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Aroldis Chapman has been nearly perfect over his Red Sox tenure. He’s converted 35 of 37 save opportunities, registering a 1.22 ERA in that span. But Father Time is undefeated, Chapman has been prone to meltdowns, and I’m generally distrustful, so I’m waiting for the wheels to fall off.

Last week, against the Brewers, Chapman threw the slowest fastball of his Red Sox career at 90.8 mph. Since 2010, he’s thrown over 10,000 fastballs, earning a reputation as the premier flamethrower in baseball. The pitch last week was so much slower than his average fastball that it might have even functioned as a changeup, inducing a game-ending double play.

Chapman has been in the league since 2010. There aren’t many players left who debuted in 2010. At 38 years old, it’s fair to see 90 mph and wonder if he’s over the hill. I did some digging, some Excel work, consulted an oracle, and asked a Magic 8-Ball to determine what to look for to predict Chapman’s decline.

Pitcher’s arms are like weapons. Google “Aroldis Chapman gun” to learn more. In all seriousness, Chapman saves his bullets. Part of being healthy and effective for so long is knowing when to push it and when to take your foot off the gas. To use another metaphor, look at Lionel Messi. He spends a large portion of games walking, conserving energy, and surveying the field. When he needs to, he gets up to full speed in an instant and makes everyone else look like they’re playing a different game. While a pitcher can’t entirely take pitches off, they can pull back a bit when needed, especially early in the count.

Dating back to 2024, we saw a jump of about two miles per hour with his fastball when he gets to two strikes. He’s much more likely to see a swing with two strikes, and brings out his best stuff in those counts. That’s been the case throughout his career, but the magnitude of the effect has increased with age. Similarly, we can see his relative effort change with the score as well.

The effect here isn’t as significant, but it does exist. In a one-run game, Chapman throws his fastballs significantly harder than in a three-run game or when trailing. There isn’t much of a difference between tie games and two-run games, but if the winning or tying run is at least in the on-deck circle, Chapman brings it.

There’s more to it than just effort, as well. At least, it appears that way.

It typically takes Chapman about four pitches before he appears to be warm. When he throws a fastball for his first or second pitch of the outing, it averages about 97 mph. By the time he gets to his seventh pitch, the average velocity is up to 99 mph. As someone who owns a bachelor’s degree that includes a minor in applied math and statistics, I’ll admit this isn’t a 100% sound way to draw conclusions, but the correlation is there.

One potential issue is that the first and second pitches of an outing can never be a two-strike count, and we already saw that he turns it up with two strikes. By the time we’re five or so pitches into an at-bat, though, it could be virtually any count, given that the average plate appearance lasts about four pitches.

Regardless of how Chapman conserves his bullets, the velocity is going to fall off. Nobody can throw 100 mph forever. In actuality, if he does fall off a cliff, he’ll be very hurt. If his performance falls off a cliff, it’s likely due to his control.

There’s a pretty clear correlation here. When Chapman walks guys, things get ugly. When he’s in the zone, as he was last season when he posted a career low walk rate, he’s nearly unhittable.

Last season, he was in the zone about 54% of the time, his highest rate since 2016. In a small sample this season, he’s at a 52% zone rate. He allegedly got under control by learning to aim, which is such a hilarious revelation for a pitcher who’s been in the majors for 15 years that I have a hard time believing it. No matter what the reason for his improved control, a year and then some consistently is enough for me to believe it’s here to stay.

As I said, Father Time is undefeated, and nobody can throw 100 mph forever. Still, when looking at Chapman, pay more attention to the high-leverage, two-strike pitches to see if the top-end velocity is still there. If he needs an out and he’s only throwing 95 mph, it might be cause for concern. As for the 90 mph fastball, he said he was having trouble because of the cold. You probably already knew that, so if you’re still here, I appreciate you. Unless there’s an injury at play, and there doesn’t appear to be, the dip in velocity was likely just a blip. If you start to get worried about Chapman this season, make sure to give him a few pitches to warm up, and pay close attention to his control before you deem the sky falling.

The Ontario Tower Buzzers have their first-ever award winner, as Dodgers minor league right-hander Marlon Nieves was named California League pitcher of the week for the week of April 6-12.

Nieves last Tuesday struck out six in six scoreless innings in a road win over the Inland Empire 66ers in San Bernardino, the longest outing of his professional career.

