Cubs Extend Pete Crow-Armstrong and Nico Hoerner Through 2032

GOOD MORNING, CHICAGO FANS

Chicago Cubs baseball is on the air!

Opening Weekend felt a bit different this year after the Cubs paid two of their own! After the 2016 core left town without new deals, it’s refreshing to see homegrown players sign up to be Cubs for life. This is where they want to be.

There’s nothing like Chicago during baseball season!

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

W - BLACKHAWKS 4 ISLANDERS 3

THE FIRST FRONDELL

• Anton Frondell had an assist and looked forceful in his NHL debut (15:43 TOI)

• Islanders pushed without resistance for most of the 3rd period and made a 4-1 game much closer

• Arvid Soderblom saved 44 of 47 shots! He has seen 96 shots on goal over his last 2 starts combined

L - FLYERS 5 BLACKHAWKS 1

BLADES OF MISERY

• Flyers had 42 shots on goal and capitalized on a billion defensive mistakes

• Sacha Boisvert made his NHL debut on the 4th line and got his feet wet with 9:03 TOI and 2 minutes in the box

• Louis Crevier left the game after taking a blade to the face, but he was thankfully OK

L - RANGERS 6 BLACKHAWKS 1

BACK-TO-BACK BEATING

• Rangers had 39 shots on goal as the Hawks looked tired and beaten up

• Ryan Greene hit the post to start the game, and Nick Lardis gave the Hawks an early 1-0 lead

• Frondell had the most ice time (20:50) amongst Hawks forwards

L - DEVILS 5 BLACKHAWKS 3

19 SECOND FLIP

• Devils scored 2 goals in 19 seconds to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 lead in the 3rd

• Frank Nazar scored 2 goals for his first multi-goal game of his career

• Devils had 39 shots on goal, but Spencer Knight kept the Hawks in the game

STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐ Frank Nazar

3 goals and 1 assist (4 points) on 11 shots

PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥 Anton Frondell to Connor Bedard goal

Connor Bedard has 30 goals for the first time in his career!!!

Line combinations with Frondell and Boisvert in the mix:

Greene - Bedard - Frondell
Bertuzzi - Nazar - Lardis
Burakovsky - Donato - Mikheyev
Teravainen - Boisvert - Slaggert

Yesterday, Frondell played center with Bedard and Nazar staying in the middle.

Artyom Levshunov fractured his hand against the Islanders and played through it for a couple games. He sat out yesterday.

Signed Jiri Felcman, 2023 3rd round pick, to a 3-year entry-level contract ($996,667 cap hit). He will report to the AHL.

Prospect Marek Vanacker led the OHL in goals this season with 47

Recalled Kevin Korchinski from the AHL

SCHEDULE 📅 T/TH/SAT

CHICAGO BULLS

W - BULLS 132 ROCKETS 124

LAST DITCH DASH

• Both teams traded blows at the end of the game, and the Bulls scored 24 points in the last 5 minutes to seal the victory

• Collin Sexton scored 17 of the Bulls’ 41 1st quarter points and finished with 25

• Bulls made 19/38 3PTs and had a great shooting night: 50% FG, 50% 3PT, 82% FT

L - 76ERS 157 BULLS 137

BIG MEN DROPPING

• Most points allowed by the Bulls this year, most points scored by the 76ers since 1970, and most 3rd quarter points allowed in Bulls history (51)

• Jalen Smith (calf) and Nick Richards (elbow) left the game early due to injury

• 76ers led by 47, but the Bulls made up some ground with 9 players in double figures

L - THUNDER 131 BULLS 113

CATCH-22

• Bulls’ 5-point halftime lead vanished with a 22-0 run by the Thunder

• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander struggled (8/24 FG, 0/10 3PT) and still led both teams with 25 points

• Sexton, Jones, and Okoro all scored 20+ points

L - GRIZZLIES 125 BULLS 124

THE EXTRA DISH

• Tre Jones stole an inbounds pass with 4 seconds left, drove to the hoop, and passed it off to Sexton for a too-late layup as time expired

• Bulls shot 43 free throws - most in a game since 2019

• Buzelis (29 points) and Sexton (26 points) led the offense

STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐ Collin Sexton

22.2p/2.7a per game, 54.2% 3PT

PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥 Matas Buzelis drive

Eliminated from Play-In Tournament contention. It finally happened!!! I thought they would be in the Play-In for the next 100 years!

