Cub Tracks brings it home

Who’s in first? The simCubs are in the best shape of their lives, tanned, rested, and ready to negotiate the remaining two-thirds of the marathon digital season. They have the second-best record in MLB and the future is looking bright.

Sunday afternoon, the simCubs literally won going away, taking the third game of a three-game series from the Milwaukee Brewers, knocking them into third place into the bargain, and smuggling the meatloaf back over the state line from Wrigley North.

After liberal servings of that meal, the simCubs were pleased to note that they are all over the league leaderboards in pitching and batting, and that Javier Baez is the entire running game unless you’re in a TOOTBLAN competition. This, it must be noted, is largely because the Cubs have an Earl Weaver offense, but still ... the only small ball that gets played once belonged to a gopher, and the less said about that the better.

Today, the simCubs will be facing the Florida Marlins for the first game of a three-game series at beautiful simWrigley simField. 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.

• Paul Sullivan (Chicago Tribune* {$}): With a loss of revenue and cuts to employees’ pay, trying to predict the Chicago Cubs’ future — financial and otherwise — is a guessing game. “... the future of baseball may be in the hands of a small group of influential people ...”
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider*): League, players reportedly willing to compromise on financials to get 2020 season started. “... there’s very little time left for MLB and the MLB Players Association to come to an agreement that allows them to start the season back up in early July.” Brett Taylor thinks otherwise?
• Tim Stebbins (NBC Sports Chicago*): Former Cubs pitcher Dan Straily, now in KBO, details games without fans. “Crowd noise obviously plays a big part in an athlete’s adrenaline. Not having that factor will be an adjustment for MLB in 2020...”
• Maddie Lee (NBC Sports Chicago*): How lessons from the KBO and Javy Báez can fix MLB’s aging fan base problem. “Let the kids play.”
• Todd Johnson (Cubs Insider*): Cancellation of minor league season could have huge impact on Cubs’ big league squad in near future. “The most obvious impact of not having a MiLB season in 2020 is development, especially when it comes to elite prospects.”
• Scott Powers (The Athletic {$}): I spent $1,000 on autographed baseballs — here’s how you can win them. Follow his twitter for reveal.
• Cubs birthdays: Eddie Haas, Chuck Hartenstein, Jason Bere, Ben Zobrist.

Food for thought:

Thanks for reading!