The biggest conversation right now in Chicago sports is the Chicago Bears draft.
The next biggest thing is the Cubs bullpen and I want to write a blog about how people need to calm the fuck down through 19 games.
If you paid attention last night, Nate Pearson blew a 3-3 game faster than you can say Nate Pearson blew a 3-3 game. And with it, the Cubs 3rd truly blown game of the 2025 season.
And now at 11-8, a lot of people are saying we could easily be 14-5. They’re saying if you don’t start the season in Tokyo, it’s even better at 14-3. And then of course if nobody ever makes an out, it’s still the first inning of the first game of the season forever...
People love to complain about a bullpen.
The point In want to make is that it’s a waste of time on April 15th to be so dramatic.
Sure, I want more execution and a better presence and most importantly, never any blown losses. That’s the ideal scenario.
The more realistic one is that Nate Pearson walked a leadoff hitter last night in the bottom of the 7th in a tie game with nobody out. Let’s start there.
The next batter hit a ground ball down the first base line that would have easily been fielded for an out if Michael Busch wasn’t holding on a runner. But he was holding a runner so it turned into a double and now runners at 2nd and 3rd.
Then an intentional walk and now the bases are loaded in like 7 fuckin pitches of a 3-3 game.
Gavin Sheets then shits on one to right, more damage and the game’s over by the end of the inning.
There’s plenty to complain about in this entire sequence:
- Jameson Taillon sloppy in the 6th inning
- Ian Happ not catching a fly ball
- Nate Pearson walks a leadoff hitter
- Bad luck on a weak groundball from Arraez
- Gavin Sheets should never beat you
- There aren’t better/more effective options in the Cubs bullpen
You can complain about that and I think it’s fair because all of that happened.
But you can’t say Nate Pearson needs to be executed or that the Cubs need to fire the entire pitching department on grounds of uncompetitiveness.
I’m mad we lost the first game of the San Diego series just like everybody else but this team has gone above and beyond through the first couple weeks of the season to win us over. To earn back trust from last year and give hope this season might be worth something. There’s a division to be won and the team hasn’t looked this sharp since being World Champions nearly a decade ago.
So if you’ll excuse me, I won’t let Nate Pearson’s poopy pants ruin the fact that PCA looks sensational and Kyle Tucker is the greatest player of all time and Dansby was the best shortstop signing in his class and Ian Happ’s one of the most underrated Cubs of all time and Michael Busch is balling out and Shota rocks and we’ve got some really solid depth.
I’m not demanding you ignore the loss or forget we blew another game. But just keep it in context of the fact the Cubs are playing the hardest schedule of anyone in MLB right now. Their strength of schedule for April is higher than any month of all 29 other clubs. In the 180 months of unique baseball season, the Cubs rank #1 in opponent-win-percentage for April. It’s the hardest anyone has to play.
We’re 11-8 and that includes 3 west coast road trips with one of them being so west that it’s technically called The Far East.
If we were 8-11 at this point I’d be throwing a fuckin party and you’d all be invited.
Instead it’s 3 games better and that’s with some hiccups in the bullpen. So try and stay positive for no other reason than being salty gets you nowhere right now.
I know that’s a tall ask but I’m serious. I think we’re all better off trying to enjoy the start of the season than complaining about how it’s going to fall apart all over again. That sounds so weak and lame.
With that, there’s a couple objective hurdles:
- Caleb Thielbar – probably not the guy
- Nate Pearson – way too much talent to be this shitty
- Eli Morgan – hurt and nobody knew about it
- Justin Steele – hurt and not coming back this year
- Ryan Pressly – limited swing and miss
- Jed Hoyer orchestrated all of this after the worst bullpen season for any competitive Cubs team I can remember
You can be salty about that stuff. You can be skeptical and talk shit about Jed and bitch about our mediocrity.
But to hate that more than you like everything else we got going for us is just a stupid waste of time. We’re plenty good to win 90+ games, the NL Central and advance to an NLCS. There’s no doubt in my mind on April 15th and I’d like to channel future emotions towards that collective goal.
Now who’s with me?