Cub Tracks stands up next to a mountain

Okay, so Kyle Hendricks experienced the rare off-day and allowed a couple of deep flies with men on base. It’s not the end of the world. Six isn’t nine. But it does serve as a reminder that any MLB team can beat you on any given day. To think otherwise is to build castles in the sand. And yeah, the offense fell in the sea, but they’ll swim back to shore and do that voodoo that they do.

I prefer it when the neighbors don’t gossip and drool, Gladys Kravitz. There was but one Cubs highlight: Nico Hoerner’s bases-empty pinch blast in the sixth. Try not to look at Trent Grisham’s inside-the-park homer, when Ian Happ appeared indisposed to field his position aggressively.

Today the Cubs will try to win three out of four games in this series against the Padres. New Cub Ryan Yarbrough will take the hill to oppose Dinelson Lamet. Al will have more in the game post (at 2:30 p.m. CT, for our 3 p.m. start). I’ll drop the specific URL to the contest in the game thread, but you can lurk at the BCB Media Center and catch it there as well. All past games and highlights reels are available there too, if you want the full #simCubs experience.

And now, here’s Cub Tracks News and Notes, the only links column that really matters. As always, * means autoplay on, or annoying ads, or both (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome). {$} means paywall. {$} means limited views. Italics are often used here as sarcasm font.

• Rick Morrissey (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Not even a coronavirus pandemic can stop greed in sports. “Owners and players are giving baseball a black eye by haggling over money during COVID-19.”
• Paul Sullivan (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Has baseball reached its endgame? A hypothetical look back at the demise of our national pastime. “... when the players union and owners couldn’t agree to a compromise on how to split revenues, the season was canceled in July.”
• AP via ESPN: Report: MLB projects loss of $640,000 per game without fans. “Teams say the proposed method of salvaging a season delayed by the coronavirus pandemic would still cause a $4 billion loss and would give major league players 89% of revenue.”
• Maddie Lee (NBC Sports Chicago*): How MLB plans to alter Spring Training in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. “Spring Training 2.0 won’t really feel like spring training.”
• Gordon Wittenmyer (NBC Sports Chicago*): Scott Boras: Why Kris Bryant’s free agency won’t be impacted by economic crisis. “Great players in the game, when you go back historically, always have demand because there’s only a few,” Boras said.
• Brendan Miller (Cubs Insider*): Mike Bryant on implementing advanced data to guide Kris Bryant’s adjustments (Exclusive Interview). Bryant, father and hitting coach ... talked with the Cubs Related Podcast about his hitting philosophy as a coach and the logic of Kris’s adjustments.”
• Chris Kamka (NBC Sports Chicago*): History of Cubs designated hitters, from Dave Clark to Kyle Schwarber. “Fifty-two players have started at least one game at DH for the Cubs.”
• Cubs birthdays: Hal Carlson, Billy Hoeft, Porfi Altamirano, Carlos Pena.

Food for thought:

Thanks for reading! And please — drive home safely!