Nieves last Tuesday against Inland Empire retired his first six batters faced, then allowed a walk in the third inning that was erased by a double play. He allowed a leadoff double in the fourth inning, but retired the next three batters and his final nine batters faced to complete his gem.

The 20-year-old right-hander faced only one batter over the minimum in the victory.

Signed out of the Dominican Republic in May 2023, Nieves made his Class-A debut last season with Rancho Cucamonga, putting up a 2.21 ERA in eight starts, with 37 strikeouts and 19 walks in 36 2/3 innings, with only one home run allowed.

Heading into this season, Nieves was ranked the Dodgers’ 12th-best prospect by FanGraphs, and was No. 24 in the system at Baseball America.

“Pitching is risky and there’s work to do ahead, both in terms of Nieves’ physical development and in the consistency of his execution. But there’s a pretty high ceiling here,” wrote Eric Longenhagen, Brendan Gawlowski, and James Fegan at FanGraphs. “Nieves has the physical traits and pitch shape characteristics to justify a mid-rotation future grade.”

Said Baseball America: “He has the upside of a rotation piece but will need to up his command and control in a big way to reach that ceiling.”

Nieves is the second award-winning Dodgers minor leaguer this season, after Triple-A Oklahoma City first baseman/outfielder James Tibbs III winning Pacific Coast League player of the week for March 30-April 5.

The Chicago White Sox went 2–5 this week. In many ways, that alone could serve as the recap. But even in a rough stretch, there were a few bright spots worth noting, and a few areas that weren’t so encouraging. Those themes break down into two familiar buckets: hitting and pitching.

PITCHING

In the interest of your actually reading this article, let’s start with the bright spot that was pitching this week. In the last seven days, South Side pitching has a team ERA of 2.94. You might recall from last week that the hurlers weren’t good in the first three series. They came out of the gate with a team ERA of 6.00+. With this incredibly solid week of pitching, both from starters and the bullpen, it is now sitting at a more respectable 4.70. That is good enough to move from 29th in the league to 26th.

Big performances came specifically from the starting pitching.

• Erik Fedde played in two games, started one, and gave up just three earned runs over 11 innings pitched. He also struck out eight batters and walked just two.
• Davis Martin gave the White Sox their only quality start of the week in a loss to the Royals on Friday. In seven innings, he allowed two runs, walked no one, and struck out three.
• Anthony Kay would have gotten a quality start if they had let him stay out for one more out. Instead, he pitched 5 2/3 innings of shutout baseball, striking out six and walking two along the way.
• Sean Burke went five innings in a 5-3 loss to the Orioles on Wednesday. He only gave up two runs and was set to get the win until Sims came in and blew the lead.
• Honorable mention goes to Shane Smith, who, manager Will Venable pulled in the fourth inning of Tuesday’s start after throwing 99 pitches in 3 2/3 innings. He struck out an astonishing eight batters, but also walked five in his short scoreless outing. It was not enough for him to avoid an option back to Triple-A. He now finds himself in Charlotte trying to get back on track after a rough start to the season.

While the starters stepped up in big ways, the bullpen has some work to do. The offense gave the bullpen a lead on both Tuesday and Wednesday, and they blew them both. Which, if they had won, would have given them a 4-3 record for the week rather than 2-5.

However, pitching cannot protect a lead if the offense doesn’t keep extending it. This brings us to the bummer part of the weekly recap. The one where I tell you the offense didn’t show up and cost the White Sox games they had in reach.

HITTING

Let’s play a game I like to call “How many games were in between the Pale Hose’s most recent home runs?” You get until the end of this sentence to guess. If you said seven, you would be correct. On Saturday, April 4, both Munetaka Murakami and Colson Montgomery homered in a 6-3 win against the Blue Jays. The next time the Good Guys hit a home run was on Sunday, April 12. Tanner Murray hit a two-run bomb to give the White Sox an early lead over the Royals. Props to the rookie for his first major league dinger.

Speaking of rookies, in the top of the seventh on Sunday, Dustin Harris entered the game for Derek Hill. The lefty took a 1-1 changeup nearly out of the ballpark. He would eventually come around to score the winning run on a wild pitch.

Harris also wanted to have himself a day and robbed a home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to keep the White Sox in front.

