Still Gotta Come Through Chicago

Play-In Ready; Cubs Rolling; Sox Hurt

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We’ve had back-to-back beautiful days in the city, and the dopamine laying dormant in my brain since December has been activated.

So much so, in fact, that I am semi-excited for some Bulls postseason basketball tonight. Really, it’s the lowest-stakes post-season game in the NBA this year (and to be honest, arguably in the history of it — or at least right up there).

But when the weather turns, the regular season is over, and my Bulls are playing, I’m one of Pavlov’s dogs. It doesn’t matter if it’s not Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Ben Gordon, or Luol Deng walking through that door, nor does it matter that it’s not the Wade/Shaq Heat or the Allen/Pierce/Rondo/KG Celtics on the other side of the floor.

It’s in Toronto, it’s low-stakes, and yet I’ll have a pillow positioned perfectly on the low-back and be locked in come 5:45 CT today. That much, I can guarantee you. After all, it’s in for a penny, in for a pound.

The Bulls repeatedly expressing satisfaction with being in this specific position — the play-in round — is sickening, no doubt. It doesn’t need to be mentioned at all, really. Let’s just play the game.

Acknowledging your participation in the play-in round, unless you are on Year 2 of a rebuild (which the Bulls are not), is a little bit like wearing a Dog Mom or Dog Dad hat around. There is no reason to celebrate the process of buying a dog — anyone can do it — just like there’s no reason to celebrate the play-in. You are not special. The Oklahoma City Thunder did it, and every other moron in my apartment building is, I guess, a “Dog Mom” or “Dog Dad.”

Nevertheless, tonight is likely to be a dog fight. Whoever wins will face the Miami Heat, surprisingly, after the Atlanta Hawks pulled off the upset over them last night. The winner of that game, which will be played Friday night, will get the grand prize of taking on the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round.

But that is neither here nor there just yet.

The Raptors won the season series against the Bulls 2-1, but only outscored them by one total point in those three contests. They’ve been ridiculously hard-fought games.

In the last game, the offensive rebounds are what killed the Bulls. The Raptors are built like a parody of today’s NBA today. Everyone is 6’8 or 6’9 with a long wingspan and athletic as all hell, sans Fred VanVleet.

From Steph Noh’s most recent Substack post, the (Bulls, Raptors) ranks since the All-Star break:

Deflections: 2nd | 1st

3-point makes: 25th | 28th

Offense: 13th | 18th

Defense: 4th | 2nd

Record: 12-10 | 12-10

What this all amounts to is close games that generally don’t look pretty. If you’re watching and not all that engaged, I completely understand. If you’re not watching at all, I completely understand.

But for you sickos rolling with me for this fight, prepared for a frustrating-as-all-hell contest, one where the refs and the Bulls lack of three-point shooting each take the blame from us throughout.

In order for the Bulls to win, Alex Caruso will have to be dominant defensively, while at times overmatched due to the Raptors’ size. Outside of that, rebounding will be paramount.

Perhaps more than anything, however, is the need for the Bulls “Big 3” (don’t call them that to anyone that you want to take you seriously) to play well. They have played together more than any group in the league this year, and the Bulls haven’t been very good.

But for them to be good tonight, each will need to produce — namely Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic, in my opinion.

That’s going to be hard. The Raptors are great defensively, and will no doubt be zero’d in on DeMar DeRozan and LaVine. Making the right pass will be key, but hopefully to each other.

The Bulls fatal flaw is that they cannot utilize the skills of their best players to the fullest extent because their role players often fail to hit wide-open threes, which the Bulls stars should theoretically be producing as they garner attention.

That will be something to keep an eye on, but if two of three of those guys have an off night (however you want to define that), the Bulls chances of winning are slim.

The Bulls are 5-point underdogs currently.

This game doesn’t matter, and whether they lose this one, the next one, or the series that would follow those two wins, the prognosis will be the same at the end of the season.

But that’s like going out and already whining about the incoming hangover at the pregame. Shut up, grab the beer, turn the music up, and enjoy the night until it’s over.

We’ll deal with the hangover when it gets here.

On that note…

LETS GO BULLS!

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The Cubs recent stretch has been too full of early-season magic to ignore in a mid-week newsletter.

This team, full of new faces, officially arrived with the nice weather. It’s been the most fun I’ve had watching Cubs baseball in two years, at least. Even the final good stretches with the Old Cubs felt all for naught as they were happening.

It’s good to be back on the other side of the hill, moving up.