Jalen Smith and Jaden Ivey will miss the remainder of the season due to injury. I guess that knee strengthening program wasn’t intended to help Ivey return this year…

NBA Salary Cap is projected to be $165M in 2026-2027 with the luxury tax at $201M. That’s about $10M higher than this season but won’t jump as much as expected. The Bulls have a lot of expiring contracts and will have money to spend…

SCHEDULE 📅 M/W/F/SUN

CHICAGO CUBS

L - NATIONALS 10 CUBS 4

WHIFFS TO GIFTS

• Matthew Boyd struck out 7 hitters in the first 3 innings before imploding in a 6-run 4th

• Cubs had a ton of traffic on the bases and 19 at-bats with RISP

• Michael Busch had a big day at leadoff: 3-for-4, 1 BB, 1 RBI

W - CUBS 10 NATIONALS 2

CADE TEN

• Cade Horton earned the win in his first start of the season (6.1 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K)

• Miguel Amaya (solo) and Ian Happ (3-R) hit rocket HRs

• 4-run 2nd inning for the Cubs included a bloop single and a collision between 2 Nationals on a popup

L - NATIONALS 6 CUBS 3

BREGGY BOMBED THE WEEKEND

• Alex Bregman hit his first 2 HRs as a Cub, but the Cubs only had 2 other hits

• Shota Imanaga carried his HR bug with him from last season: struck out the first 2 hitters of the game before allowing 2 baserunners and a 3-R HR

• Happ hit his 2nd HR in 2 days

STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐ Cade Horton

1 win, 6.1 IP, 2 ER, 4 K

PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥 Dansby Swanson sliding play

OPENING DAY ROSTER

• Seiya Suzuki was placed on the IL

• Ben Brown made the team and will pitch out of the bullpen

• Dylan Carlson made the team as the 4th outfielder

• Javier Assad and Kevin Alcantara were sent to AAA

Opening Day Lineup
Busch/Bregman/Happ/PCA/Hoerner/Kelly/Ballesteros/Swanson/Shaw

Signed Pete Crow-Armstrong to a 6-year, $115M contract extension that starts in 2027

• Buys out 4 arbitration years and 2 future free agent years (2031, 2032)

• Already a steal for a superstar player who will only continue to get better

• PCA made it clear this offseason that he LOVES Chicago now. This was going to happen. He’s a Chicagoan, a Cub for life, and a future MVP!

Signed Nico Hoerner to a 6-year, $141M contract extension

• Prevents Hoerner from testing free agency after this season

• 4th largest contract for a second baseman in MLB history (Cano, Semien, Altuve)

• Great player, even without power, and a leader in the clubhouse. He was a 6.2 WAR player last season!

Last year of team control for each position player:

2026: Happ, Suzuki, Kelly
2029: Busch, Swanson, Amaya
2030: Bregman
2031: Ballesteros, Shaw
2032: Hoerner, PCA

This group is locked in for a LONG time!

The Wrigley winds robbed Ian Happ of a home run onto Waveland Avenue by knocking it back 113 feet!! Check it out here. He would have 3 after 3 games!

Owen Caissie, the Cubs’ top prospect who was traded away for Edward Cabrera, is 5-for-10 with a walk-off HR for the 3-0 Miami Marlins

SCHEDULE 📅 M/T/W/F/SAT/SUN

CHICAGO BEARS

OFFSEASON

Ryan Poles attended a number of Pro Days this week in preparation for the NFL Draft: Alabama, Arizona State, Miami, and others

Travis Homer signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers

SAY WHAT?

A CITYWIDE SALUTE

Michael Busch

Busch attended Pete Crow-Armstrong’s press conference after signing his contract extension. They’ve been good friends since joining the Cubs around the same time, and Busch wanted to honor his moment. Watch more:

MILD TAKE

The Blackhawks will have an elite Top 6.

The kids keep arriving.

With Anton Frondell making his way to Chicago, the Blackhawks’ forward group continues to take shape the way Kyle Davidson imagined when he tore it all down.

Frondell and Bedard look like a perfect match alongside each other. Frank Nazar is still star-material with his two-way game at center. Nick Lardis’ recent stretch has been extremely promising as an electric NHL goal scorer.

While those 4 are already in the mix for Top 6 spots in the future, they will soon be joined by the best of Roman Kantserov, Marek Vanacker, Jack Pridham, Vaclav Nestrasil, and a potential Top 3 draft pick in a couple months.

With Frondell on the wing, his arrival changed the whole complexion of the future Hawks. Bedard having a physical linemate like Frondell and Nazar finding chemistry with Lardis sets them up to catapult to the top of the league. The pipeline is stacked, and we still haven’t even seen everyone yet.

HITTING THE LINKS

Alex Bregman - Let’s Do This, Chicago! (The Players’ Tribune)

Ben Pope - Despite limited ice time, Sam Lafferty is beloved by the Blackhawks: 'He's just a joy to be around' (Chicago Sun-Times)

Gabby Hajduk - Elijah Hicks humbled, grateful to return to Bears, 'the place that believed in me' (chicagobears.com)

TWO MINUTE WARNING

Thanks for reading! Finally a whole week of baseball!