Still Gotta Come Through Chicago

Realignment, Bunts and Fights

Happy Friday Chicago!

With all the advertisements for online therapy interrupting my podcasts these days, I’ve decided to start thinking more about how I can improve my mental health. I’m trying one thing per week, and it seems to be working.

I started this week.

Here’s the exercise: I repeat “don’t think about college football conference realignment” three times out loud and then try to move on with my day. You should try it, too. It probably works for everybody.

If I thought about that all day, it would ruin me. What my favorite sport is becoming is impossible to digest, and so I just won’t.

I’ve even thought about signing up for one of those online therapy sessions and then just bombarding some poor 25-year-old with an hour straight of unhinged arguments against conference realignment.

I feel like that would be therapeutic, and they also can’t tell anyone what their client says. So instead of my friends saying, ‘I cannot hang out with him anymore, he was screaming TAKE ME BACK TO 2006! last night over and over again while listening to sad music,” I can offer them some respite while giving a young therapist some experience. Maybe I’ll radicalize someone else on the way.

But the better idea, the one I’ve decided on, is to continue to *not* think about it and enjoy the last of my summer weekends.

I’m kicking it off tonight at Wrigley Field with some Older-Adult-Erotica (a Bruce Springsteen concert).

I unexpectedly gained peace of mind on this subject as I was ordering my yearly College Football Preview magazine from Phil Steele this past week. I still like getting some ink underneath the fingers, paging through a million names and notes that may come in handy when I’m coercing someone to stay up to watch — and bet on — the Fresno State-Wyoming game in October.

As I was checking my preferences pre-order, I saw one last option: to order the magazine to a correctional facility.

I couldn’t help but smile, man. That’s what it’s all about.

Teams will come and go from conferences. The string pullers will continue to pull strings, and management at ESPN will keep shoving Pat McAfee in our faces on College GameDay. Things will change.

But as long as the game is pure enough that prisoners are ordering — and paging through — 300-page college football season previews, I’m in for the ride, no questions asked.

Plus, if you haven’t fantasized about getting six months in prison, meeting some lifelong friends, getting in sick shape, and catching up on reading, are you really even a man?

It’s a good question that I’ll let you answer.

“Conference realignment” is just a fancy term for greedy administrators and TV executives to hide behind.

It’s like a “Lunch and Learn” at work. Sounds kind of fun by the name, but really, you just have to continue working while you shove your stale turkey sandwich down your throat. Instead of enjoying the one 30-minute time slot of unadulterated peace you get in a day, you’re offering your thoughts on “best practices.”

Just The Man pulling wool over your head and printing some more money out of your rear end, while the sun is at its peak.

That’s what conference realignment is. Greedy pieces of shit hiding behind closed doors, sucking every penny out of a sport that was once wacky, unpredictable and pure, even with its warts.

As for my specific thoughts on Oregon and Washington joining the Big Ten, I’ll just refer you to my thoughts on UCLA and USC joining the Big Ten last year.

It sucks, it’s stupid. Will I be going out to the West Coast, donning Iowa gear, and affirming every stereotype West Coasters have about Midwesterners every year? Absolutely. But that’s besides the point.

With football season so close, I can’t let things I can’t control knock me off my course. Come Week 0, I will be watching — until the end of time — no matter what. There’s no point in going to bed angry over “conference realignment,” even if it has effectively ruined a wonderful part of the sport.

I’ll still watch.

And instead of watching College GameDay with McAfee ripping off pre-written, awful jokes in a tank top and suit coat, I’m going to sit on my balcony with my shirt off, drinking some coffee and watching re-runs of GameDay from a better time. Commercials and all.

Coffee. Shirt off. Balcony. College GameDay reruns. Maybe a little Rocky 4 Soundtrack as we near the 11 a.m. kick off.

*I will not think about conference realignment*

That sounds like a good enough plan to me.

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Be careful what you wish for.

The Cubs are in the thick of the playoff race and it’s taking so much of my time and energy that Thursday’s off day felt like a day off for me, too.

One day you’re hoping they don’t sell and that Matt Mervis may progress into a decent piece.

The next day you’re gripping the couch when there’s two men on, no outs, and they’re down one in New York. You decide not to text your father, because he’s likely retired to bed, and he doesn’t deserve the pulse spike the next 10 minutes are going to deliver.

And I made the right call.

Part of what comes with a playoff race is that aforementioned stress. The other thing that comes with it is manager scrutiny, fair or not.

