Cub Tracks eats their words

And a feast fit for a ‘king’ they were. King Ghidorah, that is. We shall have a triple-header only two days after I ‘celebrated’ the last one. Hoo boy.

But hey! The real Cubs won and all is well in Wrigleyville, for now, where the Cubs’ outfield is also a three-headed monster. We can just hope that both sets of Cubs are heading to the October tourney.

Nice job by the Professor and the whole team. Do it again today. That is all.

Here’s Cub Tracks News and Notes. 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* {$}): Does it matter if the Cubs win the division under MLB’s new postseason format? “With eight teams qualifying in each league instead of five and all of the first-round games in each series played in the same ballpark, it’s anyone’s guess as to who has an advantage.” Gordon Wittenmyer takes a guess.
• Mike Axisa (CBS Sports*) Cubs reunite with Pedro Strop, add speedster Billy Hamilton for postseason run. “Chicago is gearing up for an October push.”
• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com*): ‘That’s the guy’: Kyle Hendricks delivers in clutch. “That’s the version of Kyle that I think we’re used to seeing,” David Ross said. “That’s the guy.” Russell Dorsey offers a second opinion. Sahadev Sharma {$} has thirds.
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): Jon Lester is struggling mightily, but the Cubs’ options are limited. “There was some hope – reasonable, I think – that a short season would work out all right for Lester.” Evan Altman also discusses this. Brian Sandalow adds the third.
• Gordon Wittenmyer (NBC Sports Chicago*): Cubs rotation status: Darvish and Kyle and pray for a while. “We’ve still got to find out what’s going on with Q and go from there,” Ross said. Patrick Mooney {$} talks about this.
• Maddie Lee (NBC Sports Chicago*): How South Bend is addressing Cubs’ rotation problem. “... the alternate site in South Bend is almost like the perfect laboratory,” said Theo Epstein.
• John Grochowski (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): OPS tells us much more than BA, but it still requires context. “Marquee Sports Network uses on base percentage plus slugging, not the traditional batting average, when it displays the opening lineups.”
• Brian Sandalow (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Anthony Rizzo praises Cubs rookie manager Ross. “Rizzo said Ross has stayed very “even keel” during the ups and downs of the season.”
• Jesse Rogers (ESPN*): Struggling Javy Baez sounds off on inability to watch video of previous at-bats during games. “To be honest, it sucks because I make my adjustments during the game,” Baez said.
• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com*): Ross: Jason Heyward ‘feeling better’; more tests. “... by Monday morning, Ross was encouraged by the feedback from Heyward and the team’s medical staff ...” Mark Gonzales touches on this and adds a dash of Billy Hamilton.
• Cubs birthdays: Al Demaree, Johnny Schulte, Casey Wise.

SimNews:

Repeated technical difficulties led to a twin bill today for the simCubs (97-46) against the simRockies (67-78), before the realCubs™ realGame™ tonight. The first game will air at noon CT, and will feature Jon Lester (13-7, 3.46) against Jon Gray (12-10, 3.24). The second game will start about half an hour after the first and will feature former Rockie hurler Tyler Chatwood (3-3, 3.90) against Antonio Senzatela (4-10, 5.37).

All game video and related material is available commercial-free, 24/7, at the BCB Media Center.

Food for thought:

Thanks for reading.