GOOD MORNING, CHICAGO FANS

I hope you had a great weekend! The camaraderie in Chicago is sky high right now! Cubs teammates will man the outfield together at the All-Star Game, Ryan Poles is now cemented in his partnership with Ben Johnson, and young Bulls are propping each other up at Summer League:

CHICAGO CUBS

L - Twins 8, Cubs 1

Lost in the woods

• Cubs were consistently fooled at the plate against Simeon Woods Richardson and the Twins bullpen (6 hits, 0-for-5 with RISP)

• Shota Imanaga, with the help of his rangy outfield, held the Twins to 2 ER in 6 IP

• Porter Hodge almost pulled a Ryan Pressly…he gave up 6 ER in the 8th inning and only recorded 1 out

L - Twins 4, Cubs 2

Twin naps for the hitters

• Another dud by the Cubs offense with only 4 hits and 2 walks

• Cade Horton labored through 4.2 IP (6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 K)

W - Cubs 8, Twins 1

Pete: The Slump Buster!

• Pete Crow-Armstrong hit 2 HRs as he and Seiya Suzuki each had 3 hits

• Colin Rea was very good again! (7.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 K)

L - Yankees 11, Cubs 0

Belli Bomb Revenge x3

• Old friend Cody Bellinger hit 3 HRs and had a potential 4th HR robbed by Kyle Tucker in right field

• Aaron Judge also robbed a PCA HR in right field!

• Cubs bullpen day was a disaster, and Carlos Rodon threw a gem for the Yankees (8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K)

W - Cubs 5, Yankees 2

All-Star Matthew Boyd

• Another start, another win. Matthew Boyd dominated again in an efficient outing (8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K)

• Carson “Cleanup” Kelly stayed hot and went 2-for-3 with a HR

W - Cubs 4, Yankees 1

Shota Series W!

• Shota had his best stuff of the season in 7 strong innings (2 H, 1 ER)

• Michael Busch and Dansby Swanson hit homers in a 10-hit effort

Star of the Week ⭐ Shota Imanaga

13.0 IP, 2 quality starts, 1 win, 3 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 7 K

Play of the Week 🎥 Kyle Tucker robs a Cody Bellinger HR

MLB Draft

Round 1, Pick 17 ➡️ Ethan Conrad, OF (Wake Forest)

Round 2, Pick 56 ➡️ Kane Kepley, OF (North Carolina)

Round 3, Pick 90 ➡️ Dominick Reid, RHP (Abilene Christian)

Cubs are restocking the outfield farm and adding to their riches! With Owen Caissie and Kevin Alcantara raking in AAA, the Cubs best OF prospects have already moved up the ranks to the brink of the major leagues.

Conrad is 6’3” with a sweet lefty swing and has seen a recent uptick in power. He played 21 impressive games at Wake Forest last season before injuring his shoulder (7 HR, 21 RBI, 1.238 OPS, 18 BB to 14 K). He manned CF in 2025 but most likely projects as a corner outfielder.

Kepley is a speedy, 5’8” center fielder. His on-base abilities and plate discipline stood out at North Carolina where he had 45 steals and 44 walks to 22 strikeouts in 61 games. Michael Busch gets a fellow Tar Heel on the squad!

Reid is a starter with a filthy changeup and a low-90s fastball. He had a 3.26 ERA with 11.4 K/9 last season.

Today ➡️ Rounds 4-20

PCA is in the 25/25 club! He’s the 3rd player in MLB history to have 25 HR and 25 SB prior to the All-Star break (Bobby Bonds: 1973, Eric Davis: 1987)

Nico Hoerner will lead off against lefties moving forward. Counsell announced the change on Saturday, and Nico immediately hit a triple to start the game in New York. I love Ian Happ, and I still think he can return to being a great leadoff hitter for this team. BUT, this makes sense right now. Nico is 2nd on the team in wRC+ vs. lefties and simply doesn’t strike out (5.1% K%). Busch led off on Sunday against a righty.

Michael Busch was named Co-NL Player of the Week for his 4 HR week!

Justin Turner hit his 200th career HR on Tuesday night in Minnesota, and the fan who caught the HR was a redheaded Cubs fan named Justin…?!

Placed Porter Hodge on the 15-day IL with a shoulder impingement, optioned Jordan Wicks to AAA, recalled Ethan Roberts and Brooks Kriske from AAA

Matthew Boyd pitched on Saturday and therefore will not pitch in the All-Star Game. In a strange move, MLB named Brewers rookie pitcher Jacob Misiorowski to the team in Boyd’s place. Although he has impressed since his call-up, he has only started 5 games in the big leagues! What are we doing here, MLB?!

Seiya Suzuki isn’t technically an All-Star, but I wrote about his journey as a Cub and how it lines up with Jed Hoyer’s rebuild:

SCHEDULE 📅 ALL-STAR BREAK - GAMES F/SAT/SUN

CHICAGO BEARS

OFFSEASON

🚨 Signed GM Ryan Poles to a 3-year contract extension through 2029 🚨

Poles had 2 years remaining on his initial 5-year contract that he signed after George McCaskey picked him up from the airport in 2022.

We knew this was probably going to happen. During the head coach interviews, questions went unanswered regarding Poles’ contract status and if the candidates had concerns about misalignment with a GM on shaky ground. Kevin Warren made it sound like Poles would be around for a long time, and he made sure that happened.

Poles is now tied to Ben Johnson as they are both signed through 2029. This new trio with Caleb Williams included will now either rise or fall together. Hand in hand. No man left alone.

This scenario is SO similar to Ryan Pace when he was extended prior to the 2018 season. He had 3 losing seasons on his resume, was in the process of hiring a new coach, and earned ownership’s trust as he continued to rebuild the roster.

