Still Gotta Come Through Chicago
Grab Your Cup Of Coffee And Let's Talk Some SPORTS
We’re back for another edition of the bi-monthly Still Gotta Come Through Chicago!
In all seriousness, apologies — again — for the delay between newsletters. I promise they will become more frequent again now that sports are back up and running.
We’ve got a little intro-type letter to get you going for the weekend and we’ll dive more into the weeds of things next week. Let’s go!
I’m not even going to ask you to spread the word about the newsletter this week — I don’t deserve that shit. Just dip your toes in and we’ll all hold hands and dive back in together in the coming weeks.
What’s been up with you all? I know some of you have been looking for an outlet to air your baseball grievances. I know god damn well some of you have some dumb ass takes about Eddie Goldman opting out. And I know — I know! — that in lieu of threatening Dr. Anthony Fauci’s life with the rest of the loons, you all have been swearing you’d hit Craig Kimbrel in the face if you saw him in person.
As many of you have probably noticed, any cool stance or individual tradition in sports immediately looks so incredibly fucking stupid if you suck.
Absolutely electric.
“Hey Craig, step off the mound buddy! Put your goddamn arm down. You just let up back-to-back homers. Matter of fact, just get back in the dug out. And put your mask on while you’re at it.”
When literally zero people (I believe this is still a fact) have swung and missed at your curve ball the entire year, you can’t do anything other than a vanilla-ass wind up.
It’s reminiscent of when Fernando Rodney, who was somehow still closing games last year, got older.
Pretty cool when you have a sub-3 ERA. When you can’t get the ball over the plate, and when you do, the batter immediately hits it 450 feet, it’s time to retire the bow and arrow. Love the confidence, though. In fact, one of my biggest belly laughs watching a Cubs game over the last ten years was when he did this after walking like three batters in a row and getting pulled in a game at Wrigley.
I once saw Louis C.K.’s stand up live in Chicago. Extremely funny set until the last ten minutes. The last ten minutes got a little sexual, and frankly, a tad weird. Didn’t think much of it besides a shrug of a shoulders to my buddy and a ‘That last part was kind of weird, huh?’ until I found out he was a serial masturbator, or whatever you want to call it. Now, looking back — the stand up just doesn’t hit the same.
Apples to oranges, for sure, but same energy. Once I know this, you can’t do that.
Put the arm down Kimbrel, until someone swings and misses at your curve ball.
But I digress.
How ‘bout them Cubbies? Now, they just wiped out their entire positive run differential in one game against the Royals, but I think we can all agree that 1. They were due for a loss, and probably a shellacking and 2. That Tyler Chatwood or Alec Mills was due for a terrible start.
Up until that game, the Cubs had the best starting pitching ERA in the league (1.95 ERA) and the worst bullpen ERA in the league (7.55 ERA).
Having sports back was all fun and games until Kimbrel did all he possibly could to blow that game in Cincinnati. If you stayed up for that game, you know that feeling. Damn, glad I can watch these games again, but damn, having my blood pressure rise at 11 p.m. over the Cubs bullpen was not something I totally missed.
(Edit: Kimbrel just came in and immediately gave up an extra-base hit)
At least David Ross — who, by all means, has exceeded my expectations, and then some this year — has adjusted. He should adjust more. In Kimbrel’s first couple outings, Ross pulled the plug way too late. It’s a 60-game season, no time to let him get in his groove. Just because you pay him more doesn’t mean you should operate your leash any differently. The other day, Kimbrel came in and gave up two hits, and his night was done. But he almost lost the game.
Shout out to Cooper Rushing for being on the right side of the Ross argument in October.
Until he figures his shit out, outside of live action or in blow-outs, I don’t want to see him near the mound. Again, it’s a 60-game season. We don’t have time to give the veteran with a 32.4 ERA a few lives. Perform or sit out like Albert Almora Jr.
And this has been Ross’ best strength otherwise. Play the best guys and basically, just don’t do the bad shit that Joe Maddon did the last few years. He’s done that. Play the best guys, keep the best pitcher in until they’re gassed, and win baseball games.
Who knows if Ross is to thank for this, but the energy surrounding the Cubs has been unbelievable of late. Theo Epstein said that Ross has cleaned up things that have been an issue for years — and that’s not something Epstein would just say, particularly because it makes Maddon look bad.
Chatwood said that Ross “just gives you a look and you know ‘Oh crap, let me clean some stuff up right here.’ He has the respect of the whole team. It’s awesome.”
