Every now and then you just have to stop and appreciate a beautiful picture and this is one of those times.
It’s a perfect ballpark and I’m going to keep this simple for the 11am blog post today. Enjoy this picture and save it for the wallpaper or send it to your grandma or an old friend and tell them this makes you think of them. Use it to do some good today. It’s an elite picture.
Meanwhile I still can’t catch my breath from last night. I’m sitting here legitimately excited for a lineup preview later this afternoon and a 9-inning baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
So much that I don’t want an easier schedule. I don’t want cupcakes and Marlins and White Sox baseball games that nobody cares about. I’m addicted to winning close games against the world’s best teams and that means beating the Los Angeles Dodgers. It means hammering the San Diego Padres at home and making the Diamondbacks regret they ever came to Chicago.
That’s what this 2025 Cubs team is doing to me. It’s rendering me completely delusional of all normalcy as a baseball fan. I only want to face Yamamoto and Eovaldi and Cease and whatever right handed bum that throws 101 you can find. Bring me all of the meat.
Why am I this confident?
I’m conditioned to this club breaking me and that’s before I mention we started the season stronger last year.
The big change is thus two-fold. Kyle Tucker and Pete Crow Armstrong. Those two guys + Carson Kelly’s emergence allow for the following story line:
The harder you look, the more you find of absurd stats just like that
I think PCA can go:
- 150 hits
- 100 runs
- 25 home runs
- 40 doubles
- 50 stolen bases
Add a gold glove in center field then you’re looking at 9-WAR and a top 2 MVP finisher
I tried telling you guys at the start of the year that I was seeing something different from PCA that suggested he was trying to hit for more power. He was intentionally making sacrifices in other parts of his game to get better at slugging and being a threat in the box. It looked awesome in spring training then quickly turned to shit. And now as the weather is warming up and we’re settling into a traditional schedule with normal start times, you’re seeing this guy explode into the NL’s best center fielder before Jackson Merrill can even steal a base or make a nice catch.
And with that, we could go down a huge rabbit hole arguing between the two players. I’ll briefly say right now that my hometown bias will dominate any discussion and as such let’s avoid it right now on the grounds that PCA is simply a better looking ballplayer.
Furthermore, I think Jed was too late on the PCA extension news from earlier this year when he turned down $75M. Obviously that price tag has likely doubled in the time since which creates a bigger problem down the road.
For now the easier solution would just be to blank check him and Kyle Tucker because the Cubs are notably different and more valuable when good. So maybe Tom just grows some balls now and rewards everyone including the fanbase for sticking through 5 years of bullshit. Maybe we do that and we can start moving on towards being World Champions once again.
That would be nice but for now just enjoy the view.
Feels good to be so back.