The Rundown: Cubs Snakebitten So Far, Horton Seeks Second Opinion, Boyd Out, Assad Up, Bad News Bears Turns 50
“Born under a bad sign; been down since I began to crawl. If it wasn’t for bad luck, you know, I wouldn’t have no luck at all.” – Born Under a Bad Sign by Albert King
The Cubs lost to the Rays yesterday, and it looks like it’s going to take some time for Craig Counsell to get his bullpen settled. That’s the downside of yearly turnover in an area that most analysts agree is one of the more essential paths to winning consistently. Holding a lead after five innings is considered highly stable, and the chances of winning increase with each successful hold. The Cubs have proven it, too, and they’re almost unbeatable when their bullpen is clicking.
This year’s bullpen has already blown four leads in 10 games. You can blame Counsell or Jed Hoyer, but guys like Phil Maton, Hunter Harvey, Jacob Webb, and Hoby Milner were signed specifically to hold leads until the 9th inning. That quartet has allowed 12 earned runs in 15 innings, and they’ve allowed an additional four inherited runners to score, which won’t win you many games. All except Milner (.794) have an OPS against that exceeds 1.000, which isn’t good even considering the limited number of outings. The entire pitching staff has allowed 36 earned runs this season, 44.4% of which have come from the meat and potatoes of their relief corps. Yikes.
The good news is that each has a track record that indicates better results are coming. Early-season sample sizes also amplify those miscues. Still, the Cubs can’t be giving away games in a division that looks to have four teams capable of taking the crown. Four games off the pace just 10 games into the season is a bigger hole than you may believe. The NL Central has quietly become the toughest division in baseball, and things will compound quickly if not nipped in the bud.
Cubs News & Notes
- Cade Horton will visit Dr. Keith Meister in Texas today for a second opinion. The results of his recent MRI were considered “not clean and not good.”
- I applaud seeking a second opinion, but I believe Horton knew his season was over on Friday when he walked back to the dugout.
- Matthew Boyd is also taking a turn on the injury list with a bicep strain, though it appears to be nothing significant.
- These types of strains usually lead to an IL stint of 4-8 weeks, though there are exceptions.
- Note to self: Any arm injury is significant for a pitcher.
- The Cubs could also use a boost in offense, but it appears that they’ve just run into some bad luck.
- Pete Crow-Armstrong could be the key to any offensive resurgence in Chicago.
- Alex Bregman is another veteran whose production belies his advanced metrics.
- Bregman has seen 147 pitches and has swung at just two that were outside the zone.
- Reliever Riley Martin traveled an unlikely road to get to the big leagues.
- I submitted my chocolate chip cookie recipe this morning. That said, Pepperidge Farms makes my personal favorites.
Ball Four
Fool me once…
#Cubs fully expect this to be a minimum IL stint for Matthew Boyd. The issue has been in his recovery and they feel a little break will allow him to regain full health.
— Taylor McGregor (@Taylor_McGregor) April 6, 2026
Central Intelligence
- Milwaukee (8-2): The Brewers are still pitching Willson Contreras up and in, even though he no longer plays for the Cubs. Isn’t his brother William calling those pitches now?
- Cincinnati (7-3): Terry Francona has always been an X-factor, but now the Reds are buying into his approach.
- Pittsburgh (6-4): Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, Carmen Mlodzinski, and Braxton Ashcraft give the Pirates one of the best rotations in baseball. Pittsburgh comes to Wrigley Field on Friday.
- St. Louis (5-5): The Cardinals are beating teams by coming from behind, masking poor performances by their relievers.
- Chicago (4-6): SI columnist Patrick McAvoy suggests the Cubs should pursue Lucas Giolito to boost the team’s depleted rotation.
How About That!
A Latin American PED scandal may lead MLB to institute an international draft.
The league has launched MLB Clubhouse, a stop-motion YouTube series designed to engage next-generation fans.
A father-and-son biking tour allows riders to visit all 30 MLB stadiums.
A young fan was rewarded for hanging around to watch a Shohei Ohtani workout during a heavy downpour.
White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami has silenced his critics, at least so far. He’s on pace to smoke 64 taters this season.
The Royals turned a rare double-play that has not been seen in three decades.
Apropos of Nothing
The original Bad News Bears, starring Walter Matthau and Tatum O’Neal, turns 50 today. It remains the most un-Disneyfied of all kids movies, and it redefined the underdog uplift. The cultural impact of the flick is also significant: A “booger-eating moron” is unequivocally the harshest insult ever, and the fictitious jersey sponsor Chico’s Bail Bonds will forever live in infamy. And hey, beers for kids! I don’t buy that the movie’s overt racism is in a lampooning style akin to Blazing Saddles, but I’ll give Richard Linklater the benefit of the doubt.
Son of Apropos
Travel back an additional 20 years and you will stumble upon arguably the greatest drive-in movie of all time. Yes, I’m talking about Thunder Road starring Robert Mitchum. Mitchum was untouchable after a drug arrest, so he used his own money to make this film about moonshiners. It’s now considered a classic, and Mitchum, by the way, was locked up for possessing half of a joint that wasn’t even his.
As an aside, I did not know until today that Mitchum narrated the movie Tombstone and that he was in both versions of Cape Fear.
Eephus Pitch
Please don’t judge me on this week’s content; I realize I’m softballing it. I’m still pretty sick, though I feel like I’ve turned a corner this morning. My health has been one long, strange trip since getting a pacemaker when I was 19. How I made it to 62 (and counting) is beyond my understanding.
Extra Innings
Imagine, if you will, where the Cubs would be without their spectacular defense.
Aaaand he sticks the landing. 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/TvBdoLnSmC
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 6, 2026
They Said It
- “There’s no pain right now. Frankly, given a different time of the season, we’d just take the ball and keep going.” – Boyd
- “This is the best thing to do for Matt and for us to win as many games as we can this year. It’s the next man up. [Javier Assad] is on turn and ready to go. It’ll be his chance to make a couple starts and we’ll go from there.” – Counsell
- “You always end up attributing anything that doesn’t go well to a lot of different variables as you kind of look backwards, and this situation is no different. And we’ll try to figure out if there’s anything that kind of led to this moment for him that we can try to improve upon in the future. But, long story short, we’re working our tails off to try to prevent these types of things for all of our guys.” – Carter Hawkins
Tuesday Walk-Up Song
Yes, the Springsteen movie is awful, but this is still a great song.
