Cub Tracks parks it

Wha-hey! The simCubs brought their bats, Saturday in the park, can you dig it, yes I can. They routed the Reds 13-0, and if you had 13 in the pool, you’re golden.

Anthony Rizzo, the player of the game, swatted two long balls, and Willson Contreras chipped in with his second two-homer game in a week, and Ian Happ provided all the runs the Cubs would need in the first inning in one swell foop as Jon Lester continued his shutout streak and Jesus Luzardo got a three-inning save and they cruised to a convincing victory on a beautiful day for a ball game and an even better one for run-on sentences.

Today the Cubs look to earn at least a split of the four-game set as Anthony DeSclafani takes the hill to face Tyler Chatwood, who is hoping to put in more than four innings. Let’s hope also that the Cubs have some runs saved up for the contest. 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* {$}): What is the deadline date for a decision to start the season? And what’s the holdup? 12 questions as Major League Baseball and the players union enter a key week of negotiations. “The fate of the 2020 baseball season could be decided by the end of next week ...”
• Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): Though still in question, vision for baseball to return in Chicago grows clearer. “The longer negotiations go, the chance grows that the season drops significantly below 80 games.” Brett Taylor interprets.
• Gordon Wittenmyer (NBC Sports Chicago*): What a 2020 Cubs season might look like if MLB, union reach agreement. “... if the current trends don’t change significantly in the coming weeks and months, and the generally optimistic signals from local authorities continue, a baseball season in Chicago can start to at least be envisioned.” More from Wittenmyer on this subject.
• Nate Poppen (NBC Sports Chicago*15 Cubs pitchers who could rake. “To qualify, players had to have at least 100 at bats with the Cubs and had to have played at least 90 percent of their games as a pitcher.”
• Luke Norris (Sportscasting*): Colin Kaepernick was so good at baseball he was drafted by the Chicago Cubs years after he was an All-State pitching prospect. “With a fastball in the low-to-mid 90s, Kaepernick had a microscopic 1.38 ERA in 146 2/3 innings between his junior and senior seasons while posting a 15-6 record. He had 179 strikeouts against 67 walks and opponents hit just .167 against him.”
• Cubs birthdays: Bill Foxen, Kenny Lofton.

Food for thought:

Thanks for reading! And please — drive home safely.