After taking two of three from the Rangers behind Marcus Stroman and Justin Steele, the Cubs lost — so predictably — on Sunday. The Cubs lose virtually every game they ever play on Sunday, but that’s especially true if 1. they’re home 2. they’ve won the first two games of the series and gotten Cubs fans excited. It’s remarkable.

Collectively, Stroman and Steele have pitched 24 inning thus far, totaling 25 strike outs, 1 earned run and 11 walks. They have also allowed virtually no hard contact.

In the second half of last year, Steele also had a sub-1 ERA. He has been lights out for some time now. What remains to be seen is if he can put in workhorse-type production, closer to 200 innings pitched than 100 innings pitched. The same goes for Stroman, though he’s produced those type of years before.

After the Sunday loss, the Cubs rebounded with an extra-inning win over the Mariners Monday. They lost the one-run lead in the 9th. Keegan Thompson (sort of) loaded the bases in the 10th before getting out of it. Nick Madrigal pinch ran and stole third before the pitcher even threw the ball in the bottom half of the inning, and Nico Hoerner drove him in.

"I'm so grateful to be here, to be a Cub,” Hoerner said to Taylor McGregor after the walk-off win.

The Cubs should be winning games that they wouldn’t have won the last year and a half. They’re better now. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t feel very good to see that turn of events come to fruition.

To make things better, after Hayden Wesneski struggled early Tuesday and the Cubs went down 7-0 early, they came all the way back by the third inning!, took a lead, and never looked back. The 14-9 win included 18 Cub hits.

The 24-year-old Nelson Valazquez, who the Cubs just pulled up Monday, went 3-4 with a grand slam. What a night for the kid.

Two magical nights at Wrigley Field that had me believing wild things about what this Cubs team could do. It could be the no-longer-dormant dopamine, but their energy feels different. They’re better, sure. But they seem especially bought in, too, for a 2023 MLB ball club. It’s been a joy to watch.

Of course that unadulterated joy could not last long. Soon after the Cubs gained the lead, Dansby Swanson left with discomfort in his side — likely an oblique. He pulled himself from the game, which is especially concerning given that he played 162 games last year.

Swanson has been one of the best players in all of baseball thus far, both offensively and defensively. He was hitting .333/.415/.389 coming into the game. He was 4/4 in it.

Obviously, the hope is that it’s not severe. But he’s been the clear linchpin of the team. Losing him is just so disheartening after the high that came from these last two nights.

UPDATE**: Swanson apparently had been cramping after spending all night in the hospital with this wife (who was having extensive knee surgery), and not drinking or eating much.

Either way, I’m trying to enjoy what has transpired this last week or so. The Cubs will likely not always be this hot hitting — there will be lulls, especially if homers are hard to come by — but they’ve hit well above expectation thus far. The team has battled back and won games I certainly didn’t expect them to — and against good competition.

But either way, these early wins are so important, especially if we’re expecting those lulls. And especially because the upcoming schedule includes the Dodgers twice and the Padres. At least the A’s and Nats are mixed in throughout that stretch.

Plus, the new Wrigley lights (which I was tired of hearing about) look quite good. The crowds look even better.

Photo via Zach Zaidman (@ZachZaidman) from the broadcast booth.

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First, I’d like to offer up a mea culpa to Michael Kopech.

I suggested his awful start against the Giants was a part of a larger trend. Turns out that I didn’t realize he was tipping pitches, though the Giants very much did.

Jomboy did an incredible breakdown of that below. The Giants knew whether breaking balls or fastballs were coming. The four homers in an inning make more sense now.

The Sox have continued to struggle since Friday.

A familiar foe is partially responsible for that — ah, yes, shoulders, knees, toes, hamstrings, backs.

Once you view it as comedy, it should get better.

Included on the Sox injury report as of today:

— Tim Anderson, who is on the IL with a sprained knee and expected to be back in 2-4 weeks.

— Yoan Moncada, who has been day-to-day with a bad back. He could return this weekend.

— Eloy Jimenez, who is on the IL with a strained hamstring. He could also return this weekend too, according to Pedro Grifol.

— Joe Kelly, who is on the IL with a groin injury. His is the best by far (again, comedy), because he injured himself running in from the bullpen during the benches-clearing incident in Pittsburgh.

You can’t make this stuff up.

These injuries — especially for Moncada and Jimenez — are a macro issue, not a micro one. Plus, with Liam Hendriks out, losing Kelly hurts more.

If this continues — which it will — something drastic needs to change for the Sox. Whether it’s the medical staff or, hell, just the players.

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