Cub Tracks’ it goes to eleven

Welcome to today’s edition of Cub Tracks news and notes™, featuring material from current beat writers, bloggers, and the occasional in-house habitué, moonlighting. These pieces center around #Cubs, #MiLB, and #MLB baseball and attempt to distill the zeitgeist onto the printed page. Please enjoy immoderately.

I love me some meatloaf. Not so much Marvin as the repast. In the recent past, Marcus Stroman looked awfully good, and Nico Hoerner went deep for a solo blast as the Cubs and the Phillies battled on a sweltering Saturday at Citizens’ Bank Park. That lead (and Stroman) held up until the bottom of the seventh.

The Phillies tied the score, and then that was IT until the crucial 10th. And then... the Cubs tore the roof off the sucker. Nico was the sparkplug (again). And then, and then...

I predicted that the Cubs would be better in the second half. This is a good start. How can we leave this behind?

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• Marquee Sports Network*: Carter Hawkins joins Cubs Live! Video from Saturday’s pregame show.
• Rob Miech (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Home-ruin derby for Cubs and White Sox. “Bet on it: Local teams have been horrible at Wrigley Field, Guaranteed Rate Field.”
• Dave McCann (Deseret News*): ‘Riding the shuttle’: BYU’s lone player in MLB still chasing the dream. “Former Cougars All-American Michael Rucker is adjusting to life in professional baseball, and the shuttle rides that take him back and forth between Des Moines and Chicago.”
• Maddie Lee (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Cubs’ Brad Wieck undergoes Tommy John surgery. “The Cubs had plenty of injury updates coming out of the All-Star break.”
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): Padres have reportedly discussed acquiring BOTH Willson Contreras and Ian Happ from the Cubs. “Would the Padres actually MAKE that enormous of a move?” Evan Altman has thoughts.
• Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Is Chicago Cubs catcher Willson Contreras headed for a big free-agent payday? Here’s how J.T. Realmuto laid the groundwork. “You always want to try your best to help out the next generation of guys coming through, and I was able to move the bar a little bit,” Realmuto told the Tribune on Friday of his free-agent deal.
• Maddie Lee (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Cubs rookie Nelson Velazquez showing off ‘thump’ with extended stay in majors. “Velazquez recorded six RBI in the Cubs’ back-to-back victories Friday and Saturday against the Phillies.”
• Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): Juan Soto may not be a realistic addition, but that doesn’t mean the Cubs shouldn’t try. “When is the right time to add a player of Soto’s caliber?”
• John Kellman (Chicago Tribune* {$}): The unique dual life of ‘brainiac’ pitcher Wilson Cunningham — a Cubs minor leaguer and full-time University of Chicago student. “That’s like the best of both worlds,” Cunningham said in a recent interview. “It’s something I could only dream about.”
• Jonah Meadows (Patch*): Chicago Cubs President buys pair of neighboring houses in Winnetka. “Jed Hoyer reportedly spent $5.7 million on two houses in Winnetka after recently selling one in Ravenswood for $3.5 million.”

Food for Thought:

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