Cub Tracks’ lightning strikes

Welcome to today’s episode of Cub Tracks news and notes™, a greatest-hits collection of Chicago-style beat writers and bloggers, ground from #Cubs, #MiLB, and #MLB baseball, overheated, steeped in writers’ tears, and then cold-brewed overnight for maximum flavor.

Eric Lauer was feeling generous.

Unfortunately, so was Jordan Wicks. He allowed those six earned in 1⅔ innings. But the pen came in — Hayden Wesneski (3-5), Javier Assad and Jameson Taillon combined for 7⅓ scoreless innings, with Taillon earning his first MLB save. Meanwhile the bats got busy.

Sadly, it was for naught, as the Marlins beat the Pirates 7-3. Still, this season of competitive baseball was a bolt from the blue from the start, and it’s been a great time. There’s a game today, and then that’s it.

*means autoplay on, or annoying ads, or both (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome). {$} means paywall. {$} means limited views. Italics are often used on this page as sarcasm font. The powers that be have enabled sarcasm font in the comments.

“You earn your right to go to the postseason,” David Ross said before Saturday’s game. “We have not played postseason caliber baseball for a team that deserves to be in the postseason as of late. That’s just a fact. To get into the big dance, you gotta play well and you gotta play well when it matters. We haven’t.” — Tony Andracki.

• Jared Wyllys (Forbes*): Postseason hopes dashed, the Cubs must look To 2024. “It’s not easy to pinpoint what exactly went wrong for the Cubs, which is part of the problem.” Sahadev Sharma continues in this vein {$}. Jon Greenberg also has unkind cuts {$}. Tony Andracki has the last word.
• Paul Sullivan (Chicago Tribune*): Manager David Ross accepts blame for the Chicago Cubs’ fade down the stretch in the NL wild-card race. “We’re in this together,” Ross said. “I wouldn’t separate myself from any player, front office, coach. If we don’t get to where we want to get to, I’m the manager of this team. The blame should come on me first.”
• Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune*): ‘Nobody’s hanging their heads’: Chicago Cubs maintain daily focus as season nears its end. “Backs have been against the wall for a really long time, and they’ve answered the bill consistently,” said Ross.
• Jake Misener (Cubbies Crib*): Cubs made a huge mistake by slotting Marcus Stroman back into the rotation. “Rookie Javier Assad had been effective and reliable - and booting him in favor of Stroman has proven to be a costly mistake for the team.”

“... it doesn’t sound as if Hoyer has any inclination to make a change in managers, and Ross will be in charge again for a fifth season in 2024.” — Paul Sulliivan.

• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): A particular moment of frustration last night: David Ross and Mark Leiter Jr. “Leiter is just not a guy without the splitter.”
• Tyler Koerth (WiSportsHeroics*): Chicago Cubs fans furious with blooper reel showed on Milwaukee Brewers Jumbotron. “It featured several misplays from around the league that included Seiya Suzuki’s error against the Atlanta Braves.”
• Steve Zalusky (Daily Herald* {$}): Baseball Way Back: Shawon Dunston remembers his road to Wrigley. “Dunston said minor league coaches like Tony Franklin and Jim Snyder, who was minor league coordinator, were important in his development.”

Food for Thought:

• James Felton (IFLS*): How an engraving of a bicycle ended up in an ancient Indian temple. “According to conspiracy theorists, ancient humans were riding around on bicycles.”
• Noor Al-Sebai (Futurism*): Scientists map sunken eighth continent. “researchers announced that they’ve finished mapping out most of the two million square miles of Zealandia...”
• Hannah Loss (LiveScience*): Why is fish so smelly? “Bacterial growth is usually the first culprit.”

Please be reminded that Cub Tracks and Bleed Cubbie Blue do not necessarily endorse the contents of articles, podcasts, or videos that are linked to in this series. Thanks for reading.