Chicago Cubs vs. San Diego Padres simulated game, Thursday 5/14, 3 p.m. CT

Willson Contreras and Kyle Schwarber homered and the simCubs ended their homestand by taking two of three from the simBrewers.

Here are highlights:

As noted in today’s Cub Tracks, we made a couple of trades for the simCubs after Wednesday’s game:

... after the postgame activities, the players were apprised of the trades that had taken place earlier, about which Al will have more in the game post (at 2:30 p.m. CT, for our 3 p.m. start). There was a big trade and a smaller one. The small trade was outfielder Mark Zagunis to the Royals for outfielder Brett Phillips, who hadn’t been playing much for the Storm Chasers (as the Royals are loaded with lefties), and needed a change.

The bigger trade Duane hinted at involves someone who’s been a Cub for more than two full seasons. We sent Jose Quintana, Rowan Wick and Trent Giambrone to the Rays for Ryan Yarbrough and minor-league infielder Greg Jones.

While Q had pitched better lately, Yarbrough is younger with more upside. This also saves some salary for potential deals later in the season.

Here at BCB, we are going to play simulated games for every game on the Cubs‘ 2020 schedule via MLB The Show 20. This will continue until the actual schedule begins, or we get some clarity on what’s actually going to happen with baseball this year.

Here is the complete BCB Mediacenter where all our BCB simulated games will be located. You can watch previous games which are all archived there, but please note: We won’t have the actual link to the live broadcast of today’s specific game until it starts. At that time, Duane will drop the direct link into the comments to this post around 3 p.m CT. Until then you can use the link in this paragraph as a guide to where to find the game. All of our simulated games will begin at 3 p.m. CT.

Here are today’s particulars.

This is Game 45 of the 2020 season, Cubs vs. Padres at Petco Park, the first of a four-game series. The Cubs enter today with a 31-13 record. The Padres are 21-22.

Tyler Chatwood will start for the Cubs. Garrett Richards will start for the Padres.

Today’s lineups:

Cubs

Rizzo 1B, Bryant 3B, Baez SS, Schwarber LF, Contreras C, Happ CF, Heyward RF, Kipnis 2B, Chatwood P

Padres

Myers RF, Grisham CF, Pham LF, Tatis SS, Hosmer 1B, Machado 3B, Dozier 2B, Mejia C, Richards P

There won’t be any traditional-style “recaps” of these games. Duane will post some clips and boxscores in his Cub Tracks and Baseball history unpacked posts the morning after each game, so we can track this simulated season as it unfolds. We’ll post the standings as each day goes by.

A note on the headline here, because I know you’re going to ask: This is a real thread. The game is what is simulated.

Looking to join in on the fun? If so, you can get your own copy of MLB The Show. Here’s where you can order the game.

Enjoy, and discuss amongst yourselves.