👋 Wakey, wakey!

It’s always a good morning after the St. Louis Blues are eliminated from the playoffs.

There’s nothing like a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and last night’s Jets and Blues double-overtime thriller was no exception.

1.6 seconds. That’s all that separated the Blues from the second round and the Jets from an early summer. Not so fast.

I can’t wait for that to be the Blackhawks again…as long as they win, of course.

Fun Fact: 1.6 seconds left in the 3rd period is the latest game-tying goal in a Game 7 in NHL history.

Real shame, St. Louis. Reeeaal shaaame.

– Patrick Norton

Horton Nears A Debut?

Shota Imanaga exited Sunday’s start in the sixth inning after attempting to cover first on an infield grounder. The Cubs later confirmed the left-hander has a left hamstring strain.

• Déjà Vu: Imanaga left his start last Tuesday with an apparent injury to his right hamstring. However, it was quickly ruled to be cramps, and Imanaga did not miss any time as a result.
   

• Timeline TBD: The Cubs will send Imanaga for further imaging on the hamstring before determining their next steps, but when Justin Steele suffered a Grade 1 (mild) hamstring strain last season, the Cubs’ ace missed just over a month.
   
  That would be the best-case scenario for the Cubs, who are already without Steele for the rest of this season, after he underwent “revision repair” surgery on his left elbow last month.
   

• Next Man Up: The Cubs have until Saturday, Imanaga’s next scheduled start, to devise a plan for his spot in the rotation. Realistically, there are three sensible options: 1. Chris Flexen + bullpen (boring), 2. Jordan Wicks (okay), or 3. Cade Horton…

Flexen tossed three innings of shutout baseball in his club debut on Friday, earning a multi-inning save in the process. The idea behind adding the journeyman to the bullpen was to have somebody fill the role Colin Rea was supposed to occupy as a long reliever this season before he was thrust into the rotation when Steele went down.

The Cubs would probably like to avoid plucking Flexen out of the pen if they can help it. That multi-inning reliever role is crucial to the makeup of a team that doesn’t have tried-and-true innings eaters.

As for Wicks, 2025 hasn’t been kind to the 2021 first-round pick. Wicks allowed three earned runs in 2 IP with the big-league club before being shipped back to Triple-A Iowa. And in his most recent start with the I-Cubs, the 25-year-old allowed 7 ER and 2 HR in 2.2 IP.

That leaves the exciting option, and the one I think most Cubs fans would like to see sooner rather than later: Cade Horton.

In six starts with Iowa this season, the Cubs’ top pitching prospect is rocking a 1.24 ERA and has only walked one batter in each of his last three starts.

But there’s still reason to believe that the Cubs might exercise extreme caution with their prized possession. Why? Horton only has 151.2 IP under his belt since joining the organization in 2023, largely due to a shoulder injury that derailed and prematurely ended his season last year.

Horton has reached 6 IP in each of his last two starts, and his pitch count has sat mid-70s as of late. It also couldn’t line up any better that Horton has been pitching on Imanaga’s schedule, so full rest would line up with Saturday, May 10.

Here’s the deal: The Cubs are 21-14 and lead the NL Central by three games over the second-place Cincinnati Reds. If Horton isn’t the answer just yet, but Imanaga is still expected to miss several starts, Jed Hoyer’s in a spot where adding a legitimate arm to the rotation isn’t just a want anymore, but a need.

GO DEEPER: CHGO Cubs’ Brendan Miller nerded out with some Chris Flexen data & graphs in last Thursday’s Cubs Related pod. Great timing.

Quick Hits

ODDS ARE: Tonight’s the night! For the third year in a row, we’ll be watching the NHL Draft Lottery with great interest. The Blackhawks have the second-best odds (13.5%) in the league to land the top pick, trailing only the San Jose Sharks (25.5%).

For the first time, the league will broadcast the actual lottery drawing portion and not just the results. That means we’ll see the lottery balls in action rather than just the cards with logos being flipped over by NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly.

The Blackhawks won the lottery and the right to select Connor Bedard two years ago, moving up from third to first. However, they weren’t as lucky in the Macklin Celebrini sweepstakes last year and had to settle for the second pick and Artyom Levshunov.

The CHGO Blackhawks guys will be LIVE at 6 p.m. on YouTube to watch the lottery and discuss the results as soon as they happen!

SERIES WIN? SERIES WIN! For just the second time this year, the White Sox have won a series! Aided by a rain-shortened come-from-behind victory on Sunday, the Sox took two out of three from the visiting Houston Astros.

At 10-24, the White Sox are two games better than their first 34 games last season. And CHGO’s Jared Wyllys wonders if the White Sox are even better than their record might indicate.

WHY, WHAT HAPPENED? As Bill Belichick reportedly seeks outside PR help for…things…Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio said on Sunday that ex-Bears VP of communications Brandon Faber has been “having conversations” with the long-time head coach.

Nothing much going on in Bulls land, but Will Gottlieb’s got a brand new Bulls Mailbag this morning. Check it out here!

Kevin Wells:
Office Pop-A-Shot MVP

Today!

📺 CHGO Bears
12:00 on YouTube

📺 CHGO Bulls
4:00 on YouTube

📺 CHGO Blackhawks
6:00 on YouTube

⚾️ White Sox @ Royals
6:40 on CHSN

⚾️ Cubs vs. Giants
6:40 on Marquee

📺 CHGO White Sox
POSTGAME on YouTube

📺 CHGO Cubs
POSTGAME on CHGO Cubs YT

Talk to you tomorrow!