The Cubs kick off a 3 game series against the Diamondbacks at home today and I want to talk about it for a minute before leaving for the game.
And as a reminder, we’re regularly programmed on CarlsBlogs.com on Monday-Thursday with 8-10 blogs per day. Then on Friday we try to work on Sterk Family Farms or volunteer or spend time with loved ones at Wrigley.
Today I’m doing the latter catching a home game with my closest friend from college. I feel very lucky.
Another thing I feel lucky about?
We have 15-20mph gusts blowing out against Corbin Burnes today which is huge because Corbin Burnes is awesome. Last thing we want after a 3-3 west coast trip and a nice off day is running into a buzzsaw for 7 innings. I think that’s still possible but extremely less likely given the wind howling out to left center. That’s awesome.
Here’s some other notes on the weekend series:
- I love 3 straight day games for a Wrigley home series. That’s the best home field advantage you could ask for. Especially with the Arizona already being on the road for almost a week.
- They played yesterday in Miami then had to fly into Chicago and they’re probably at the field right now as I type this. There’s a lot of young guys on that roster and I’ll guarantee you they didn’t sleep that well last night. That only makes Colin Rea look that much sharper.
- I’m very excited to see Ben Brown pitch tomorrow, which is his first start since dominating the Dodgers. I hope he doesn’t try to overthrow or be cute or any of that bullshit. Just because you’re at home on a nice Saturday doesn’t mean you need to be somebody else. You’re plenty good feeding heater over the plate to set up the plus plus breaking ball. So just let that shit work and the defense will take care of the rest.
- Speaking of starting pitching, Jordan Wicks got called up:
- The corresponding move was Luke Little to AAA so I would assume Wicks gets some reps out of the bullpen.
- But that was the same assumption for Colin Rea and it took an injury for him to be relied upon. So is that the fate for Wicks now or will they ask him to pitch 6th and 7th innings for the next couple weeks? I have no clue
- Either way, it’s good to have a recent 1st rounder back in the MLB dugout
- On the subject of which, I think the Cubs lead MLB with 1st round draft picks in the everyday lineup.
- Busch
- Happ
- Swanson
- PCA
- Kyle Tucker
- Hoerner
- And that’s not including Matt Shaw being recently sent down. So on a good day. 7 of 8 guys in the field for the Cubs are 1st round draft picks and that’s insane.
- Another insane thing:
- Carson Kelly shouldn’t draw 11 walks in a season much less in the first couple weeks of the year. So that’s cool.
- So is Nico Hoerner’s start…
- We said at the start of the year that Nico Hoerner is the straw to stir the Cubs proverbial drink and I’m not coming down from that. He’s such a consistent, reliable performer that’s destined to be perpetually underrated. He does everything well except hit home runs, which is a perfectly fine trade off. We get elite defense, baserunning, ball-to-bat skills and maybe the most liked/loved guy in the dugout. Great vibes with a bright smile and amazing attitude every day? That’s not common in Major League Baseball because there’s so many bland selfish egos worried about themselves.
- Does that make sense?
Diamondbacks:
- On pace for 102 wins and we’re going to see their 3 best pitchers
- They’re in 4th place in the NL West because the NL West is fuckin STACKED
- This will be the 2nd time we’ve seen Kelly and Gallen this year and I think the advantage goes to the Cubs because it’s a home game. If we had to be in Arizona on a Saturday night in June, that would tilt it towards the pitching. But I’ll take the recency for the hitters all day and expect the Cubs to make good swings on Saturday and Sunday.
- It’s not the end of the world if we lose this series, but there’s no reason to expect 2-1 with how well they’ve played. It’s totally up to you how you want to react this weekend
- The Dbacks have 4 players with Slug over .500
- Pavin Smith
- Geraldo Perdomo
- Corbin Carroll
- Josh Naylor
- No disrespect but Corbin Carroll is the only one I’m kinda scared of in the equation. It’s a treat to watch him play.
- Reminder, the wind is 15-20 with gusts up to 30 today
- Last and most important – the Dbacks bullpen has largely overperformed the first couple weeks of the season which is why they’ve got such a good record. I’m not predicting it falls apart this weekend but today is a perfect day for them to get torched. It’s bound to happen and I think the Cubs could get a real clunker from Arizona next 3 games.
Miscellaneous:
- Scott is one of my favorite Cubs follows in the universe. He’s always peppering us with the best content around Wrigley that has nothing to do with whether a player is good or bad. All he does is make you smile with good Cubs content:
- Justin Steele had surgery today. I would think he’s in rotation 1 year from now based on everything I know about Justin Steele
- Everyone have a nice weekend and of course:
Go Cubs.