PCA has snazzy new digs. Life goes on. The players are in the best shape of their lives and will get back after it today against the Rangers. This game is on Marquee/MLB.TV, 1:05 pm local time.
The Cubs set off on the path toward the 2026 regular season on the wrong foot and will have to adjust their steps. I’m going to blame it on the cold as I spent the game wrapped in a blanket, though that hardly explains Porter Hodge’s work on that Friday afternoon in Mesa.
Grant Kipp got the Cubs out of that inning at last, but by then the combination of Taillon and Hodge had allowed six runs, two of which scored on a ringing double that Seiya Suzuki mighta coulda had. PCA probably would have spit on it.
The number of players on the WBC rosters will mean lots of play by irregulars. Suzuki did treat everyone to a center-field blast, and Chas McCormick barreled the ball a couple of times, but there was little in the way of offense on this windy day in the valley.
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- Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Chicago Cubs getting acquainted with Automated Ball-Strike challenge system, which debuts in MLB this year. “Most of the Chicago Cubs’ projected opening-day roster doesn’t have experience with it…“
- Maddie Lee (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Cubs roster projection: Forecasting the 2026 Opening Day squad as Cactus League play begins. “Roster decisions out of spring training are based on a number of things,” manager Criag Counsell said Friday…
- Jordan Bastian (MLB.com*): Wiggins laying foundation to be Cubs’ next breakout star. “Jaxon’s always been a guy that’s been so gifted athletically,” Horton said.
- Kade Heather (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Munetaka Murakami, fashionably late, impresses in Cactus League debut. “… Murakami and numerous other White Sox players and coaches arrived just minutes before Friday’s game.”
- Bob Goldsborough (Chicago Tribune* {$}: Chicago Cubs player Pete Crow-Armstrong buys $1.2M Loop condo. “… a two-bedroom, 2,200-square-foot condominium…“
- Jordan Bastian (MLB.com*): Seiya opens spring with bang; Bregman makes Cubs debut. “Hopefully there’s 40 more of those from now until the end of the year,” Cubs starter Jameson Taillon said.
Food For Thought:
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