It turns out David Ross pisses me off a lot more when he’s bunting in the 9th inning of a game that could keep you within 1.5 games of the division lead, and not in a game that could lead to the team’s 70th win in September.

The Braves series felt like the playoffs to me. But it also felt like validation. The Cubs were hot, but in the back of your head, you’re still wondering how good this team really is. The 8-0 Game 1 loss made me nervous. The two wins after that, though, made this all feel real.

I just knew the Mets series was going to be trouble. The Cubs had been winning nearly every game for what felt like a month straight. They beat the best team in baseball in a series. Then they go to New York to play a Mets team that has given up.

Of course they were going to leave there with their first series loss since the Red Sox came to town in mid-July.

But it could’ve been different.

For those of you that missed it, in Wednesday night’s game, the Cubs entered the top of the 9th down 4-2. Seiya Suzuki — who finally came alive in that game — immediately homers. Jeimer Candelario rips a single and then Mike Tauchman (who was again out of the lineup!) walks.

First and second, no outs. Down one run.

Then, again, we bunt! STOP BUNTING.

This isn’t some appeal to Moneyballers, it’s just common sense. You have no outs, there’s a pitching change. The guy coming in has a fucking 6 ERA. Best-case scenario, you get the runners over and an out. In a worse scenario, no one gets over and you don’t get the bunt down. Hell, in the worst-case scenario, you could still end up with a double play.

The best-case scenario occurred, Nick Madrigal laid down a bunt and moved the runners over.

We gave the Mets — who couldn’t get anyone out — an out for no reason. We clearly don’t know our personnel, either, because (after Nico) the next two hitters up strike out more than just about anybody else on the team that gets regular at-bats. Christopher Morel guesses wrong and looks at a fastball right down the middle. Strike 3. Nico walks. Ian Happ looks helpless. Strike 3.

You know who gets left on deck? Ah, just Cody Bellinger.

The idea is to give your team as many chances to win as possible, not to deliberately take a chance away. That’s what bunting does in most cases. And that’s what it did Wednesday night.

There’s not a single bunt I’ve agreed with this year, and they’ve often come at awful, awful times.

That’s the difference between winning the division or not this late in the season.

I’m generally not a guy that cries about the manager day in and day out. I generally like Ross. But his decision making, in game, has really proved to be poor this year. When your team is hot, get out of the fucking way.

Don’t even get me started on lefty-righty matchups, which are in part to blame for Mike Tauchman inexplicably sitting random games. The guy is slashing .364/.438/.623 since the All-Star break. That’s a 1.062 OPS. For context, Shohei Ohtani is leading the MLB this year with a 1.076 OPS.

Your best players should be in the lineup every night, and Tauchman is one of those guys right now.

Elsewhere, Drew Smyly was removed from the rotation this week. I still think he’s a valuable guy, and will bet he comes in handy at some point from here on out. It’s still probably the right move. He’s been terrible lately.

Javier Assad — who has been fantastic — is pitching today in his place. In July, hitters slashed .113/.214/.194 against him.

The Blue Jays series is going to be a tough one.

But, if we’re going to acknowledge that, we can also take some solace from the fact that the Cubs have the third-easiest schedule in the MLB from here on out.

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I was sort of thinking — and hoping — that last week would be the last time I wrote about the White Sox until the winter meetings.

Boy was I wrong.

It all kicked off with Tim Anderson squaring up with Jose Ramirez at second base, leading to the most wild brawl I’ve ever witnessed in the MLB.

It’s honestly overwhelming how many amazing things occurred during that scuffle.

Let’s get this out of the way, though. Jose Ramirez was in the wrong in the first place, which has been lost during this whole story. He was mad at Tim Anderson for holding a tag on him? Not only had he held it on him for just two or three seconds prior to Ramirez looking up at him and swiping at him, but every single infielder in baseball does that, especially with the ability to review now. Guys often come off the bag, and if the tag is still placed, that’s an out. It’s dumb, but it would be malpractice not to hold the tag.

There was also something in there about Tim “not respecting” the game in the past. It’s easy to pile on a guy when he’s down. Tim has been terrible this year, and his off-the-field shit doesn’t help. But let’s not let that cloud what went on here.

Outside of a bat flip here or there (which doesn’t bother me), I don’t see him disrespecting the game.

Now, to the fight. Firstly, I think some props is actually due for Tim. The dude literally just squared up with Ramirez immediately and started swinging. That’s awesome.

The ump, who was in the middle, actually put both of his arms out to stop them, then released and backed away like he was the referee in a prize fight. He had to have muttered “fight” under his breath as he backed away.

