Colson Montgomery might be the most interesting player in baseball.

Since July 22, Montgomery has an OPS of 1.000. Impressive, right? It’s even crazier when taking into account his .250 batting average and zero walks in that timeframe.

Instead, he’s relying on the long ball to bump his slugging percentage, crushing seven home runs and driving in 17 runs over his last 11 games.

Suddenly, the Sox are 10-5 since the All-Star break and have surpassed their win total from 2024 with 50 games still to play. It’s not much, but Will Venable’s club is playing hard and, right now, playing well.

Sure, they blew a 5-0 lead on Sunday, but the club is still trending in the right direction. And the feeling of existential dread has dissipated.

Improvement!

– Patrick Norton

The Cubs honored the life and legacy of Ryne Sandberg on Saturday at Wrigley Field. Sandberg, who spent 15 seasons with the Cubs from 1982 to 1997, died last Monday after battling metastatic prostate cancer.

It’s hard to imagine pulling off a perfect tribute in one week’s time for a man who devoted years and years to the team, but the Cubs did about as good a job as possible over the weekend.

Sandberg was top of mind on Friday morning, too, when Major League Baseball and the Cubs held a press conference to officially award the 2027 All-Star Game to Wrigley Field.

“It’s especially fitting that we make this announcement as we mourn the loss of Cubs great Ryne Sandberg,” Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts said. “Fitting, because Ryne played in 10 All-Star Games.”

Sandberg’s 10 All-Star Game appearances rank second in team history, only behind Ernie Banks’ 14. Sandberg also won the 1990 Home Run Derby — the last time the event was held at Wrigley Field — doing so with just three home runs.

WALK-OFF MAGIC: Justin Turner is 40 years old. He debuted with the Baltimore Orioles nearly 16 years ago. Sunday marked the first time he ever clubbed a walk-off home run.

Turner’s been an interesting contributor for the Cubs, serving as more of a glue guy than as an on-field linchpin. Even after his heroics, he’s still just a 75 wRC+ player in the twilight of his career.

But wRC+ doesn’t matter when you’re in the batter’s box, and it doesn’t matter when the game is on the line. Turner’s clutch home run was his second walk-off hit of the year, and the Cubs’ sixth of the season.

And boy, did it come in a pivotal moment. After the bullpen blew a 3-0 lead in the eighth inning on Saturday, Daniel Palencia blew the save in the ninth on Sunday for just the second time all season.

Turner’s blast helped the Cubs avoid the disaster of losing a series at home to the 51-61 Orioles. Instead, they’ll stay on Milwaukee’s tail, both two games out in the division and for the best record in baseball.

MORE: Willi Castro, Cubs newcomers making immediate impact

FAMILY FUN DAY: Family Fest was back at Soldier Field after skipping last year’s extravaganza due to several conflicts with the stadium’s concert schedule (something that won’t happen when the team owns its own place in Arlington Heights).

Ben Johnson had his team pretend it was “preseason game zero,” which meant staying in the team’s normal hotel on Saturday night and warming up ahead of the practice as if another team was on the other side of the field.

Had it been a game, the Bears would’ve lost.

“It was sloppy,” Johnson said after Sunday’s practice. “Sloppier than we were hoping we would be at this point. We had a couple really good practices over the last two, and then it took us a little while to get going and hear the pads clicking.”

GO DEEPER: Sloppy execution mars ‘preseason game zero’ test for offense

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