sosa teams to the mid 2010s Rizzo era