The Losers' Club

Faithful, Too: “Game 32 - You Never Know”

Added 2025-05-02 20:04:50 +0000 UTC

Going into the top of the 5th and with the Cubs down 2-0, I thought I had already written this entry in my head. A team is often only as good as their starting pitcher. Young Pirates phenom Paul Skene is inevitable. Of course he’s gonna throw six or so innings of shutout baseball. Cubs are gonna lose a series to these clowns? Back-to-back series losses? Now I’m getting flashbacks to 2023 and-

Dansby hits a home run. Pat Hughes on the radio call.

Oh, good. Well now it’s a one-run game.

Happy strikes out.

Well, let’s see if they can keep running up Skene’s pitch count and maybe-

King Tuck homers to right.

Oh, wow. Man, these games can really turn on a-

Suzuki homers to left.

How can you not be fucking romantic about baseball?

Suzuki would hit another homer in the 6th before the Cubs blew it open in the 9th to win 8-3. Another stellar Colin Rea start. Starting to think the Cubs may just plain have their Steele-replacement (barring a lovely trade in the next couple months). On to Milwaukee (a.k.a. Wrigley North) for a weekend set against the Brewers.

The Brew Crew are my second-least favorite team in baseball (Yankees always number one, though the Dodgers are rising). They’ve really had the Cubs number since 2018, when they won their final seven games of the regular season to tie the Cubs atop the Central, then shut the Cubbies out at Wrigley in a one-game playoff to win the division outright. One sweet thing: that team constantly craps out in the playoffs, getting their hopes up for zilch. Oh, well.

Hope we beat the hell outta them.