We’re still waiting on great great weather at Wrigley, though Sunday’s game looked beautiful if a little cold. In the meantime, the Cubs have gorgeous ones in Pittsburgh today and tomorrow.
Can the Cubs Soak Up the Sun?
It’s dangerous to set expectations too high with two-game sets, which is why it’s nice that the Cubs have a rather straightforward six games here against teams likely fighting to stay out of last place. Two in Pittsburgh today and tomorrow, four in Denver later this week. Winning four of the six would be a rousing success. Winning just three wouldn’t be bad, but would leave something to be desired. We’ve been keying in on these six and the four next week against Pittsburgh as ten games where the Cubs can get six or seven wins this month, as they try to exit April with a winning record (our goal for them—not theirs, I presume). With the Brewers losing in Baltimore yesterday, four wins this week would almost assure the Cubs of being ahead of them exiting the weekend, and in scenarios in which that wouldn’t be the case, the Brewers will have done a number on the Cardinals Thursday through Sunday. Which is all to say: This is a big opportunity and it’s ok to be excited.
It’s the home opener for the Pirates, and they’re starting old friend José Quintana. Talk about a good trade that ended badly. The Cubs needed Quintana desperately when they acquired him in 2017, and while he was never an ace, his performance was helpful in those early days before things turned south the next season. He really fell off a cliff in 2020 with the injuries, and he spent a lot of last year in the bullpen. In other words, it’s unclear what the Cubs should expect, but they should be able to score some runs today.
Unfortunately for the Cubs, the Pirates should also score some runs today. Drew Smyly takes the ball for the visitors, and while he had a good 26-inning season in 2020, aside from that he hasn’t had a FIP under 5.00 since 2016. To be fair, he missed 2017 and 2018, but still…this is not a guy whose best days are in the here and now. He managed a 4.48 ERA last season for Atlanta across 126 innings, which was great for their purposes, but his xERA was 5.02, his FIP was 5.11, and basically he’s a guy the Cubs are just hoping can leave with the game in reach more often than not.
Jason Heyward sits today, just for a normal day off, and that’s kind of nice to see. Heyward is clearly still an everyday player in terms of the Cubs’ approach, even if the production is pretty roundly accepted to not be there. We’re done hoping on Heyward, we get why the Cubs want to use him (a veteran presence is nice for a lot of reasons, some of which were on display during Saturday’s shouting match), we’ll always welcome a day off for the guy, even if we like him as a guy.
Also out for the Cubs today is David Ross, who will serve his one-game suspension from Saturday’s incident. Keegan Thompson has been suspended for three games but will appeal, making him an option today out of the bullpen.
Hason Ward: Cyclone?
Moving to Iowa State, Jared Stansbury reports VCU transfer Hason Ward will visit Ames this weekend. Ward is a defense-first big man who’d be a sizable improvement from the current projected Tre King/Robert Jones combo. Will he help the offense? Probably not. But he’d help Iowa State, and if the choice is between a strong defensive big who’s middling on offense and two guys who are kind of middling in total, we’ll take the former. We’ll see what his decision ends up being, but the visit makes it seem worth paying some attention.
Who Will Rule the New Big 12?
I was checking on Iowa State’s 2023 football recruiting earlier, to see if there’s anything there, and as of right now, Texas Tech has the best 2023 class in the Big 12, better than those even of Oklahoma and Texas. It’s extremely early, but this isn’t a bad thing for the Red Raiders, and it’s worth wondering if they could make a step up in football when Texas and OU depart. They’re pretty clearly the fourth-best at best football program in the state of Texas right now (you could make a case they’re as low as seventh, but I don’t think you can definitively put Houston or UTSA ahead of them), but as men’s basketball has shown, Texas Tech will get behind their teams, and you’d think the resources are there. Not the best recruiting location in Texas, but not terrible, either. They’re still in Texas. If someone takes over the Big 12 in the next alignment, could it be Texas Tech?
I’m not sure who the most likely team is to become the program to beat. It’s probably Oklahoma State or Baylor, though TCU, Tech, and all four of the newcomers each have a believable path to that role. It’s hard to see West Virginia or either of the Kansas schools doing it. Could it be Iowa State? It could be, but Iowa State’s currently in the Oklahoma State mold (fine recruiting situation but not great, resources but not ungodly resources, successful coach but no enormous breakthrough) but less so, which is to say they haven’t reached as high of highs under Campbell as the Pokes have under Gundy, they’re less likely to retain Campbell than the Pokes are to retain Gundy, and they’re further from a major talent hub than the Pokes are to the Metroplex. It’s possible, but it feels like an uphill path.
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The Cubs’ first pitch is at 4:12 PM EDT today. Only regional television for that one. The Mets and Phillies play at 6:45 PM EDT on MLB Network, featuring Tylor Megill vs. Zack Wheeler. The Blue Jays and Yankees play at 7:05 PM EDT on regional television—Yusei Kikuchi vs. Nestor Cortes in that one. At 9:45 PM EDT, the Padres and Giants square off, also on regional TV. Yu Darvish vs. Alex Cobb there.
In the NBA, the first “play-in” games are happening, with the winners taking the 7-seed in their respective conference and the losers playing on Friday for the final playoff spots. Cavaliers at Nets at 7:00 PM EDT, Clippers at Timberwolves at 9:30 PM EDT, TNT with the broadcast on each. So, a mix of all of that for us tonight, with MLB TV on the bigger screen (for the ambience) while basketball stays on the small screen, with the sound off unless it’s getting dramatic and we’ve got a dud somewhere else.
