Today is Wednesday May 21st and the Chicago Cubs are still in 1st place after destroying the Miami Marlins.
These are you full game highlights with some abbreviated commentary.
We’re going to have a great day today guys. I’m hosting the Bi-Monthly-Pizza Club in Oakbrook at 6pm which should be delightful.
I also got a quote back on the driveway project and it came under $20,000 which is a nice relief after I ballparked it around 10,000 square feet.
And most important is that we’re getting registered with the local farmers markets so we can literally set up shop on the weekends around the Western suburbs. So that’s really good shit and something to look forward to. I’ve always wanted to be a farmers market vendor just chilling on a Saturday morning drinking piping hot coffee and talking to strangers.
For now I just want to focus on the Cubs game from last night because it was awesome.
The biggest things on my mind:
- Jameson Taillon is just good enough and that’s plenty good for right now. Reminds me a lot of Jason Hammel in the 2015 season where there’s so many far home runs but also so many quality starts. You’d be nervous with them on the mound in the playoffs but over 162, they’re remarkably effective because they’re so consistent. That’s Jameson to me and I’m just fine with him giving up monster solo shots as his only form of damage
- Seiya Suzuki leads MLB with 43 RBI’s and I really want people to talk more about Jed Hoyer’s brilliance in signing him. He was highly regarded out of Japan going into 2022 but I don’t think people saw this level of middle-order-power and quality at bats. Jed however did and it only cost the Cubs about $19M a season when he’s clearly worth $30M. So for all the bitching and moaning people do about Jed, this one deserves more balancing credit right there with Shota, Dansby, PCA trade, Kyle Tucker trade, Hoerner and Happ extensions, Busch trade, Carson Kelly signing and of course Colin Rea being the most underrated player in the National League.
- I’m just fine with PCA hitting 6th and Happ hitting leadoff and I actually think people that want to flip flop the two aren’t looking at slugging percentage. This shouldn’t be a story and people need to put more respect on Ian Happs approach and game.
- People have complained so much about Kyle Tucker this month and FYI he now has a 139 wRC+ and is on pace for 1.0 monthly WAR. He’s walked at a 16% rate (twice MLB average) with a K rate at 11% (50% less than MLB average) soooooo please just shut the fuck up if you want to complain about him. His at bats never change other than where he hits the ball. He’s quite literally a perfect professional baseball player that has completely changed the lineup and club dynamic in less than 50 games. So again, kindly shut the fuck up if you want to complain about Kyle Tucker. Even in a month that’s drawn preposterous criticism, he’s wheeling and dealing without getting scorching hot. I don’t think you guys understand that a down month for him is still good enough to get $35M a year.
- Justin Turner collected 3 hits yesterday and I think he’s actually turning a corner with his approach and timing. Call me crazy but he looks much better than April and I actually see him as a super valuable player on the Cubs for a number of reasons we talked a lot about on the Monday Morning Cubs Show. So go check that out today and get caught up on all the juicy talking points.
- I’m going to circle back with some box score observations from last night in our next blog
- Team is fuckin ROLLING BABY
- First pitch today at 12:10pm
Have a nice Wednesday boys