Evan Altman

The only thing I’m looking forward to in this one, and I’m talking about the mildest level of anticipation at best, is the first-ever matchup of starting pitchers named Hayden. Don’t fact-check that. While there are roughly 571 such homonymous tilts every weekend in youth travel ball, I’m confident it’s never happened in MLB. As …

Break out those finger purses. Seeking help for a beleaguered bullpen, the Cubs have signed right-handed reliever Vinny Nittoli to an MLB deal. Jeff Passan was first with the news and Meghan Montemurro confirmed the move, adding that Nittoli will join the Cubs in San Francisco for Thursday’s series finale. The righty was recently designated …

Even though they were up 2-0 just two pitches into Saturday’s game in Milwaukee, no one believed the Cubs were in line for an easy win. If anything, the opposite was true. With the score unchanged in the bottom of the 3rd, things got a little shaky for the visitors. A series of soft hits …

The Cubs are 11 games behind the division-leading Brewers and 5.5 games out of the Wild Card with about 44% of the season left, but they haven’t decided on a path forward just yet. While the front office is certainly leaning toward selling, all of Major League Baseball is focused on the upcoming draft that …

The Cubs jumped ahead early Tuesday night, riding a one-out Michael Busch homer in the 1st to a 58.1% win probability that they kept adding to all night. Despite sweltering conditions making their “performance fabric” jerseys look like they were playing in the rain, the road team managed to beat the heat with 14 hits. …

The Cubs have won three in a row for the first time since late April and they’ve set themselves up for their first sweep of more than a two-gamer since that same time. They beat the Astros thrice at Wrigley from April 23-25 and then won their first game in Boston to move to 17-9, …

When last we checked on our heroes’ postseason odds, they stood at a measly 6.3% after being roughly 11 times higher in early May. Now, however, the Cubs are riding high after dog-walking what had been the American League’s best team. By shutting the Orioles out twice and sweeping them with an aggregate score of …

More to come on these players in the future, but for now we’re just rolling with the team’s media release. The Chicago Cubs today selected eight players in rounds 3-10 of the 2024 First-Year Player Draft, five position players and two pitchers and one catcher, including six college players and two out of high school. …

Busy with baseball dad stuff today, so all we’re doing is the lineup card.

For quite some time now, the Cubs have operated with a strategy of trying to thread the needle via intelligent spending. Those are tropes Jed Hoyer has rolled out time and time again as the front office engages in half measures meant to insulate against both budget overages and a lack of competitiveness. But that …