👋 Good morning!

The kids are all right.

Specifically, Kyle Teel, Tim Elko, Chase Meidroth, Edgar Quero, and Shane Smith.

Are the White Sox “fun bad” or just plain bad? It’s an interesting debate considering the Sox are still on pace to lose 108 games.

But they’re playing better ball while injecting the lineup with legitimate pieces of the future, and getting more than expected from a ragtag bunch of starting pitchers led by Smith, a Rule 5 pick who’s allowed just 17 earned runs in 12 starts.

It might not make up for Luis Robert Jr’s sudden drop-off, but it’s still made for an enjoyable stretch of baseball, and one that is incomparable to anything last year’s product accomplished.

My vote? Fun bad.

– Patrick Norton

IBS without ABS

Nico Hoerner was ejected for the second time in his major league career for arguing balls and strikes in the Cubs’ 4-0 loss to the Tigers yesterday afternoon.

On the pitch that led to the ejection, Hoerner was called out on strikes for a ball that missed the zone down and inside. Cubs manager Craig Counsell was ejected moments later by home plate umpire Derek Thomas.

Broadcast microphones picked up part of the argument, which began after Hoerner was called out, turned to Thomas and said: “You’re having a really bad day so far.” That was enough for Thomas to eject the Cubs’ second baseman before responding, “You can’t say that to me.”
Counsell, in defense of his player, told Thomas: “What are you doing? What are — that’s nothing, Derek.” After the game, Counsell added: “The ejection of Nico was completely unwarranted. There’s nothing that was said that warranted an ejection. You can’t eject players and affect outcomes of games for no offense.”
The Cubs had issues with Saturday’s home plate umpire, Doug Eddings, too, prompting the ump to shout toward the Cubs’ dugout during the game: “What do you want? I’ll get better, but I’m not going to hear it from you, okay?”
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said on Wednesday that the league would propose the implementation of the Automatic Ball-Strike System for full use beginning in the 2026 season.

The system, which has been used throughout the minor leagues already, was used in select ballparks during spring training, allowing teams to challenge two pitches per game (retained if won).

I remarked last week how officiating seems to have gotten markedly worse across sports in recent years. And while I’m not one to pound on the table for replay reviews at every single turn in a game, the injection of ABS into baseball’s highest level is a must.

First, in minor league experimentation, the challenge system, which can only be initiated by the batter, catcher, or pitcher, added only 17 seconds of game time on average.

Second, what’s the harm in getting a couple more calls correct per game? Dealing with an umpire’s bruised ego? You’d think umpires would appreciate not having their names trend on social media following brutally bad calls.

As for the weekend result in Detroit, the series loss marked the Cubs’ first since dropping two out of three games to the Mets in New York between May 9-11.

GO DEEPER: The CHGO Cubs Podcast on Hoerner & Counsell’s ejections.

LOSS OF A LEADER: After being carried off the court following an apparent injury in Saturday night’s loss to the Indiana Fever, tests confirmed on Sunday that Sky guard Courtney Vandersloot will miss the remainder of the 2025 season with a torn ACL. Vandersloot, 36, became the franchise’s all-time leading scorer last week.

YOU’VE GOTTA BE CHSN ME: Despite initial reports that the Chicago Sports Network, which agreed to begin appearing on Comcast Xfinity’s “Ultimate Tier” last Friday, would remain available to customers over the air via antenna, the network announced that, as part of it’s deal with the cable provider, it would no longer be available OTA in the following markets: