👋 Good morning!
When’s an appropriate time to start worrying about the left tackle competition?
Bears-Vikings on Monday Night Football is 24 days away and there is no clear leader between Braxton Jones, Kiran Amegadjie, or rookie Ozzy Trapilo.
To complicate things further, Wednesday’s alignment wasn’t just for grins: Theo Benedet (🇨🇦🦅) took most of the first-team reps on Thursday.
It was a lighter practice, but it’ll be very interesting to see what line combo the Bears trot out in today’s joint practice against the Buffalo Bills.
Tailgate With Us!
What: CHGO Bears Official Tailgate
Where: Wabash & Cermak
When: Before every Bears home game
Perks: Beers, barbecue, vibes and a shuttle to the stadium
Squandered.
As it turns out, the Cubs’ offense wasn’t just one Owen Caissie start from breaking out of their months-long slump. And in a crucial series finale against the Toronto Blue Jays, the Cubs found another excruciating way to fall short…again.
Matthew Boyd did just about everything in his power to keep the Cubs ahead. Through six innings, he’d allowed just one hit.
In the seventh, the Cubs’ All-Star starter walked Blue Jays left fielder Davis Schneider. Two batters later, up 0-2 in the count, Boyd surrendered a two-run go-ahead home run to Vlad Guerrero Jr.
“I just missed,” Boyd said after the loss. “[Guerrero] hit my mistake, hats off to him. And that loss is on me right there.”
Boyd’s final line: 7.0 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, L
Owen Caissie’s debut was far from glamorous, but the Cubs’ rookie put together some decent swings.
In his first at-bat, Caissie lined a ball to left field that looked headed for the gap before Schneider made an incredible diving catch.
After the game, Caissie, a native of Burlington, Ontario, told reporters: “It was surreal. Growing up watching the Blue Jays, I’m just super thankful the Cubs could make my debut happen in front of the Canadian people I cherish so much.”
Caissie finished the day 0-4 with three flyouts to left field and a strikeout.
Bad Luck: The Cubs hit 16 balls with an exit velocity of at least 90 miles per hour. Ten of the 16 were turned into outs. Five of those 10 had an expected batting average higher than .400.
But you make your own luck in baseball, and when an excellent opportunity to tie things later presented itself, the Cubs couldn’t take advantage.
Matt Shaw led off the eighth inning with a double before Seiya Suzuki – pinch-hitting for Michael Busch – walked. Hoerner and Suzuki advanced to second and third with no outs on a wild pitch before Ian Happ, Kyle Tucker and Carson Kelly all proceeded to strike out and squander their chance.
Simply put, you’ve got to find a way to put the ball in play.
I don’t know what’s up with Kyle Tucker – maybe it’s an injury – but the Cubs need him to find himself fast. In a contract year, Tucker has suddenly lost his slug and his ability to put the bat on the ball.
Since August 1, Tucker is slashing .150/.227/.150 with a 26.7 percent strikeout rate and a 6.7 percent walk rate.
And that matching batting average and slugging percentage means exactly what you think it means: zero extra-base hits.
Blue Jays 2, Cubs 1
⚾️ TODAY’S THE DAY ⚾️
We’re knocking the Friday 1:20 Club out of the park and onto a Wrigley Rooftop.
WHEN?
• TODAY, Aug. 15 - 1:20 p.m. vs. Pirates
• Monday, Aug.18 - 7:05 p.m. vs. Brewers
One ticket gets you both games, plus all you can eat and drink, and a CHGO Cubs t-shirt!
🎟️ TICKETS 🎟️
SCHEDULE RELEASE: The NBA released its schedule for the 2025-2026 season. The Bulls will open up the regular season on October 22 at home against the Detroit Pistons.
As it currently stands, the Bulls will only appear on national television three times with two of those three instances being restricted to streaming platforms only.
That means no NBA on NBC for the Bulls. Hopefully we still get John Tesh’s “Roundball Rock” on Peacock.
Trying to finish tomorrow's newsletter and got sidetracked looking at a thread of sandwiches.
— #Patrick Norton (#@patdnorton)
6:55 AM • Aug 14, 2025
⚾️ Cubs vs. Pirates
1:20 on Marquee
📺 CHGO Blackhawks
2:00 on YouTube
📺 CHGO Bulls
4:00 on YouTube
📺 CHGO Bears
5:00 on YouTube
🏀 Sky vs. Valkyries
6:30 on ion
⚾️ White Sox @ Royals
7:10 on CHSN