Tim threw two decent punches, but pretty much missed both. Then, Ramirez basically KO’d him with a right hook.

It needs to be said, though, that that was maybe one of the most lucky landed punches in the history of fighting. Ramirez’s face is directly facing the ground, with Michael Kopech half-heartedly grabbing him from behind. The fact it landed perfectly where it did is a miracle.

You’ve just got to cover up, my man.

That was by far the most exciting thing that’s happened in a White Sox game all year.

But the best came after the fight. Eloy Jimenez getting hurt during the bench clearing was the hardest I’ve laughed at a sports-related event in a long, long time. You could not write a fictitious version of that.

Tim Anderson gets knocked out after putting his fists up, his teammates fail to step in, and then Eloy gets hurt walking around the infield. It’s just too good to be true.

Pedro Grifol was also in the thick of things, and part of me believes he wanted to do something to get suspended. Something to put him out of his misery.

Everything he says sounds like he got it from ChatGPT.

I will defend him on the comment he made this week, though, about development not taking priority over winning major league games.

I saw a lot of Sox fans mad about that, but what the fuck is he supposed to say? Yeah, we’re waving the white flag on winning and hoping some guys develop?

That’s the front office’s job. They can demand he play this player or that player, but if they don’t, I wouldn’t expect a major league manager to put development first.

That doesn’t excuse everything else he says and does, though.

Anyway, after the fight, the dam really broke — even though we thought it already had.

Shane Riordan of 670 The Score reported that, before the All-Star break, Yasmani Grandal slapped Tim Anderson, too. He asked if he could leave a day before the break (he wasn’t in the lineup). Tim took offense to that and said he’d buy his fucking flight out of there, or something to that effect. Grandal then slapped him, reportedly.

There’s multiple layers to this story. For one, I still kind of agree with Tim Anderson on this one? In for a penny, in for a pound. This is major league baseball. No early exits for vacation, no matter if you’re in the lineup or not.

At the same time, I remember how much Grandal stuck up for Tim during the whole Josh Donaldson fiasco. Given that Grandal publicly and privately had his back during that time period, could Tim have not handled this situation with a little more professionalism?

How about a, “Hey man, we’re a team, and we want all hands on deck no matter what. Stick around.”

If you’ve watched the White Sox over the last couple of years, it’s pretty evident that there’s a culture problem. That’s further evidenced by the fact that every guy that has gotten traded immediately looks like his new team gave him a mix of ecstacy and steroids upon arrival.

But the indisputable proof came in an ESPN story this week, in which former White Sox reliever Keynan Middleton absolutely laid into the organization.

Just a few quotes from that story, linked above:

"We came in with no rules," Middleton said. "I don't know how you police the culture if there are no rules or guidelines to follow because everyone is doing their own thing. Like, how do you say anything about it because there are no rules?

"You have rookies sleeping in the bullpen during the game. You have guys missing meetings. You have guys missing PFPs (pitcher fielding practices), and there are no consequences for any of this stuff.

"When I got to spring training, I heard a lot of the same stuff was happening last year," Middleton said. "It's happening again this year, so not sure how I could change it. They don't tell you not to miss PFPs. They don't tell you not to miss meetings, and if it happens, it's just, ‘OK.’

"There was no jelling of the team. We're supposed to find our identity in spring training so we can roll out for the season. If you don't find your identity, you're scuffling from Day 1."

Rick Hahn and Pedro Grifol denied those claims in their own ways, with Grifol even pointing the blame at the players. Jerry Reinsdorf, approached by reporters the next day, refused to answer questions.

Other players, including Lance Lynn, confirmed Middleton’s comments. Duh.

20 games below, a selloff after a failed rebuild, and a complete lack of culture. What’s not to love about these White Sox?

Everything will surely stay status quo, though. That’s the Jerry Reinsdorf way! White Sox… White Sox… Go… Go… White Sox.

Four wins in the last five games, though!

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As each NFL preseason kicks off, I’m reminded of Mitch Trubisky’s first appearance. He looked awesome. I remember where I was.

Alas, preseason football is fun to watch because it’s football. For anything else, it’s not worth much.

Will I be taking notes, looking for standouts? Absolutely. With Justin Fields starting, will I be locked in at noon on Saturday? Certainly. Every preseason game means we’re closer to the start of the real season.

Next week, we’ll be able to finally rely on our own eyes, and not reports from training camp on who looks like “they may have a breakout year” because they caught a pass.

Let’s. Go.

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