Chicago Cubs news — PCA, Peterson, Swanson

Today’s Reflections

First off, I want to mention how painful it was for me in the last Cub Tracks to be fair when it came to Jameson Taillon’s return. I placed the qualifier, “….. so if successful …..”.

I was in the middle of the third paragraph on another rant about how I *feel* about him. Started over with two large paragraphs full of stats. All that proved was that Shōta Imanaga and Matthew Boyd are good (or *the Cubs’ best*). The rest (including a healthy Edward Cabrera)? The bottom line is: this is a very flawed rotation and one or two good acquisitions will only clarify things a little. The positive would be that the remaining four guys would no longer be the No. 2 or 3 in the rotation.

Okay, how about the good? Despite the hole Taillon put the Cubs in Monday, the offense kept chipping away with three home runs — the big one was the two-run blast by Ian Happ to tie the game and send it to extras. They just couldn’t get the run in with the bases loaded in the 10th.

On Tuesday, the offense started early with a six-run first. After being almost shutdown on Monday (a walk), PCA started it off in the first with a lead off triple (the first of two hits) and added a bases-loaded walk (one of three walks on the night) in the opening frame. He also added the most casual tracking down of a sure hit I’ve seen. Just a run from right-center to deep left-center, over 100 feet, with a little flicked-out basket catch. It looked so much easier than the diving catch from Monday.

In the two games, Dansby Swanson was 4-for-7 with two walks and three runs scored. Alex Bregman was 3-for-8 with an RBI and three runs scored. Nico Hoerner was a steady 3-for-10 and a run scored. Plus there was Michael Conforto’s pinch-hit, two-run home run Tuesday. That’s a good way to keep the RISP numbers down.

David Peterson was impressive in his 6.2 shutout innings — something that has to keep happening in the lower part of the rotation, however it is put together.

*means autoplay on, (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome). {$} means paywall. {$} means limited views. Italics are often used on this page as sarcasm font. The powers that be have enabled real sarcasm font in the comments.

Tuesday’s Game Stories:

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Monday’s Game Stories:

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Injury Talk:

Trade and Roster Talk:

Mini PCA-Mania:

Assorted Stories:

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Tyler Courtney (LastWordOnSports): Can the Cubs Catch the Brewers for the NL Central Crown? “The first half of 2026 has seen the National League Central race unfold similarly to how it has for quite some time, much like last year, when the Brewers won the division with a five-game advantage over the Cubs.”

Food For Thought:

Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911 – August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His singing, guitar playing and songwriting on his landmark 1936 and 1937 recordings have influenced later generations of musicians. Although his recording career spanned only seven months, he is recognized as a master of the blues, particularly the Delta blues style, and as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes him as perhaps “the first ever rock star”.

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