Exciting rookie accomplishments aside, the South Siders scored a total of 14 runs last week. That is an average of two runs a game. The Royals shut out the Sox on back-to-back nights in Kansas City; they averaged nine strikeouts a game, and only walked 24 times. To put it lightly, there is much work to be done.

I could throw more numbers at you about how low the White Sox rank in various categories or some decent plays on the defense, but truly, this is all you missed last week. The simple game of trying to get all three aspects of baseball (hitting, pitching, defense) clicking into gear at the same time is becoming a challenge for the Chicago club. A tale as old as time, but with many younger faces this time.

After an off-day on Monday, the club starts a three-game set with the Tampa Bay Rays at The Rate on Tuesday at 6:40 p.m. CST, and there are a few things worth highlighting.

Noah Schultz is getting the call! The wait is over, and the 22-year-old southpaw will make his major league debut on Tuesday. The Oswego East High School alum will face off against lefty veteran Shane McClanahan. It is the next step in the wave of bringing up players from this young farm system. The rookie is 3-0 in Charlotte and has struck out 19, walked two, and given up just two earned runs in 14 innings.

Also of note, Chicago traded Lenyn Sosa to the Blue Jays for minor league outfielder Jordan Rich and a player to be named later, or cash considerations. This appears to be a classic Reinsdorf trade. At this time, I have no opinion or clue on who Rich is, but I can only hope this pans out for Sosa in Toronto.

Back on November 5, 2025, when the Colorado Rockies claimed INF/OF Troy Johnston off waivers, the move seemed fairly insignificant.

At the time, the Rockies rebuild was in its early stages with key front office positions remaining unfilled, so their thinking on claiming Johnston was unclear.

In spring training, however, Johnston’s potential became clear:

• He’s a lefty batter in a lineup dominated by righties
• He plays both first base and the outfield
• He had a good showing early on that got him one of the last open spots on the Rockies roster as they left Scottsdale

It’s too early to have much meaningful data on the 2026 season, but Johnston’s initial numbers are promising. In 50 plate appearances, he’s slashed .283/.327/.478 with a 114 wRC+. His time between first and the outfield has been roughly equal.

And he’s shown himself ready to make a big play.

For Johnston, it’s all in a day’s work. In a recent interview, he discussed joining the Rockies and adjusting to elevation, playing multiple positions, and that walk-up song everyone’s talking about.

Making adjustments

A native of Washington State, Johnston knows his way around the West Coast, but it’s been a minute given that the Marlins drafted him in 2019. Still, Johnston is finding his way around the Mountain West.

“Getting used to the weather, getting used to the travel, getting used to playing teams that I’ve never played before is all very new to me,” Johnston said.

But he’s not worried.

“It’s still baseball. You’ve still got to hit the ball, still got to have a good approach, still got to be athletic, still got to scout and do all this kind of stuff,” he said. “Every day is not the same. You have to prepare differently. You have to train differently for whatever you’re trying to accomplish that day. But I’m trying to adjust and have fun and be the best teammate that I can.”

Wherever he’s playing, Johnston has learned to relax.

“I’ve been playing baseball professionally a long time. I know it hasn’t been in the big leagues, but when you try to put the ball in play, and you just try to make things happen and don’t press too much, sometimes good things happen.”

Then there’s the matter of elevation, which Johnston said he first noticed in his sleep habits.

“I feel like I have not been sleeping very well,” he said, “because I’ve been up in Washington [where] I’m at sea level. I’m up in Seattle and over in Florida, you’re at sea level. I’ve got the humidity, all that kind of stuff. Here, the air is very thin, and it’s very cold, and so that’s very different than what I’m used to. So I’ve been trying to find different techniques, different things that can kind of cope with that.”

Then again, there may be more than elevation at work.

“But I also do have an 11-month-old who’s teething,” Johnston added with a smile. “So as much as I am trying to do my best, she’s also keeping me awake a bit. But we love her, and we’ll keep her around.”

He’s aware, too, of the on-field effects of playing at 5280, something he first noticed at the end of last season when the Marlins visited Coors Field. Although Johnston noted the change in pitch movement, he was especially struck by how the ball flew, setting up a situation that requires vigilance on the part of defenders.

“I do understand in the outfield, the ball will travel and it’ll kind of carry on you. As long as you’re thinking about that while you’re tracking the baseball, things happen a little bit better,” he said. “But if you’re not prepared for it, that’s where it’ll sneak up on you.”

