Cubs Have A Midseason Resurgence

Good morning Chicago fans! I’d like to take credit for the Cubs’ turnaround, but we all know the players deserve our recognition. Let’s keep supporting our teams, caring for our people, and showing up for each other like Coby and the Bulls at a Summer League game.

RESULTS

W - Cubs 9, Orioles 2: Big win in Baltimore to start an important stretch!

• Jameson Taillon threw his 6th straight quality start! (6 IP, 2 ER, 7 K)

• The offense exploded for 14 hits behind Michael Busch’s best game as a Cub (4-for-6, 1 HR), Ian Happ (2-for-4, 1 HR, 3 RBI), and Seiya Suzuki (2-for-5, 2 RBI)

• Hunter Bigge made his big league debut with a 1-2-3 9th inning! His first MLB strikeout came on a 100 mph pitch 🔥

W - Cubs 4, Orioles 0: A 3-game win streak and winners of 5 of 6!

• Shōta Imanaga was great again (6 IP, 6 K), and the bullpen nailed down the shutout

• Four Cubs recorded at least 2 hits as they defeated former Brewers ace Corbin Burnes

• Cody Bellinger got hit by a pitch that fractured his finger

W - Cubs 8, Orioles 0: Get the brooms out in Baltimore 🧹 with a second straight shutout!

• Birthday boy Justin Steele stayed hot (7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K)

• Cubs hitters combined for 13 hits to bring their series total to a ridiculous 38 hits 😮

• Top 3 in the order (Nico Hoerner, Busch, Suzuki) went 7-for-13 with 5 runs and 5 RBI

W- Cubs 5, Cardinals 1: The winning streak continued behind The Professor!

• Kyle Hendricks threw an absolute gem (7 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K) as the Cubs pitching staff completed a stretch of 32 straight scoreless innings

• This offense has been ridiculous! Add 13 more hits to the books

L - Cardinals 11, Cubs 3 (Doubleheader - Game 1): Ugly start to a double dip.

• Hayden Wesneski and the Cubs gave up 9 RUNS in the 1st inning 🤢

  • Better defense would have stopped the bleeding at 3 runs, but 3 mishaps kept the line moving (including 2 errors by Wesneski)

• Position player pitching! David Bote threw a scoreless 9th inning!

L - Cardinals 5, Cubs 4 (Doubleheader - Game 2): A reversion back to blowing late leads and stranding runners doomed the Cubs to cap off a tough day.

• Javier Assad was rusty coming off the IL (2.1 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 0 K) and forced Counsell to lean on the bullpen

• Multiple opportunities to extend a 4-3 lead were left on the table as the Cubs hit 3-for-14 with RISP

• Porter Hodge allowed 2 runs in the 8th inning to give the Cardinals the lead

W - Cubs 8, Cardinals 3: Heading into the break on a high note!

• SIX Cubs hit a home run (Christopher Morel x2, Pete Crow-Armstrong x2, Tomas Nido, Happ), and they had TWO back-to-back jacks! 💪💪

• Jameson Taillon admitted he didn’t have his best stuff and credited the defense for keeping him afloat (5.2 IP, 3 ER)

WEEK RECORD: 5-2

SEASON RECORD: 47-51 (Last place, 8.5 GB)

⭐ STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐

Seiya Suzuki

This could have easily gone to any of the top 4 hitters, but Seiya was an RBI machine this week and will carry a flaming bat into the All-Star Break.

12-for-31 (.387), 1 HR, 9 RBI

🎥 PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥

Michael Busch and Ethan Roberts Double Dive

⚾ MLB DRAFT ⚾

Rounds 1 and 2 were last night! Rounds 3-20 will be today and tomorrow.

Cubs Draft Picks:

Round 1, Pick 14: 3B Cam Smith, Florida State

Round 2, Pick 54: 1B Cole Mathis, College of Charleston

The Cubs opt for a right-handed college hitter in Round 1 who made a huge jump in his sophomore season at Florida State. Smith was ranked at #14 in multiple draft rankings and seems like a strong pick.

