Cub Tracks presents what’s happening

A blast from the past. I used to play in some of those bars. Pretty sure I drank in all of them, sometimes in the same night. Depended on whether it was snowing or not.

Here’s today’s Cubs News and Notes. As always, * means autoplay on, or annoying ads, or both (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome).

• Phil Rosenthal (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Hey, ESPN, ‘Sunday Night Baseball’ viewers actually want to watch the game — so focus on that. “If ESPN can’t stay focused on the game, how can anyone else expect to?”
• Matt Snyder (CBS Sports*): Your MLB ERA leader is 35-year-old Jon Lester, and he’s doing it by painting the corners amid diminished velocity. “The best signing in franchise history just keeps paying dividends.”
• Evan Altman(Cubs Insider): Should we be concerned about Willson Contreras’ workload? He’s “on track to catch over 1,257 innings.”
• Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): Anthony Rizzo is the Master of Whisperers as his Cubs teammates dodge ‘Game of Thrones’ spoilers. “We have some players here – I won’t name-drop, but (it’s) our first baseman,” Albert Almora Jr. said. “He doesn’t freaking watch the show but he still manages to come up with some ideas that are right.”
• John Grochowski (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Rizzo has chance to be best post-19th-century first baseman in Cubs history. Closing in on Phil Cavarretta for lifetime WAR. Not gonna catch Cap Anson.
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): So, there’s a dubious report out that Cubs internally prefer Addison Russell as starting shortstop. Karl Ravech started it.
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): After he bet on himself, this is what next-level Javier Báez looks like. “Javy is one of those players who gets better the more he plays,” Lester said.
• David Adler (MLB.com*): Opposite day! Here’s Javy’s latest trick. “Baez has been the best opposite-field hitter in baseball this season. By far.”
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Kris Bryant hasn’t just regained MVP form, he’s surpassed it. “In his last 110 plate appearances, the lanky slugger has posted a 1.067 OPS with a 179 wRC+ and a .441 wOBA.”
• Tommy Birch (Des Moines Register* {$}): ‘He’s going to be a big-league player in Chicago for a long time’: Why there are still high hopes for Ian Happ. “The goal of the demotion was to get Happ to cut down on the whiffs.”
• Tobias Richmond (Blasting News): Former Chicago Cubs star Carlos Zambrano officially returns to the diamond. “Independent League players very rarely get the call.”
• Cubs birthdays: Wimpy Quinn, Dick Tidrow, Dave LaRoche, Efren Navarro. And a quartet of Hall-of-Famers: Ed Walsh, Earle Combs, Tony Perez, Roy Halladay.

Food for thought: