Irrelevant Dude

Did you have the audio on? It's one thing to put the small numbers on screen, but they called attention to it multiple times on the broadcast as if the direction at ESPN was "we want to really push this win probability thing."

That is pretty much where I'm at, but look ahead if Illinois can somehow beat UConn. Then you get either Alabama or Clemson to advance to the national championship game. Good teams, but very beatable. UConn is the one that they just have to hope to get past. That is unlikely, but not impossible.

Illinois led wire to wire. Never in doubt, right? With that said, I'm terrified of UConn.

Yay. Fake baseball on the first night of the season.

Ugh. Nico shouldn't throw that, and Busch has to knock it down.

A LOT of weak contact from Happ tonight.

Yes, but...It's 5-6-7.

Nasty stuff from Leiter.

The XCOM-ification of baseball?

Here's a difference in managerial styles already. If David Ross was here, I guarantee Merryweather is back out for the 6th.

With that short little "put it in play" swing. I love it.

I would argue that Busch's potential at 1B plus a full year of Morel could be a substantial improvement, contingent on Bellinger's performance not completely falling off.

I know we have high hopes for Imanaga, but can you imagine if he is bad, or even mediocre? Things could get ugly fast.

I dont know. Didn't someone last year go down like they were shot at first base and came back a few weeks later? I could be completely misremembering that.

Not gonna happen.

Kyle Hendricks as the #1 starter in 2024, here we go!

Welp. That's that.

It's ESPN, so the game itself is secondary. If I have to choose, I'll take a player interview over the broadcast booth camera.

You have the Cubs game to bring you up to tipoff.

Let's hope this was just another Spring Training rope-a-dope from Swanson. 41 at bats, 8 hits (all singles), 11 K's, 5 BB's Woof.

The most likely thing to click is Madrigal's hamstring.

I assume you are referring to the only one of those two guys with functional hamstrings. I have no hope whatsoever for Madrigal to stay healthy, but MAYBE Mastrobuoni can be a useful piece. I just wish the Cubs didn't have to carry both of them on the active roster.

I would say you have it right. But hey, a plateau isn't so bad! That's much better than going downhill.

Has Brennen Davis resurfaced yet or is he still silently MIA?

We are a LONG way away from this being a reality, and this year's run could easily end Thursday night, but the question came to my mind tonight of how an Illinois basketball national championship would compare for me personally to the Cubs winning the World Series. I don't even know how to answer that question. I have been both a Cubs fan and an Illinois fan for my entire life. Baseball is my first love and will always be my favorite sport, but I have a more personal connection to the University of Illinois and Illinois basketball probably ranks a close second in my sports fandom. I think the big thing that is hard for me to reconcile is that it always felt inevitable that the Cubs would eventually win a World Series. Maybe not this year, next year, or this decade, but it was only a matter of time before they would finally win one. With Illinois basketball, on the other hand, there is no such inevitability. There have been a few teams that "could" win the championship, including this year, but the odds of that happening are still incredibly low. I think the chances of them winning a championship in my lifetime are still relatively low, whereas the Cubs chances of winning another World Series in the next 10-20 years are pretty good. I guess they would both be special in their own way, but I can't say which one would mean more to me until/unless it actually happens.