Freshman Year: .258 BA, .326 OBP, .517 SLG, 12 HR, 36 RBI, 21 BB, 66 K

Sophomore Year: .387 BA, .488 OBP, .654 SLG, 16 HR, 57 RBI, 44 BB, 48 K

What a ridiculous season! His approach at the plate improved tremendously as he almost had a 1:1 strikeout to walk ratio, and he still maintained his power.

Let’s take a look at another exciting 3B prospect the Cubs drafted in 2013…..

Kris Bryant (2nd year in college): .366 BA, .483 OBP, .671 SLG, 14 HR, 56 RBI, 39 BB, 38 K

Smith played exclusively 3B in college and has a strong arm, so hopefully he can stick there with the Cubs having a clear organizational need at that spot. Matt Shaw may be able to play there, but recent reports suggest Shaw may be better suited for 2B.

This pick was also meant to be. Smith said his grandma is a huge Cubs fan and got him interested in baseball!

In Round 2, they pick up another right-handed power bat with good bat-to-ball skills. Mathis used to be a two-way player, but he had a strong junior year focusing just on his bat.

Junior Year: .335 BA, .472 OBP, .650 SLG, 14 HR, 57 RBI, 46 BB, 32 K

The Cubs nearly have an entire diamond of high-end position player prospects! I know the MLB Draft doesn’t get the hype of the other leagues, but these players are contributing in the big leagues sooner than ever.

ROSTER MOVES

Tuesday: Activated Mark Leiter Jr. from the IL, optioned Ethan Roberts to AAA

Wednesday: OF Trayce Thompson signed a minor league contract with the Cubs and reported to AAA

Thursday: Placed Cody Bellinger on the 10-day IL with a fractured left middle finger, called up Alexander Canario from AAA

Saturday: Placed Luke Little on the 15-day IL with a left shoulder strain, activated Javier Assad from the IL, recalled Ethan Roberts from AAA for Game 1 of the doubleheader and recalled Daniel Palencia after Game 1

Sunday: Optioned Hunter Bigge to AAA

NEWS & NOTES

The 32 inning scoreless streak by the pitching staff was the team’s longest streak since 1971

Prospect James Triantos replaced Owen Caissie (injury) on the All-Star Futures game roster

Ian Happ hit a significant HR in Baltimore:

In honor of this week’s Home Run Derby, I ask you the question:

This team is hot! I’m excited for the second half!

May 10th to July 3rd: 4 wins by 4 or more runs

July 4th to July 14th: 8 wins by 4 or more runs

TROPHY TRACKER (6/10 ➡ 🏆)

NEWS & NOTES

Football is here!!!

Training camp begins this week with rookies reporting on Tuesday

Caleb Williams brought his Caleb Cares Foundation to Chicago with a huge introductory event attended by Ryan Poles, Matt Eberflus, and teammates. QB1 is already impacting the community before taking a single snap in the league.

The Citywide Salute could have gone to Caleb. I’m sure Caleb will be featured MANY times in that section of the newsletter in the future. But either way…salute!

TROPHY TRACKER (6/10 ➡ 🏆)

NEWS & NOTES

The new episode of Every Shift provided incredible access into the scouting and draft process! (see Hitting the Links below)

• Kyle Davidson was clearly texting on stage when Artyom Levshunov was shaking everyone’s hand in the Blackhawks organization. Trying to trade for Demidov at #4!

• They compared Levshunov to Charlie McAvoy in scouting meetings

• Considered Sacha Boisvert AND Marek Vanacker at #18 and ended up with both!

• Oliver Moore and Frank Nazar acted as veterans at the development camp

New sweater numbers!

