Cub Tracks goes through some things

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.

Well, Cubs and Cardinals again. That first game had plenty of moments, not the least of which was Miles Mikolas channeling his inner Robert Fick. But let’s think about the positive — they got to .500! We can believe again! Hopefully that belief bears fruit, and it doesn’t all end like this. Don’t stop!

Hayden Wesneski is up again from Iowa to start the Friday game. He did well, was only scored upon by a Noooot solo shot (as was Smyly). The Cubs didn’t let those stand...

Julian Merryweather and Adbert Alzolay spelled relief, and the Cubs have won seven in a row and are a game over .500. Mike Tauchman helped, a little, with a game-saving two-out bottom-of-the-ninth home run theft.

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• Steve Overbey (AP*): Wisdom homers, Mancini has RBI single as Cubs beat Cardinals 3-2 for seventh straight win. “I didn’t know I was right at the wall until I kind of turned to catch the ball.” The Sporting News is in on it.
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): The players on the plunking: Happ, Contreras, Mikolas. Soundbites. Evan Altman’s take. Katie Woo and Patrick Mooney opine {$}. Meghan Montemurro has a few words.
• Shakeia Taylor (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Context is crucial in roster construction and relationships. But that doesn’t soften the blow. “Both teams showcase the risk of investing emotionally in a baseball team at all — fans in Chicago have already been through this hardship.”
• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com*): Back at .500 with 6 straight wins, Cubs focused on push. “I think everybody in the locker room feels good with where we’re at,” said Steele, who has an 11-3 record and a 2.87 ERA after his six-inning effort. “We’re clicking. What we’re doing right now, we feel like we can do this the entire season.”
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider*): Quantifying Hope: Win streak skyrockets Cubs to nearly 21% odds. “... they have the chance to put themselves in a position where they go from being possible buyers to looking like a downright dangerous unit.” Sahadev Sharma has thoughts about this {$}.
• Maddie Lee (Chicago Sun-Times*): Trip to St. Louis provides opportunity, perspective for Cubs as trade deadline nears. “I don’t think 51-51 is going to be like, ‘Wow,’ ” Ian Happ said before the game. “That means there’s 60 games left. So we’re worried about it at the end of September.”
• Jesse Rogers (ESPN*): Chicago Cubs, White Sox at center of 2023 MLB trade deadline. “We want to convince them to be buyers,” Chicago Cubs reliever Michael Fulmer said.
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): Cubs reportedly want to wait until the “Eleventh Hour” before making moves. “... the Cubs front office isn’t ready to commit to a buy-sell-hold decision.”
• Jordan Campbell (Cubbies Crib*): Controllable starting pitching viewed as team’s need. “Status quo for the Cubs should not be the answer at the deadline.”
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): Cubs’ priority should be getting Marcus Stroman on track for playoff race, not trading him. “Stroman has a track record of almost 1,300 major-league innings that suggests he will make those adjustments and bounce back.”
• Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune* {$}): As one of MLB’s best in producing big innings, the Chicago Cubs are finding ways to pour it on: ‘There’s so much fight in this team’. “The Chicago Cubs have developed a knack for pouring on runs in an inning.”
• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com*): This tool helped Swanson accelerate return to Cubs. “Cubs hitting coach Dustin Kelly said one approach the hitting group took was to have Swanson get in a pile of swings using Driveline Baseball’s “smash factor balls.””

Song(s) of the Day:

Food For Thought:

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