The Losers' Club

Faithful, Too: “SABLE, fABLE…er…Game 21 L”

Added 2025-04-17 20:46:05 +0000 UTC

Sometimes, you just get a feeling. Listening to the game as I wrapped up work for the day, I had such a feeling: the Cubs weren’t winning this game. Maybe it was having the bases loaded with no one out in the top of the third and Kyle Tucker at the plate, then only scoring once for the whole inning. Maybe it was the fact that the Padres are just plain awesome, and you can’t squander a big inning like that. Once it was 2-1, I thought that’s a wrap.

I walked to the train during the bottom of the sixth with two on for the Padres and two outs. Cubs reliever Daniel Palencia was on the mound. I decided to dive into the new Bon Iver album instead of listening any further. I’m a bit lukewarm on it, to be honest. “Speyside” and “If Only I Could Wait” are the clear standouts for me at the moment. Maybe I’ll warm up to it eventually. Anyway, during the listen, I missed a Padres run in the bottom of the 7th, a PCA-homer (of course!) in the top of the 8th, and sadly (gratefully?) Cubs Luke Little walking four batters in the bottom of the 8th to give up another run. Hopefully it’s just first-game jitters for Little Luke. It didn’t matter. The Cubs lost 4-2 and their first series since the Dodgers in Japan to kick off the season. At least they can say they haven’t lost a series in the U.S. of A!

Home series against the Dbacks this weekend. The Cubs are 12-9, and while that isn’t outright amazing, it is outright impressive. Here are the rankings of the teams they’ve played so far, including that teams win/loss record against non-Cubs opponents (followed by their record against the Cubs, in parenthesis):

1. San Diego Padres 12-1 (3-3)
3. Los Angeles Dodgers 11-4 (3-2)
4. Arizona Diamondbacks 10-5 (2-2)
5. Texas Rangers 10-5 (1-2)
21. Unhoused Athletics 8-7 (0-3)

Those teams records are a combined 51-22 against all other teams, and 9-12 against the Cubs. That makes me feel very, very good, indeed. Even if they go .500 at home this weekend, I’ll still feel good. Fingers crossed.