Yesterday, Cub Tracks had breakfast at Epiphany’s, replete with on-field beefs, strange rumblings, and ruined dinosaurs. This morning, there’s a fresh set of hyperlinks and hyperbole, likely good to wrap metaphoric fish in.
It’s a game day, so I’m far too busy organizing and cataloguing my collection of Cubs-related gimmicks, gimcracks, and Rube Goldberg devices to write anything approaching coherence. My stream of consciousness is thoroughly polluted with thoughts of baseball glory in La-La Land and my OCD and ADHD are fighting a pitched battle for what’s left of my gray matter...so I’ll leave it to fifth-columnists, yellow journalists, and assorted hacks and reprobates to make with the wisecracks and I’ll try to rake up a little genuine muck for pregame consumption. As always * means autoplay on (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome).
- Teddy Mitroslis (Fox Sports): Dodgers catcher admits the Cubs are stealing signs: 'We know what they're doing'. “We know who is getting the signs. We know what they’re doing. We know what they do to get it,” he said.
- Patrick Mooney (CSN Chicago*): Ben Zobrist denies stealing signs from 'paranoid' Dodgers. “I think it’s hilarious,” Zobrist said after Monday’s workout at Dodger Stadium. “No, I was not stealing signs, but I appreciate him thinking my baseball IQ is that high.”
- Mark Gonzales (Chicago Tribune): Cubs relying on Jake Arrieta's history, confidence in Game 3 of NLCS. "It's just another game on a big stage, and we're all prepared for it,” Arrieta remarked.
- Phil Rogers (MLB.com): Cubs count on 3 wise men for 'big-boy games'. Jake Arrieta, John Lackey, Jon Lester follow that star west.
- Rick Telander (Chicago Sun-Times): Nobody promised Dodgers would be easy, but it’s not time to panic. Still.
- Carrie Muskat (MLB.com): In-flight entertainment: Relievers call on Maddon. “...when I've had too much wine to drink, my Spanish gets a little bit better,” he said in part, after being invited to the relief corps’ meeting.
- August Fagerstrom (Fangraphs): How Clayton Kershaw gets ahead. He throws fastballs. Lots of them.
- George Castle (Chicago Baseball Museum): LA’s Roberts gets away with stretching Kenley Jansen again in Game 2. Old-school closer use getting old.
- Jeff Gordon (St. Louis Post-Dispatch): Tipsheet: Clayton Kershaw stands between Cubs and their destiny. “I thought I could get him out and came really close to not doing it,” Kershaw said of Javier Baez’ at-bat late in Game 2.
- Jeff Sullivan (Fangraphs): The Game 2 story that almost was. Jeff likes Javy. And his “Slightly controversial brilliance.”
- Rian Watt (Baseball Prospectus): The bold and the beautiful. “So much of how this series will be remembered rides on its outcome.”
- John Arguello (Cubs Den): Sometimes you lose to good teams and good pitchers. Perspective.
- Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Get Rich quick: Cubs may need to strike early to climb Dodgers’ Hill in Game 3. Early, and often.
- Tony Andracki (CSN Chicago*): How Cubs can jumpstart slumping offense at Dodger Stadium. Joe Maddon admitted alterations could be on the way.
- Carrie Muskat (MLB.com): Maddon: Subtle lineup changes possible in LA. Bat whisperer?
- Bradford Doolittle (ESPN*): Can the Cubs get their bats going in time to tip NLCS? The best defense is a good offense?
- Tony Andracki (CSN Chicago*): Addison Russell admits fatigue may be playing a factor in offensive woes with Cubs. “Having played 168 games-plus is new to me,” he related, in part.
- Jack Magruder (Today’s Knuckleball): Javier Baez continues to draw praise for his electric postseason play. Javy is Javy. It just took the world a bit to notice.
- Carrie Muskat (MLB.com): Dexter Fowler's surprise return pays dividends for Cubs. "Baseball has a cruel way of answering its own questions," Joe Maddon said.
- Michael Cerami (Bleacher Nation): By the Numbers, the Cubs Should Be All Over Gold Glove Finalist Lists. Six positions in all.
- Sarah Freishtat, Mike Danahey and Megann Horstead (Aurora Beacon-News): Lucky towel, square pizza: Can Cubs fan rituals break Billy Goat curse? “Sometimes it requires advance planning.”
- ESPN: Frank Kaminsky trolls Cubs fans, wears Bartman jersey. He’s a White Sox fan. Go figure.
- Maury Brown (Forbes): Inside the massive TV numbers for Game 2 of NLCS between Cubs and Dodgers. “FOX Sports is bound to be happy, thus far.”
- Bob Nightengale (USA Today*): Bonded by baseball: Theo & Co. near career pinnacle by leading Cubs to glory. “They are baseball’s version of the Rat Pack, the game’s coolest, and perhaps shrewdest, front office.”
- Chelsea Irving (CBS News): Chicago Cubs are teacher’s pets in Aurora classroom. Melissa Hurd has had her room decked out in Cubs decorations for years.
- Ben Bradley (ABC News): South Sider discovered by Ditka sings anthem at Cubs games. John Vincent makes it look easy.
- James Neveau (NBC News): Take a break and check out this Cubs-inspired 'Hamilton' parody. Matt Paolelli is the author and a performer.
- Matt Schoch (Sports Mockery): Adrian Gonzalez refused to stay at Dodgers hotel in Chicago. He opted for a Holiday Inn Express?
- Tommy Stokke (Today’s Knuckleball): Duane Underwood, Ian Happ hoping to headline next wave of Cubs talent. Happ and Underwood are in Arizona to speed up the process of getting to Chicago, not watching the Cubs play.
- Ian Malinowski (D-Rays Bay): The Chicago Cubs are playing for the Rays’ legacy. “No one notices if you don’t win it all.”
- The New York Times: How baseball and journalism made Los Angeles and Chicago rivals. The Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Tribune got it all going.
Food for thought:
- Laura Sanders (Science News): Out-of-sync body clock causes more woes than sleepiness. All day games then?
- Deborah Netburn (LA Times): Science explains why refrigerators sap the flavor from ripe tomatoes. Aromatics. Tomatoes don’t like to be cool.
- Fiona McDonald (Science Alert): We might have just discovered 2 dark moons hidden near Uranus. “The better we get at peering out into space, the more crowded our neck of the galaxy gets...”
We can do this. Go Cubs.