Johnston added, “I feel like the pop-ups in the infield are fairly normal, but I think those, those deep, mid-level drives out to the outfield in the gaps down the lines, those are where you see the big difference.”

Being versatile

The Rockies’ new front office has emphasized the need for versatility. It’s another part of Johnston’s game that requires his attention, most notably in terms of preparation.

“A lot of it is just mental preparedness and making sure I get my reps, preparing for what I need to do that day, whether it’s playing in the infield, playing in the outfield,” Johnston said. “I feel like I’m comfortable at any position.”

He recognizes, though, that versatility is a key part of his game.

“That was the big thing of why the Rockies claimed me off waivers from Miami was that I can play multiple positions.”

Since he was drafted as an outfielder, first base has been a position added to his toolkit, but he doesn’t have a positional preference.

“There’s no actual theory behind this,” he said, “but for me, being an outfielder is just a glorified DH. That’s all it is. You’re just out there. You’re hanging out, kicking grass, doing whatever.”

But that changes in an instant.

“When the ball does come to you in the outfield, there’s a really, really high pressure. You need to catch the ball. You need to get it into the right guy,” Johnston said, adding, “When we’re in the infield, you’re locked in pretty much all nine innings. Maybe in the outfield, you can get away with taking one pitch off.”

He’s just ready to do what’s asked of him.

“I’ve told [manager Warren Schaeffer] this a lot. I will do anything he needs me to do. If he asked me to play shortstop in the ninth, if he asked me to play third base and bat first, it does not matter. I will do anything, whatever they need.”

Selecting a walk-up song

Among all the Rockies 2026 walk-up songs, Johnston’s decision to go with Lou Bega’s “Mambo No. 5” tends to get fans’ attention.

Who made this decision? His wife, Haleigh.

“She picked it,” Johnston explained, “and she thought it was so funny.”

Here’s how it happened.

“We were going up in January,” he said, ‘and I was like, ‘You know, I need a walk up song. Spring training is coming around. I need something. What do you think?’ And she goes, ‘“Mambo No. 5.’ And I go, ‘That’s the worst walk-up song I’ve ever heard my entire life.’ And she goes, ‘I promise you: It’ll bring its good vibes. The fans will like it. They’ll get interactive.’ And she did this whole little dance routine with it. And I thought it was so funny. I didn’t really have a lot of other options in my mind. So I was like, ‘You know, I’ll try it, and see what works.’

As it turns out, it did.

“But it was funny,” he said, smiling. “There was somebody that tweeted something out and said, ‘Troy Johnston’s walk up song is just so fitting for him,’ and I hated it so much, because, of course, my wife is usually right.”

Appreciating what the Rockies are building

Johnston also draws contrasts between his current situation and where he was in Miami.

“A lot of people are talking about the Rockies and how things have been in the past, but this is a new team,” Johnston said.

“We’re hungry. We want to win. It’s kind of our motto.”

Plus, there’s a Rockies fandom eager for winning.

“Coming from the Miami Marlins, when I walked around Miami, I never saw a Miami Marlins jersey. I never saw a Marlins hat. I saw nothing,” Johnston said.

“When I’m walking around downtown Denver, they’re really excited about the Rockies. They want the Rockies to be good. This is a sports town. We are trying to put a good product on the field. Paul [DePodesta] has done a great job of that. I’ve never seen so many supporters of one team that I’ve actually been a part of and that I’ve been on. So this city and this team wants to win, we’re going to try to put the best product every night and do our best to win.”

This week on the internet

ICYMI:

The weight of the bricks: Troy Johnston and the quiet battle behind the big league smile | Blake Street Banter

Continuing our look at Troy Johnston on is Tuesday is Eli Whitney over at Blake Street Banter. Here he provides another perspective on the utility player.

Rockies’ new direction, energy has DePodesta excited | MLB.com

Thomas Harding spoke with Rockies president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta during the team’s series with the Padres.

2026 MLB Mock Draft 2.0: Updated First-Round Picks For Every Team | Baseball America ($)

Carlos Collazo has the Rockies selecting AJ Gracia, an outfielder from the University of Virginia. As Collazo writes, “How the Rockies and their new front office draft this year will be one of the most interesting storylines to watch. It sounds like they’ve spent a lot of time on college players this spring and, at least for some teams, Gracia is closer to Strosnider in the college outfield pecking order than the others. He has a patient and selective approach that leads to lots of walks. His career walk rate is right around 18-19%, and he has the bat-to-ball skills that limit his strikeouts.”

