Matt Shaw's heater doesn't eliminate the need for another hitter
But it does change which player needs to hit the bench
It's comforting that in a world where things are spiraling out of control that something remains rock solid constant.
The White Sox are still fucking terrible.
I get that we were supposed to be wowed by their young talent and how much better they're playing lately (winners of six of their last ten, wow, call Cooperstown), but after taking bp on Friday night against Shōta, they looked a lot like the same, old White Sox on Saturday and Sunday. The Cubs won the season series five games to one (and somebody tell Alex Cohen that "Crosstown Classic" hasn't been a thing since Michael Jordan was getting a hit off of Dave Otto), and the Cubs have now beaten the Sox ten times in the last eleven match ups.
They're still lousy enough to expect them to fall for intentionally letting a ball hit the ground on an infield fly.
That man went to Stanford!!!
— Chicago Cubs (@cubsbot.bsky.social) 2025-07-27T19:08:57.000Z
Cohen clearly had no idea what was going on. Which is just par for the course for that dumbass.
I find it very easy to ignore the Sox, and now I get to do it for another 10 months or so.
The series was a reminder of just how much the Cubs need to add pitching over the next four days. Shōta's your best starter, so he's just going to have to figure it out, but Ben Brown can only do what he did on Sunday to a team as hapless as the White Sox.
And, it's not shocking that the season long "where did that come from" runs of Chris Flexen and Drew Pomeranz are starting to sputter and leak oil.
The best thing that's happened to the Cubs during their very uneven run of play in their nine games since the All-Star break (5-4 over that span) is that Matt Shaw has mastered yet another swing change, and this one seems particularly promising.
Since the break, Shaw is 12-for-27 (.444) with four homers, two doubles, 10 RBI three stolen bases and has struck out once.
He's so hot now that even a bastardized SHAW(ON)-O-METER made an appearance behind home plate for a half inning yesterday before it was ushered back to its real seats. (Or just got hot and went home).
So, does this say SHAW-O-METER with a light “ON” as an homage to the original?
— Pointless Exercise (@pointlessexercise.com) 2025-07-27T19:40:46.597Z
That should take the pressure off of Jed Hoyer trying to make a trade for a big bat like Eugenio Suarez, right?
No!
Despite their occasionally dynamic offense, the Cubs still need another bat.
From opening day to the end of May the Cubs pounded the ball and averaged 5.8 runs per game.
Since June 1 they are averaging 4.4 runs per game.
That's a pretty stark drop.
And it's not one man's fault.
But, I mean, it kind of is.