I love Maddon, and hated how he managed the last couple years. It’s possible to have both of those emotions. But Ross, for now — again, it’s 13 games in — has done an incredible job from what I can tell.
The White Sox just won six games in a row for the first time since April of 2017. With the exception of Ricky Renteria being hell-bent on putting out the worst possible lineup possible every other game, the Sox have been must-see television.
Even when they’re bad it’s must see:
“At least Eloy doesn’t embarrass himself like Schwarber used to.”
Sorry Sox fans, I had to do it. That may be the worst display of defense I’ve witnessed since I personally got the pop-up yips in Pony baseball and would fall down almost any time a pop up came near third base. My baseball career ended at 18. This guy is supposed to be an All-Star. Phew.
Having said all of that, the youngin’s have been buzzing. Luis Robert looks like the kid in Little League who would have to miss a game because a parent from the rich town demanded to see his birth certificate because he hit four home runs in the game before. The guy had 17 hits, a .415 OBP, and a 1 fWAR in his first 12 games as a pro.
Whether he mellows out or not, that is insane.
For reference, Yoan Moncada led the White Sox with a 5.7 fWAR last year. If Robert were to stay on this pace, he’d double that over 162 games. He won’t stay on this pace, but the fact that a guy who most fans thought would start off a bit slow is playing this well, this early, is more than encouraging.
If you need the WAR definition, that’s here.
All you need to know, though, is that the young Sox are all not only playing well, but they’re contributing to winning actual games for the team, something that was hard to tell in the previous couple years.
The pitching hasn’t been great — but Keuchel was the other day in his start and Lucas Giolito has rebounded.
FanGraphs has the Sox right now at an 82% chance of making the playoffs. Remember, the playoffs are expanded to 16 teams this year.
An update on the bets I made after approximately ten beers on opening day:
— Cubs/White Sox season series bet (bet way too much and not necessarily confident)
— A Schwarber/Eloy OPS bet (Don’t ask. not too confident here either.)
— My buddy, after clearly more than 10 beers, bet me that the Cubs wouldn’t be one of the top two teams in their division (very confident)… and gave me 2 to 1 odds!
I’ve been betting legally recently (sorry if my former bookie is reading this). Do I like giving the state of Illinois money? Not necessarily. Is it nice to know exactly how much I’m up or down at all times and have to put the money down right away like a real adult? Honestly, kind of, yeah.
I’m starting to think I’d rather never see my friends again than never sports bet again. Throwing up the three-pointer symbol by myself at midnight as Gary Trent Jr. hits a three to draw the Trail Blazers closer in an inconsequential game in Disney World feels like a quarter life crisis and also the best high this guy’s ever had.
And. how. ‘bout. those. m’fin. Blackhawks. They should put me on NBC. I barely could decipher offsides in hockey until about a year and a half ago and I could’ve told you these bad mamajamas weren’t going out without a fight.
Now they’re up 2-1 in a five-game series to make the official playoffs in a year that they were absolute dog shit.
There’s not much better than the boys buzzin’ in late Spring but god dammit I’ll take it with no fans to scream DA DA DA DA in early August.
The Blackhawks are the most Still Gotta Come Through Chicago team since the ‘90s Bulls. Oh, we suck? Maybe. But you Still Gotta Come Through Chicago.
I hope everyone is knocking down some cold ones tonight and enjoying what could close out a massive upset.
What’d you say? Did you just ask me if I’m embarrassed that I spent a week of my life making a hype video for the hiring of Arturas Karnisovas (AK-47?) (The Renaissance Man?) and he hasn’t fired Jim Boylen yet and apparently doesn’t have the autonomy to do so?
Yes, yes I am.
The Bulls ownership has treated Jim Boylen — the unequivocal worst coach in the NBA — with more respect and confidence than:
-Derrick Rose
-Luol Deng
-Tom Thibodeau
-Phil Jackson
-Scottie Pippen
-Michael Jordan
And that’s just a short list. I can’t stand these ass holes. More on this, and a lot more, next week.
Lastly:
My god.
Thanks for reading. Hop in the comments and have a fantastic weekend. Still Gotta Come Through Chicago is back.
Do not forget to comment!
You got me fired up for tonight’s game. Go hawks baby!
That Eloy play was the most embarrassing defensive performance I’ve ever seen in my life. He’s gotta learn to just let some of these balls drop and play them off the wall otherwise he’s gonna get hurt