Cub Tracks loves Yu madly

The skein of wins has eight knots in it now. The simCubs roll on. Yu Darvish pitched like an ace, Anthony Rizzo blasted a pair of darts. It wouldn’t upset the fabric of space and time, would it, to look for number nine in a row? I confess to being a prisoner of expectations.

Rizzo wasn’t the only Cub that had a good day. Jason Kipnis was 2 for 4, Kris Bryant barreled the ball a little, and Victor Caratini had a long rbi single. But Rizzo now has 20 homers, making him first on the team. Willson Contreras and Kyle Schwarber are trying to find out who is number two.

The Reds, in a attempt to confuse the Cubs or something, have changed their rotation around so that Luis Castillo faces Kyle Hendricks tomorrow, instead of Trevor Bauer. Let’s hope that backfires — Castillo is the only reason why this isn’t a fifteen-game streak. 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.

“If this was a marriage, it would be a divorce.”

• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): MLB has blown its chance to return in celebratory fashion by July 4. “It’s just unbelievable that they are operating this way, holding the players and the fans hostage.” Just ask Ken Rosenthal {$}.
• Gordon Wittenmyer (NBC Sports Chicago*): Why former Cub Bobby Scales, now a baseball exec, needed to ‘make my voice known’. “I love this game. I don’t want to have to love another game,” Scales said.
• Paul Sullivan (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Change is definitely in the air, but we only can guess what’s next for sports. “Some things we know and some we only can guess at.”
• Maddie Lee (NBC Sports Chicago*): Return-to-play negotiations: How Rob Manfred and Adam Silver’s roles differ. “... the relationships Manfred and NBA commissioner Adams Silver have built with the players in their respective leagues have also played a significant role.”
• Eno Sarris (The Athletic {$}): How will baseball coach players without the minor leagues – or coaches? “In the face of near certitude that there will be no minor league season this year, teams are increasingly faced with the specter of a lost year of development for their best young players.”
• Ronald Blum (AP via Chicago Tribune* {$}): MLB players say teams are ‘depriving America of baseball games’. “The league’s cynical tactic of depriving America of baseball games in furtherance of their demand for unwarranted salary concessions is shortsighted and troubling,” Bruce Meyer, the union’s chief negotiator, wrote. The Athletic cited {$}.
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): Murphy’s Bleachers is back. Will Cubs baseball be far behind? “We’d love to see baseball across the street,” said Freddy Fagenholz, the general manager of Murphy’s Bleachers.
• Cubs birthdays: Frank Reberger, George Mitterwald, Heathcliff Slocumb, Justin Berg, Luke Farrell.

Food for thought:

Thanks for reading!