BCB After Dark: Central to my thinking

Welcome back to BCB After Dark: The nightclub for night owls, early-risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Glad to see you again. Pull up a seat. Bring your own beverage. Be sure to tip you waitstaff.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

Thank me for that photo of Game 1 of the 2016 World Series. OK, Game 1 wasn’t so good, but we know what followed.

I don’t often say that a team deserved to win a game, because the team that deserves to win is the team that scored more runs. But man, the Cubs were the better team tonight in the 2-1 loss to the Brewers. But the Brewers were the team that got the W, so that’s all that matters. On top of that, it looks like the Cubs lost another backup catcher on the final play of the game.

The Cubs have three catchers in Iowa, none of whom are on the 40-man roster so that’s a problem. Someone will have to be designated for assignment to make room or put on the 60-day IL. Here’s a bonus poll for you tonight. Which one should the Cubs purchase and bring to the majors tomorrow?

Erick Castillo: Castillo is one of the few remaining players in the Cubs organization that pre-date the coming of Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer. (Willson Contreras, Javier Báez and Dillon Maples are the only other three that I can think of at the moment.) Castillo has only played 20 games this season and most of them were in Tennessee. He’s hit .246/.354/.308

Taylor Gushue: Gushue was drafted by the Pirates in the fourth round in 2014 and traded to Washington of Chris Bostick in 2016. He’d been in the Nationals organization until after last season when he became a free agent and signed a minor league deal with the Cubs. He’s hitting .272/.328/.440 in 35 games in Iowa. He’s probably the best bat among the three, but since he hasn’t played in the majors, that’s unclear.

Tony Wolters: The only one of the three with major league experience, including with the Cubs earlier this year when he went 3 for 24. He’s hitting .268/.379/.339 in 19 games in Iowa. He’s probably the best defender of the three.

And don’t suggest anyone else from the organization, because my understanding is that COVID protocols mean that any player promoted from a minor league affiliate other than Triple-A has to go into quarantine first, and that’s obviously not possible for the Cubs right now.

So who should the Cubs promote?

Tuesday night/Wednesday morning is the short edition. So I’ll just give you a quick jazz track and then return with the poll.

Here’s a quick jazz interlude from saxophonist Wayne Shorter and his 1966 album Speak No Evil. This is “Dance Cadaverous.” [VIDEO] I heard this one while I was driving home from the store today and I thought it would be perfect for tonight’s tune.

Welcome back to those who just want to vote in the poll. I wrote last night that we would ask who is going to win each of the American League divisions and you picked the Tampa Bay Rays to repeat with 49% of the vote. The Red Sox came in second with 39%.

The American League Central is pretty much a two-team race. I’ll put in “One of the other teams” in the poll and you can defend your choice in the comments, but the only two teams I’m going to list are the White Sox and Cleveland.

So who will win the American League Central?

Thanks again for stopping by. I hope to see you again tomorrow with a slightly expanded edition of BCB After Dark.