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

Welcome to the second installment of Camden Chat’s minor league weekly recap. All four of the Orioles’ full-season affiliates are up and running with their usual six-game weeks, and there have been quite a few early standout performances. Let’s jump right into it.

Triple-A Norfolk Tides

• Last week: 2-4 vs. Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (Marlins)
• Coming week: at Durham Bulls (Rays)
• Season record: 5-10, tied for last place (6.0 GB) in International League East

Tides hitters struggled to get, you know…hits. They had only 25 hits in 179 at-bats in this series, a wretched .140 batting average that was worst in the International League by far. They slugged just .218, also a distant last place in the IL this week. No Tides hitter had more than three hits the entire week. In Creed Willems’ case, at least, two of those were dingers, and he now has a .918 OPS in 12 games this year. Willems didn’t quite make the cut for Camden Chat’s composite top 20 prospect rankings, but he was an honorable mention. At 22 years old and in his first experience at Triple-A, Willems probably isn’t a candidate for a big-league call-up immediately, but he’ll put himself on the radar if he keeps hitting like this.

Enrique Bradfield Jr. (#7 prospect) returned from a six-day absence after he ran into a wall on April 2. He was hitless in two of his three starts this week but was great in the other, hitting a homer and driving in all four Tides runs in a comeback win on Friday.

I don’t mean to alarm anyone, but a rehabbing Jackson Holliday, after going 2-for-19 this week, is hitting .167 with a .453 OPS in 11 games. At what point does, “Ah, he’s just rusty,” turn into, “Wait, something is really wrong here”? Holliday’s maximum 20-day rehab stint is almost over, and you have to wonder if the O’s will consider just optioning him to the minors once he comes off the IL. He hasn’t shown he’s ready to hit Triple-A pitching, let alone big league pitching. Hamate injuries are complicated.

The starting rotation is where this Norfolk club is really intriguing, and the Big Three — prospects Trey Gibson (#5), Nestor German (#11), and Levi Wells (#16) — each pitched well this week. They combined for a 1.20 ERA, allowing only two earned runs in 15 innings. Wells was the most impressive of the bunch, racking up six strikeouts in 5.1 innings, and the two runs he gave up were both unearned. But the best starting performance for Norfolk came from Brandon Young, who followed up his five shutout innings with the Orioles last week by throwing six shutout, one-hit innings for the Tides on Sunday. I have a feeling he’ll be back in Baltimore sometime soon.

Norfolk season stats

Double-A Chesapeake Baysox

• Last week: 5-1 vs. Erie SeaWolves (Tigers)
• Coming week: at New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Blue Jays)
• Season record: 6-3, third place (2.0 GB) in Eastern League Southwest

The first full week of Chesapeake’s season was a resounding success, as the club was a win shy of a six-game sweep. The Baysox have been led by their pitching staff, which has a lot of guys who strike out a lot of dudes. The 112 Ks by Chesapeake pitchers this season are tops in the Eastern League. This week, left-hander Sebastian Gongora, an 11th-round pick in 2024, had 13 of them — and no walks — in his two starts, giving up only two runs in 9.1 innings. Gongora, who last year struggled to a 5.53 ERA for two affiliates, is starting things off on a better note in 2026.

The most notable pitcher on this roster is lefty prospect Luis De León (#9). His second start of the year was a workmanlike five-inning, three-run performance. Lefty Micah Ashman and righty Tyson Neighbors, two relievers acquired at last year’s trade deadline who are dark-horse O’s bullpen candidates later this year, combined for six innings, no earned runs, and 12 strikeouts this week.

At the plate, 2024 second-round pick Ethan Anderson was the star this week with nine hits, four more than any of his teammates. Seven games into the season, Anderson is slashing .429/.600/.571 with more walks (eight) than strikeouts (five). He’s aiming to put a disappointing 2025 season behind him. Anderson was one of six Baysox batters to homer this week, along with infielder Aron Estrada (#13), among others. Shortstop Griff O’Ferrall homered but was otherwise 0-for-17 in the series.

