As the sun sets on Thursday April 10th, the Chicago Cubs are in first place in the NL Central. After an 0-2 start in Tokyo against the Dodgers, the Cubs have went 9-4, good for a one-game lead over the Brewers in the division. It’s been a good start.
Kyle Tucker has been everything we’d hoped he would be; that’s nice. Your big offseason acquisition doing his thing, including hitting home runs in 4 straight games I believe. He is the reigning NL Player of the Week. In his first 11 games (per @ckamka), he has 11+ hits, runs, walks, and RBIs. First time for a Cubs player since Rogers Hornsby back almost 100 years ago in 1929. He’s been all that and then some. Only problem? The Cubs haven’t resigned him yet. Talk about F-ing up a good thing. OK, he’s still in a Cubs uniform, and should be the rest of this year, but… will the Cubs pony up when it matters? He’s going to demand a HUGE deal, bigger than Jason Heyward (haha); I see no problem in signing him, you? But, if the Cubs continue to operate like a mid-market team, and rely on the charm of summer at Wrigley (no better place in the world btw) to get a guy like Tucker to give a “hometown discount”, then… OK, let’s keep it positive; oh, but one more thing…
Justin Steele is on the IL for elbow discomfort. There’s that other rain cloud blowing by, into our clear blue skies. Anything with the pitching arm that is problematic is trouble. It goes like this. Discomfort, minimum IL stay, playing it safe, additional time on IL, managing innings, another IL stint, Tommy John surgery; please don’t be the case for Justin. He is the 1-2 punch with Shota at the top of our rotation. Without him… well, I like the Boyd acquisition; could be a sneaky pickup, but… the pitching staff is not deep. Even the additional bullpen arms seem shaky, so… the great start by the Cubs, the smooth sailing after Tokyo, could be seeing a rough patch soon, and no, I’m not talking about our 3 game series in LA against the Dodgers this weekend, although that may be tough too.
I started off positively, encouraged by the Cubs start, happy about the first place standing, and look… I had to bring us down to reality. Like any of my teams, I’m just enjoying the ride, trying not to worry about anything/everything that could go wrong. Haven’t been to the cathedral just yet; love the die hards that were out there in the cold this week, although it was kind of slim pickings… Haven’t zeroed in on the first visit yet, but it will happen soon. Hopefully, the Cubs will still be in first place by the time we get out. Until then… keep it up boys. Go Cubs!!!
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