TROPHY TRACKER (2/10 ➡ 🏆)

NEWS & NOTES

Summer League began this week! The young Bulls have a fun, athletic team and are 1-1 after 2 games. Summer League ends on July 22nd. Here’s a bonus Play of the Week from the Bulls vs. Warriors game:

Team groups were announced for the NBA Cup (In-Season Tournament). The Bulls will be grouped with the Celtics, Cavaliers, Hawks, and Wizards. There’s a very good chance they finish 5th out of 5. No Cup for them this season…

1st round pick Matas Buzelis was on the Bulls Talk Podcast (see Hitting the Links below), and we got an inside look at his goals and personality!

• He’s a winner. He wants to win Summer League. He wants to win championships for the Bulls. He doesn’t have any other goals.

• Excited to step into the Bulls’ winning culture 🤔 is it the 1990s again?

• Loves basketball so much that he would play for free

• Confident his 3-point percentage will improve and believes he works harder than anyone else in the draft

New jersey numbers!

3 Josh Giddey / 7 Jalen Smith / 14 Matas Buzelis / 27 Chris Duarte

TROPHY TRACKER (1/10 ➡ 🏆)

Jorge López

As mentioned in the June 17th newsletter, López had a falling out with the Mets after throwing his glove into the stands.

Andy Martinez wrote a great article this week about López. He is grateful for another shot in the big leagues and said he used his emotional outburst as a teaching moment for his son. He respects the game and wasn’t proud of how he handled the situation.

I appreciate hearing more about his character after he was incorrectly painted as a bad guy on social media. He reacted poorly to an ejection, but he only wants what is best for his team and will work hard to prove that.

The Cubs provide a sense of comfort for López as he is reunited with former coaches. I hope he becomes a key piece in the bullpen!

The Bulls are not tanking.

I keep hearing that the Bulls are “Failing for Flagg”, the presumed #1 pick in the 2025 Draft.

Would a legitimate tank focused on draft asset collection be the best path forward to get closer to a championship? Most likely. But Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley proved they don’t believe in rebuilding.

They inherited a brutal roster in 2020 and wanted to win as soon as possible. This mindset led to early trades for Nikola Vucevic, DeMar DeRozan, and Lonzo Ball instead of trading away talent for draft picks.

Fast forward to this offseason. We’ve seen them trade away their best player (DeMar) and best defender/role player (Alex Caruso), so it’s fair to see a worse roster on paper than last season.

I still think they want to:

A) Make changes to the roster

B) Win as many games as possible

I doubt the Bulls want to start the season with a starting 5 of Giddey/Coby/LaVine/Williams/Vucevic. That lineup would give up 120 points a night and not give enough playing time to the young core they are hoping to develop. LaVine and/or Vooch may still be moved if they find the right deal.

If that’s the lineup, this team could win 39 games again and finish in the middle of the pack. If that’s not the lineup, I’d expect them to target NBA talent in return in a similar fashion to the Giddey trade.

AK and Eversley are not in the business of losing 60 games and acquiring future picks like Sam Presti. They’re in the business of attempting to win on the court.

I hope there are more roster moves before the season starts!

K.C. Johnson - Bulls Management discusses direction (NBC Sports Chicago)

Gabby Hajduk - DJ Moore and D’Andre Swift reunion (chicagobears.com)

Sahadev Sharma - Can the Cubs bullpen stabilize? (The Athletic)

Carmen Vitali - Teven Jenkins & the offensive line (FOX Sports)

Chicago Bears - Meet the Rookies: Kiran Amegadjie (YouTube)

Chicago Bears - Meet the Rookies: Rome Odunze (YouTube)

Chicago Blackhawks - Every Shift Episode 8 (YouTube)

Chicago Bulls - All-Access: Matas Buzelis in Chicago (YouTube)

Chicago Cubs - All Access: Ryno Strong (YouTube)

Thanks for reading! We can take a collective breather this week with a few days off from baseball. I appreciate all of you for reading my words every week and going on the fandom journey together.

As always, reply and let me know what I can do better!

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