I’m a fan of Poles. I always have been. But my trust has been slipping, and my blind optimism is gone. There have been clear missteps like trading for Chase Claypool, keeping Matt Eberflus for too long, and failing to instill a respectable culture into the football program. But I still think he has done a great job of overhauling the entire roster, clearing out the salary cap, accumulating draft picks, and finding talented players.

The jury is out, and our hope now rests in the new coaching staff. We don’t know if Poles’ player acquisition processes are worthwhile or not because these previous teams can’t really be evaluated. The coaching was essentially non-existent.

I love that Poles is staying in town and was given more time. As he would say, “It’s time to win.”

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

OFFSEASON

Scott Powers wrote this exciting tidbit about #3 overall pick, Anton Frondell: “The more I hear about what the Blackhawks think of No. 3 draft pick Anton Frondell, the more I think he’s going to stick with them out of training camp.”

HOWEVER, a report from Sweden indicated that Frondell will sign his entry-level deal with the Hawks and then play the entire year in Sweden. We will see which path he takes…

Frondell will participate in the 2025 World Junior Summer Showcase later this month

The NHL and NHLPA agreed on a 4-year extension to the Collective Bargaining Agreement. No lockouts anytime soon!! A new 84 game regular season will be in place starting in the 2026-2027 season.

Preseason opener will be on September 23rd at Detroit!

CHICAGO BULLS

OFFSEASON

Summer League

Raptors 116, Bulls 72

Kings 109, Bulls 92

Final 2 Games ➡️ Monday & Wednesday

Surprise! Summer League basketball looked…sloppy. The Bulls set a Summer League record with 33 turnovers against the Raptors, which doesn’t even seem possible in a single game.

Uninspired defense and terrible 3-point shooting (26.9% and 24.2%) prevented any type of feel-good run by this team. They’re clearly young and lacking the team cohesiveness needed to actually compete.

Rookie Noa Essengue had a tough 1st game (5 points, 7 turnovers) but bounced back in his 2nd game (12 points, 10 rebounds). Even with air balls flying everywhere, other parts of his game showed promise. He can turn on his motor on the defensive end, and he rebounded with more urgency than a lot of current Bulls. He left the 2nd game early with a quad contusion, so hopefully he’s healthy enough for the last 2 games.

Matas Buzelis played in the first game and will play again tonight. He scored 17 points in a poor shooting performance against the Raptors. He’s definitely the leader of the squad, though. Read more on that in A Citywide Salute below!

Yuki Kawamura was the star of the show off the bench. His passing is ELECTRIC. Behind-the-back, through the defender’s legs, alley oops, everything. He covered it all in just 2 games. The 5’8” guard is fun to watch and is definitely a fan favorite.

Bonus Play of the Week 🎥 Yuki Kawamura behind-the-back pass

SAY WHAT?

A CITYWIDE SALUTE

Matas Buzelis

Talk about the ideal hype man.

Buzelis, approaching just his 2nd season in the NBA at a whopping 20 years old, is already transforming into a leader. He’s been utilized as the face of the team so far this offseason.

Ever since the Bulls selected Noa Essengue in the draft, Buzelis has been talking him up. He’s excited about Essengue’s work ethic, drive to improve, and potential on defense. It’s great seeing Buzelis support his teammate, and it’ll be fun to see how their first-one-in-the-door competitions evolve over time.

MILD TAKE

The bullpen is the Cubs’ #1 priority in trades.

At 57-39, you could assume the Cubs are clicking on all cylinders. They are a very good team, but they still have glaring holes on the roster. Injuries, underperformance, and lack of spending all led to specific vacancies that now need to be addressed before the Trade Deadline.

They could decide to send Matt Shaw back down to AAA for a couple months and acquire a new starting third baseman. They will trade for another starting pitcher or two. If they aim for the the stars for an ace-level pitcher or just settle for more depth remains to be seen. The bench that was supposed to be markedly better this season has been a wasteland, and they will definitely find position players to round out the depth at the major league level.

Most importantly, they will add to the bullpen.

The offense will be fine. They have 4 hitters playing at a superstar level (Tucker, PCA, Seiya, Busch) and 9 hitters with a 100 wRC+ or higher. The starting pitching will be able to carry them through the end of the regular season.

What will absolutely not be fine is the bullpen. They need shutdown arms to cover at least 4 innings in a playoff game. That’s when everything comes down to matchups.

Daniel Palencia has been electric and will pitch in high leverage innings. This is also the first time he’s done it. Ryan Brasier has a 1.10 ERA, but he has a 6.61 K/9 and still isn’t fully trusted by Craig Counsell. Drew Pomeranz and Chris Flexen have been dominant, but they’re utility pitchers/long relievers and due for regression at any moment.

Ryan Pressly, Porter Hodge, and Julian Merryweather were probably supposed to handle the final 3 innings heading into this season. After a clear lack of stuff, injuries, and a DFA, those 3 are currently a non-factor.

The Cubs desperately need bullpen help. Only 1 reliever has a K/9 over 10 right now, and they have to overpower opponents to push their way deep into the playoffs.

HITTING THE LINKS

Scott Powers - Projecting the Blackhawks’ 2025-26 lineup, line by line and pair by pair (The Athletic)

Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma - What we’re hearing about the Cubs’ trade deadline plans from pitchers to hitters (The Athletic)

Julia Poe - Chicago Bulls youngsters Matas Buzelis and Noa Essengue prepare to lay a foundation in summer league (Chicago Tribune)

Ben Pope - Inside the Blackhawks' decision to draft Anton Frondell: Swedish connections and 'eyes on fire' (Chicago Sun-Times)

TWO MINUTE WARNING

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Thanks for reading! Enjoy the All-Star Break! Look out for a call because any of you may be qualified to pitch in the game.