Cub Tracks is full of stars

The Dodgers didn’t throw the Cubs a bone until the sixth. It was a base oddity to see any Cubs on before that. Kris Bryant reached on an ‘error’ and that was it. He didn’t stick around long.

By now you know about Kyle Hendricks and about the result of Saturday night’s tilt against the Tinseltown team. Walker Buehler! Buehler! and Yu Darvish had an old-fashioned pitchers’ duel(er), and it lasted, with a couple of stellar relief appearances, until Rizzo put one in orbit. Hopefully Hendricks won’t be out for long with his inflamed shoulder, and hopefully Mike Montgomery or Tyler Chatwood can fix it so the team doesn’t miss his services so much. Hopefully. There have been rumors that the Cubs might call up Adbert Alzolay, but that seems premature. There have been rumors about a massive mystery mass under the lunar surface.

There have also been rumors about a sportsbook at Wrigley. I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that. Let’s listen to a little Carlos and forget about it.

There’s been some palaver lately, about Kris Bryant and extensions and such, and Patrick Mooney addresses that bit of science fiction. Plus coverage of the coverage for our Sunday edition. I suggest you obtain a highly caffeinated beverage and peruse today’s Cubs News and Notes. As always, * means autoplay on, or annoying ads, or both (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome). {$} means paywall. {$] means limited views.

Joe Maddon tried to be as diplomatic as he could be regarding home plate umpire CB Bucknor, and his strike zone, after the Cubs loss to the Dodgers on Friday: “Unfortunately, whenever that fellow works, everybody expects that in advance. It’s hard to argue because it’s equally offensive to both sides. That’s as kind as I can be.” — Jesse Rogers.

1993 - The 100th anniversary of Cracker Jack is celebrated with a party at Wrigley Field that includes distributing the candy-coated popcorn and peanut treat that was introduced at the Chicago World Fair in 1893, free of charge to all of the fans attending the Cubs’ game against Florida. Sailor Jack, the company’s mascot, throws out the ceremonial first pitch. — The National Pastime.

• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com*): 3 takeaways as Cubs extend road woes in LA. “We’re letting them back in and then they’re just holding on,” Joe Maddon said.
• Brendan Miller (Cubs Insider): Jon Lester could generate more swinging strikes with change in pitch sequencing. He might want to take a page from Cole Hamel’s book.
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Darvish confident this return to LA won’t be ‘worst day of my life’. “The Dodgers don’t have many fans here in the first three innings, so maybe it will be on the quieter side, Darvish said. Dylan Hernandez (LA Times*) has more.
• Gordon Wittenmyer (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): ‘Family, the situation in Venezuela, baseball’. Willson Contreras keeps his focus on baseball during an All-Star-caliber season with home in his heart — and dreams. More Contreras from Wittenmyer.
• Aldo Soto (Sports Mockery): Ian Happ has a new swing, is on fire at Triple-A, so now what? “Happ has improved each month this season and his current hot streak is definitely something to pay attention to.”
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): Kris Bryant and Scott Boras look into the Cubs’ future and know big decisions await. “... it might happen and it would be super-cool to just continue to grow with these guys,” said Bryant.
• Madeleine Kenney (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Culture shift: MLB is only pro sports league in North America to have paternity leave policy. “... that’s not to say other leagues don’t allow players to take time off for the birth of a child.” But baseball’s is official.
• Cubs birthdays: Pete O’Brien, Jack Rowan, Fritz Mollwitz, Ken Johnson, Joe Decker, Calvin Schiraldi, Jose Nieves, Kerry Wood,

Food for thought:

Thanks for reading. All these worlds are yours, except one.