Chesapeake season stats

High-A Frederick Keys

• Last week: 2-4 at Winston-Salem Dash (White Sox)
• Coming week: vs. Hudson Valley Renegades (Yankees)
• Season record: 4-4, fourth place (2.5 GB) in South Atlantic League North

The Keys’ lineup is loaded with top prospects — Nate George (#3), Ike Irish (#4), and Wehiwa Aloy (#6) — but the hitter who stole the show this week was first baseman Victor Figueroa, acquired in last year’s six-player trade package for Ryan O’Hearn and Ramón Laureano. The 22-year-old bashed his second and third home runs of the season. Figueroa is probably not a real prospect, but dingers are dingers.

As for those big-name guys, Irish fared the best this week with a 5-for-16 showing, including a homer. Aloy was 5-for-21 with a roundtripper of his own, while George posted a 4-for-17 week. Irish, last year’s first round pick, has a .988 OPS through his first five games at the High-A level. The O’s drafted him as a catcher but he has yet to play behind the plate this season. He’s made three starts at first base and two in right field.

It’s not just hitters who are opening eyes at Frederick. The Keys’ staff is led by a dynamic 1-2 punch of Joseph Dzierwa (#14) and JT Quinn (#19). Dzierwa, a lefty with pinpoint control, has been garnering attention since his Spring Breakout performance and continues to shove for the Keys. He threw seven innings of two-run ball this week, following six shutout frames in his pro debut the previous week. The Orioles normally limit the innings of their prospects early in the season, but Dzierwa has been so efficient with his pitches — 80 or fewer each time — that they haven’t needed to cut him short.

Meanwhile, the righty Quinn — selected 11 picks after Dzierwa in last year’s draft, at #69 — blew away the Dash with 10 strikeouts in 4.2 scoreless frames this week. He too is off to a sensational start to his pro career, with a 1.00 ERA and 16 Ks in his first nine innings. Another pitching prospect, Juaron Watts-Brown (#15) is also at this level and made his season debut with 3.2 scoreless, hitless innings. That trio has upstaged the 6-foot-8 Boston Bateman (#10), the prize of the Padres trade last summer. Bateman bombed this week, coughing up seven runs in 5.2 innings over two outings.

After playing their first eight games of the season on the road, the Keys have their home opener tonight. It’s their first time playing in Frederick as an O’s affiliate since 2019. Shake those keys!

Frederick season stats

Low-A Delmarva Shorebirds

• Last week: 2-4 vs. Augusta GreenJackets (Braves)
• Coming week: at Fredericksburg Nationals
• Season record: 3-6, tied for fourth place (4.0 GB) in Carolina League North

We’ll move from the Orioles’ most interesting affiliate, the Keys, to their least interesting one (sorry, Shorebirds). There’s just not a lot of big-name O’s prospect talent at the Low-A level. Only two players from the Camden Chat top 20 are currently with Delmarva, led by right-hander Esteban Mejia (#8). He suffered a terrible start this week, giving up three runs and four hits without getting out of the first inning.

If we’re looking for standout pitching performances, could I interest you in Braeden Sloan? The lefty reliever, a 17th-round pick last year, retired 10 of the 11 batters he faced, striking out eight of them. Low-A veteran Kiefer Lord also was K-happy this week, notching 10 of his 11 outs on strikeouts.

The lone ranked hitting prospect on this team is outfielder Jordan Sanchez (#17), who homered this week. This week’s best hitter was infielder Joshua Liranzo, who homered, drove in five, and drew a team-leading seven walks. Liranzo, a Dominican native, was part of the Orioles’ 2023 international signing class.

Delmarva season stats

**

As Mark noted last week, changes to the SBNation publishing platform have left us unable to post polls, so we’ll no longer get to vote on a minor league player of the week. But you can always leave a comment below and tell us who your pick would be. Does Ethan Anderson’s nine-hit week or Creed Willems’ two dingers stand out to you? Do you prefer Joseph Dzierwa’s latest quality start? Or someone else entirely? Let us know.

In which an old fart breaks like the wind.

Yes, it’s true — I am locking up the imaginary office. Ocular issues, mostly.

Thanks again for the reads.

Phillies 13, Cubs 7.

Javier Assad took the ball to Citizens Bank Park and attempted to throw it past the Phillies. Cristopher Sánchez tried to continue his skein of really good pitching. Both teams stood at 7-8 at the outset, the onset, the preface as it were.

The Phillies look like they are holding a Jayson Werth lookalike contest.

Javier Assad has an ERA now. Kyle Schwarber did what he does, his fifth and sixth, driving in three runs. Cubs should have kept that guy. But you know that.

