Chicago Cubs: Five takeaways from Opening Weekend

After an Opening Weekend series win, David Ross looks ready to steer the Cubs right into the playoffs.

No fans in the stands because of a pandemic that’s wrought havoc around the country, but we finally have baseball back at Wrigley Field – and hey, there were actually some live fans watching the games from on top of the rooftops across the street from the ballpark. It’s good to have the Cubs back.

Other than a botched rundown and some shoddy bullpen work, the weekend has to be considered a pretty big success for the North Siders. Any time you take two of three from the rivals up I-94 in July, it’s a great weekend, right?

Ross rode two great pitching performances, some timely hitting, and some big bombs to two wins and former NL MVP Christian Yelich did basically nothing for three days. If this is how easy it is all season, Ross might just find himself guiding the Cubs right back into the postseason after a one year hiatus in Joe Maddon’s last season.

OK, let’s not get ahead of ourselves after one series. However, with 5 percent of the games already in the books (three out of 60 games- crazy, I know), every win helps the Cubs toward that goal. Here are some key takeaways from Opening Weekend in Chicago.

Chicago Cubs: By far the best catching tandem in baseball

Does any team in baseball have two starting catchers that they can now flip-flop as catcher and DH throughout the entirety of the 60 game schedule? There may be some arguments elsewhere, but it’s quite obvious no team has the quality on both sides of the ball that the Cubs have with their tandem.

Willson Contreras, who had to have been preoccupied watching his brother, William, debut for the Braves, caught two games this series while Victor Caratini continued his personal catching of Yu Darvish, catching the big right-hander on Saturday afternoon. Both guys served as DH while the other caught, something that I’d assume Ross would continue as the season progresses- especially considering how short it is.

It’s also an assumption based on their production and potential, as both guys figure to be good hitters, with Contreras an All-Star when healthy. Combined, the duo was 6-for-18 with four RBI, numbers Ross will take all year out of those spots – especially if they’re keeping the pitching staff happy and successful.

Chicago Cubs: Ross has faith in Schwarber and Happ

I’m not here to disparage Maddon, because he’s the best manager the Cubs have had in my lifetime. He brought the Cubs a trophy, turned around the attitude and atmosphere surround the team, and inspired several of our current stars to realize their full potential.

That being said, one thing Maddon was known for was tinkering, playing match-ups, and listening to his so-called “nerds.” While his success and results were mostly unrivaled over the five seasons he presided over the Cubs, one thing Maddon didn’t always do was let the young guys struggle through things.

Case in point – Kyle Schwarber didn’t hit regularly against lefties until last year. Sure, his stats said he shouldn’t, but so did Anthony Rizzo‘s before he got a chance to see them. It’s the classic chicken or the egg and plenty of people will tell you the Cubs didn’t have time to wait for guys to “figure it out” in the middle of a contention window. Well, if you were watching most of last year, especially during the second half – would you say Schwarber started figuring some stuff out?

Ian Happ burst on the scene in 2017 after some of the core guys had already established themselves and bathed in champagne in November of 2016. Once called up in 2017, Happ launched 24 home runs in only 264 at bats, prompting many to anoint him the newest successful first round pick for the Cubs. Unfortunately, after an Opening Day home run in 2018, he had an uneven season plagued by strikeouts that only got worse last year as he was kept in the minor leagues until July 26.

He did have a nice two months to end last summer, but he has also had to share time with Albert Almora and others since coming to the bigs. It looks like that has finally changed through three games, as Ross has elected to keep Happ in center field so far. So far, so good.

Chicago Cubs: Playing games with no fans is really weird

I’m not advocating for bringing fans to the ballpark in the middle of a pandemic and starting a political and social firestorm. It’s just really weird to not see any fans in the stands and know that no one is at the ballpark. Sure, there are some fans in the rooftops across the way, but this whole setup is just totally bizarre.

FOX had fake “virtual” fans every once in a while depending on the shot, but it was so glitchy and inconsistent that it made me feel like I was Neo realizing I was in The Matrix. Was that Agent Anderson eating popcorn or Trinity opening Crackerjack? One virtual guy even looked like he was vomiting after a particularly terrible call from C.B. Bucknor; what’s up with that?

Regardless of where you stand on the virtual fans or cardboard cutouts (and yes, the Cubs should have done the cutout thing, if only to send the money to charity and produce some good will), it’s going to be a really weird year for baseball without fans in the seats. Wrigley produces such an electric, one-of-a-kind vibes and no amount of high tech tomfoolery will be able to hoodwink baseball lovers.

Chicago Cubs: Marquee Network has been solid

Speculation regarding a standalone network devoted to the Cubs has titillated fans for years, and now we finally have it. Better yet, everyone can watch thanks to the 11th hour distribution and carriage deals.

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Still in its infancy, there’s much to be excited about with the Marquee Network so far. Len (Kasper) and JD (Jim Deshaies) are still the same (although they’re wearing ties!), but Taylor McGregor has taken over for Kelly Crull as the field (and empty stands) reporter and Ryan Dempster is joining the booth for a couple of innings during the game to offer stories, insight, and analysis. While Dempster crowds things a bit at times, some of his insight is great and you can tell he gets along well with Kasper and Deshaies.

It may just be me, but my video feed looks clearer, brighter and spectacular. Perhaps I’m projecting what I want it to be after having no baseball for four months, but it the feed and picture really do look good. As a side note, maybe it’s the new jerseys that might be a little brighter as well?

The one wrinkle to iron out for in-game coverage for Marquee is the ever-present box/line score graphic on the screen. While the placement doesn’t seem to be the greatest, I fully realize that it’s a personal preference – but it seems a lot of chatter I hear seems to be for the ESPN or FOX graphics and placement. Hopefully, they tinker with this throughout the season and make it more appealing and more seamless for all the viewers at home. And I do mean “all.”

With their first series and series win under their belt, all that remains for the Cubs to do is keep it up and keep improving, something Ross says is the goal this season. Keep it simple. Looks like the players have responded so far.