👋 Good morning!

How about those Cardiac Cubs?

Another bullpen blow-up? No problem for a Cubs offense that has scored 10+ runs seven times already this season.

Chicago is 7-0 in those games. So the recipe this season really is as simple as “score a boatload of runs and maybe everything will be okay.”

The Cubs will still want to figure out their bleeding pen and consider adding another starter to ease the burden on the bullpen with innings-eating ace Justin Steele out for the season.

But for at least one more night, Cubs fans are left muttering “this team” to one another after the latest magical outcome.

– Patrick Norton

Ryan Poles, Ian Cunningham preview ‘wild’ draft

After a ceremony to present LB T.J. Edwards and WR Rome Odunze as 2024 Brian Piccolo Award winners, Bears GM Ryan Poles and asst. GM Ian Cunningham spoke to reporters at Halas Hall one final time ahead of the draft.

Here are some noteworthy quotes from yesterday’s availability:

• Poles on what to expect in the first round of the draft on Thursday: “I think this one's going to be a little wild, but we're going to be prepared for all the different scenarios that pop up.”
   
  Cunningham added during his time: “It can get wild, sit back and watch.”
   

• Poles on the idea of extending newly-acquired All-Pro OL Joe Thuney: “Yes. That's definitely one of the priorities moving forward.”
   

• Ben Johnson, while presenting Edwards with his second Brian Piccolo Award: “First, I need to thank you, because if you hadn’t taken the cheese on that Stumble Bum play, I don’t know if I would have gotten this job.”

As for actual draft insight, the Bears’ brass played their cards close to their vests. However, I did like this quote from Cunningham on why Chicago might want to move up the draft board:

“The amount of top-tier talent, while it's good, the volume isn't necessarily there.”

That’s been the discussion all along. Maybe the Bears get somebody they love because somebody ahead of them drafted for need rather than best player available. But with every team still in possession of their first-round pick the morning before draft day, there’s an unsettling unpredictability about the whole thing.

This doesn’t mean the Bears are feeling the pressure to move up. As Cunningham said, “It depends on what the cost is, who the player is, the value, all those sorts of things. We're weighing those right now, but we'll see come draft night.”

I’m still of the mindset that Ashton Jeanty and Will Campbell are the only two guys Chicago might even consider trading up to get, but every day, there’s more and more smoke about both players being off the board in the first five picks.

Is this a bluff to get Chicago to overpay, or is it legitimate interest from likely landing spots? I’m not even sure Poles and Cunningham have figured that out yet.

I suppose all I can say is: fasten your seatbelts.

GO DEEPER: Why the Chicago Bears’ 2025 draft class still depends on the quarterbacks

Quick Hits

Box Score Standouts:

🔥 Kyle Tucker: 3-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI
🔥 Pete Crow-Armstrong: 3-5, 2 R, HR, 3 RBI
🔥 Miguel Amaya: 2-5, 2 RBI, game-tying HR in 9th
🔥 Ian Happ: 4-5, 2 R, BB, walk-off 1B in 10th

❄️ Gage Workman: 0-3, K, two errors at 3B

It feels like we might be nearing the end of the Gage Workman era in Chicago. Brought in as a Rule 5 draft pick in the offseason, Workman is required to be on the Cubs’ 26-man roster all season or else he will be returned to the Detroit Tigers.

Workman, 25, was never expected to provide much with his bat, but his 3-14 start (two hits off of Dodgers SS Miguel Rojas) is still worse than expected. His value was supposed to be with his glove, but it’s been a struggle for him, committing three errors since the Cubs optioned 3B Matt Shaw to Triple-A Iowa last week.

So Close: Down 4-2, but with two runners on and one already across in the ninth inning, Andrew Benintendi lined a ball toward the right-center gap. Flying in from center, Twins CF Byron Buxton made a sensational diving play for the final out of the affair.

With the loss, the White Sox drop to 5-18, worst in the AL by 3.0 games.

Additionally, the club found out Tuesday that SP Martin Pérez has a flexor tendon strain that won’t require Tommy John surgery, but is expected to sideline him for most, if not the rest of the season.

A Poet & We Didn’t Even Know It: Using some anonymous “outside help”, Ben Johnson recited a poem on Tuesday that he’d co-written in honor of Brian Piccolo:

More than a jersey
By Ben Johnson

He wore the 'C' upon his chest,
Not just in games, but in each test.

A Bear by number, name and grace,
But more than that, a steady face.

He wasn't picked in any round or fame,
No headlines danced around his name.

Yet still he fought and still he rose,
A quiet strength the whole team knows.

With courage burning deep and true,
He gave his all in all he'd do.

Not just in wins, but every day
He led with heart in every play.

He stood for loyalty and trust,
A friend, a guide, both firm and just.

He showed that greatness doesn't shout,
But lifts others up day in and day out.

His life was marked by dedication,
a model for each generation.

Each practice moment, snap and stride,
He gave the game his soul and pride.

When illness came, he met the storm
With strength that moved beyond the norm.

And though his race was far too brief,
He left behind a bold belief.

That love is real in brotherhood,
That fighting back is doing good.

That joy and grit can co-exist,
That every name deserves a list.

Today, we see his spirit rise
In steadfast hands and fearless eyes.

And though he's gone, his story grows,
A legacy that never slows.

Let’s play a game.

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Today!

📺 CHGO Bears
12:00 on YouTube

📺 CHGO Blackhawks
2:00 on YouTube

📺 CHGO Bulls
4:00 on YouTube

⚾️ White Sox @ Twins
6:40 on CHSN

⚾️ Cubs vs. Dodgers
6:00 on Marquee

📺 CHGO Cubs
POSTGAME on CHGO Cubs YT

Talk to you tomorrow!