Dansby Swanson touched Sanchez up for a two-run dinger.

But the Phillies continued to pull away. The Cubs did hold a late rally, so there’s something silver in the cloud for today.

Every page these days has some form of advertising. {$} means paywall. {$} means limited views. Italics are often used on this page as sarcasm font. The powers that be have enabled real sarcasm font in the comments.

• Steve Greenberg (Chicago Sun-Times {$}): Ex-Cub Kyle Hendricks in no rush to figure out what comes after baseball, says, ‘Not knowing, it’s awesome’. “Your whole life being baseball, it’s always just go, go, go,” he told the Sun-Times. “I feel so lucky, all the experiences I had.”
• Thomas Harrigan (MLB.com): Scuffling Phillies turn to ace Sánchez in series opener vs. Cubs. “With Zack Wheeler on the mend, there’s no question Cristopher Sánchez is the guy in the Phillies’ rotation.“
• Randy Holt (North Side Baseball): Cubs’ lineup woes are the result of navigating the perils of a “sequential” offense. “There’s good process in place, and there will (eventually) be good results. But in stretches like this, the Cubs’ lack of an offensive driver begins to show itself.”
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Dansby Swanson’s heads-up baserunning keys Cubs comeback. ‘If you need the base coaches to tell you what to do, you stink at baserunning.’ Jordan Bastian has more.
• Boardroom: Is Pete Crow-Armstrong Chicago’s best athlete? [VIDEO]
• Tommy Birch (Des Moines Register {$}): Kevin Alcantara out to show the Cubs won the Anthony Rizzo trade. “I need to show it’s a good trade.”
• Steve Millar (Chicago Tribune {$}): Aidan Schopper, a big Chicago Cubs fan, leads Oak Lawn past Reavis at Wrigley Field. ‘Something I dreamed of.’ “I can’t even put it into words. It was probably one of the best days of my life.”

Food For Thought:

Please be reminded that Cub Tracks and Bleed Cubbie Blue do not necessarily endorse the content of articles, podcasts, or videos that are linked to in this series. Thanks for reading. À bientôt. Good luck, Jeff!

Seems like a slow news day.

Vahe Gregorian writes about the Royals start to the season.

The Royals’ starting rotation entered the game with a 2.56 ERA — second in MLB only to the Yankees (2.50). Meanwhile, its offense with 54 runs through Sunday is tied for second-worst in baseball. So there is many a mixed message with not a lot of statistically significant data — at least in terms of sample size. You could just as easily say the Royals have frittered away a good deal of that great starting pitching as that they’ve been fortunate to cobble together three wins with three or fewer runs. Most of all, the point here is that absolutely nothing defining has happened yet. This season still is too much in the embryonic phase to draw any conclusions despite an uninspiring start.

Anne Rogers takes stock of where the Royals are after the series against the White Sox.

Rotation still in good shape
Royals starters entered Sunday having recorded 15 consecutive scoreless innings over the last two games, but Noah Cameron had more difficulty, allowing five earned runs in 5 1/3 innings. He allowed two two-out, two-run home runs and issued the walk that would eventually come around to score the tying run in the sixth inning.

But all in all, the Royals’ rotation is still in good shape. Through 16 games, starters have allowed zero earned runs in five starts, one run or fewer in 10 starts and two or fewer in 11 starts. Starting pitching wins games, and the Royals feel like their rotation is going to keep them in games no matter what.

Pete Grathoff opines about the parking situation related to the potential Washington Square downtown ballpark site.

Philip Ruo at Royals Keep writes about Isaac Collins’ start to the season.

We already have a trade. The Blue Jays have acquired Lenyn Sosa from the White Sox.

The DBacks are moving Brandon Pfaadt to the bullpen.

ESPN has ABS rankings. The Royals as a team are doing well.

Azzi Fudd was selected first overall in the WNBA draft last night.

Dick Vitale announced he has been diagnosed with cancer for a fifth time.

Australian sprinter Gout Gout broke Usain Bolt’s 200m teenager world record.

NASA says Artemis III mission planning is underway.

Arrowhead Pride editor John Dixon recently passed away.

Former Chiefs RT Jawaan Taylor signed with the Falcons.

Your song of the day is bringing back something Max put here a couple years ago. It’s Wolfmother with Joker and the Thief.