Welcome back to BCB After Dark: the coolest spot for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in and sit with us. You’re always welcome here. There’s no cover charge. The dress code is casual. Bring your own beverage.
BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.
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Last night I asked you what kind of a 2026 season you expect out of Shōta Imanaga. A majority of you are optimistic as 60 percent expect something more like his 2024 season and 40 percent think it will be more like his 2025 season.
On Tuesday nights, I don’t normally write about movies. But I always have time for jazz, so let’s get right to it. You can skip ahead if you want.
Here’s a new one from Chilean saxophonist Melissa Aldana from her brand new album Filin. Joining Aldana is Gonzalo Rubalcaba on piano, Peter Washington on bass and Kush Abadey on drums. This is “La Sentencia.”
This is a good one to relax to at the end of the day with a martini in hand.
Welcome back to everyone who skips all that jazz.
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Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki is off to a strong start in the World Baseball Classic. So far, he’s 3 for 9 with two home runs, five walks and just one strikeout. He admittedly hasn’t faced the toughest pitching in the world, but it does seem like he’s locked in right now.
So that’s one reason for optimism on Suzuki. Another one is the introduction of the Automatic Ball-Strike (ABS) system. I can’t tell you if it’s true or not, but it is a general belief among Cubs fans that Suzuki has been the victim of far more than his fair share of bad strike calls. If he’s able to turn some of those strikes into balls, not only will he draw more walks, but he’ll get another chance to swing the bat. Some of those swings might be home runs.
Over his four seasons in MLB, Suzuki has hit:
2021: 14 HR in 446 plate appearances (3.1 HR percentage)
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2022: 20 HR in 583 PA (3.4 HR%)
2023: 21 in 585 PA (3.6 HR%)
2024: 32 in 651 (4.9 HR%)
So Suzuki has improved every year in Chicago and he took a big leap forward last year. He had a much higher home run-to-fly ball ratio last year which might indicate that the power surge was just luck, except that he also had a massive increase in pull rate. Suzuki pulled the ball at a 41.7 percent rate last year as opposed to 33.7 percent in 2024.
So tonight’s question is how many home runs do you think that Suzuki will hit in 2026? Will he give back some of those gains he made last year? Maybe he’ll take advantage of the ABS system and build on his power. Or maybe he’ll just stay where he was in 2025, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
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Of course, there’s always the chance he gets injured and then he could be just as good as last year but still hit far fewer home runs.
So predict how many home runs Seiya Suzuki will hit in 2026?
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