Chicago Cubs at Toronto, August 29-31

Monday, August 29 2022 @ 12:00 PM EDT

Contributed by: Magpie

It's been a while since we've seen these guys.

Eight years, in fact. The Cubs last visited Toronto In September 2014, and the Jays beat the living crap out of them. Jays rookie RH Marcus Stroman pitched a complete game three-hitter for his first (and so far, only) career shutout in the opener. Jose Bautista broke it open with a three run homer, his 32nd of the season, and the Jays cruised 8-0. Mark Buehrle and Jake Arrieta hooked up in a tight one the following evening. The Cubs took a 2-1 lead into the seventh but a one out single by Kevin Pillar chased Arrieta. Rasmus hit another single and Kawasaki walked to load the bases, which were promptly cleared by a Bautista double. The Jays piled on with five more in the eighth for a 9-2 win. Drew Hutchison and Kyle Hendricks hooked up in the finale which stayed tight until the sixth, when the Jays chased Hendricks with a three spot and then spent the rest of the night abusing the Chicago bullpen. It was 11-2 by the time it was over.

The 2014 Cubs weren't very good, but just one year later they won 97 games and went all the way to the NLCS. And one year after that, they - this really happened - won the World Series. The Cubs won the World Series. It had only been 108 years since that had been a true sentence. They followed up with a couple more 90 plus win years, but slipped to 84-78 in 2019 and Joe Maddon got out while the getting was good. They lost 91 games a year ago, and traded away franchise icons Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant. They look to be a good bet to lose another 90 games this season.

Which means these are the kind of Cubs I am familiar with, the Cubs I have known all my life.

The Cubs baffled everyone at the deadline - they had a 30 year old all-star catcher who will be a free agent when the season is over, and they... held on to him. They also held onto Ian Happ, who's under contract for one more year. Happ's kind of a switch-hitting version of Whit Merrifield - he plays the same bunch of positions - except five years younger, and better.

Two Cubs starting pitchers can't cross the border. RH Adrian Sampson started on Sunday, but he didn't work four consecutive innings so the Cubs will be able to replace him on the roster. LH Justin Steele, who has been their best pitcher this season, would be on track to start the Wednesday game. But he'll be elsewhere and we don't know yet what the Cubs will do instead.

You may have heard some talk about Marcus Stroman, who will be starting on Tuesday night. This will be the first time the little fellow has faced his original team. So naturally it's the first time he's pitched at the RC since he was traded to the Mets at the 2019 deadline in exchange for Anthony Kay and Simeon Woods-Richardson, who last year was half the price for Jose Berrios. He can't be enjoying life on a lousy team, and it's hard to expect them to be much better next year, but I suppose $25 million eases the pain somewhat. I trust he'll get a nice welcome - he certainly earned it - and then let's hope he gets his hat handed to him.

Matchups

Mon 29 Aug - Assad (0-0, 0.00) vs Berrios (9-5, 5.28)
Tue 30 Aug - Stroman (3-6, 4.10) vs Gausman (9-9, 3.15)
Wed 31 Aug - Who Knows () vs White (1-4, 4.24)

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