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Changes Are Afoot

In multiple announcements this week, the Cubs unveiled many changes that will be taking place at Wrigley Field in 2019.  First off, a Wednesday release revealed that the seating bowl at Wrigley Field would be completely renumbered.  In what is being called a “more intuitive seat numbering system”, the upper deck will have new designations, as the previous 400-level seats will now be the 300-level and the 500-level will be the 400-level.  In addition, an L or R will be added to the (now) section number to designate whether you are in left field or right field.  For example, here is what happens to one of my season ticket seats:

The next day, the Cubs sent out their renewal invoices for season ticket holders, which included many additional changes to the ballpark experience for next season.  First, following the experiment in this past season’s playoffs, the 2019 season tickets will be electronic only.  The team claims that printed tickets, on commemorative stock, will be available following the conclusion of the 2019 season.

A new upper level outdoor concourse is scheduled to be completed by Opening Day in left field and in May in right field.  The concourse will include new food and beverage offerings, as well as new restrooms.  The previous outdoor concourse, behind home plate and under the press box, is being converted into a luxury club and will no longer be accessible to “regular” ticket holders.

Finally, in a surprising move, especially given the weather of the past week, the Cubs have decided to move their annual season ticket holder family day to the weekend of November 9-10.  I can’t imagine that this will end up being a good move.

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FB4: Week 41

Yet another disappointing week, with only 2 days coming in above my daily goal.  Things got off to a slow start on Sunday, where a quick trip to the grocery store and a late birthday dinner came in just shy of 4000 steps.  Monday and Tuesday finished less than 60 steps apart well below my daily goal.  Wednesday had a nice bounce back, coming in at nearly 9400 steps, thanks to a trip to North Plaza to pick up some contractors and an after-work trip to the Glen.  Thursday combined another trip to North with an after-work trip to Woodfield to see Nikki Glaser with Val for nearly 8700 steps.  Friday fell just 195 steps shy of goal, with another trip to North in play.  Saturday was spent lying in bed catching up on tv shows, barely surpassing 2000 steps.

Total steps: 43,119

Daily average: 6159.9

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FB4: Week 40

A down week, with only 2 days over my daily goal.  Sunday came in just shy of 4500 steps, thanks to the long drive home from St. Louis.  Monday and Tuesday both bounced back a bit, just edging over the 7000 step mark.  Wednesday fell back down to just over 6000 steps.  Thursday managed to surpass 6600 steps.  Friday was another poor day, coming in just over 5800 steps.  Saturday was a bust, at just under 4500 steps.

Total steps: 41,567

Daily average: 5938.1

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2018 BBWAA Award Predictions

The Baseball Writers of America have announced the finalists for their awards for the just completed baseball season, which will be announced next week.  It is a good bet that few of my original predictions for the winners will be accurate.  Hopefully, these new predictions will be slightly better, especially since I’ll have a 33% chance of being right.

American League

Most Valuable Player: Mookie Betts, Jose Ramirez, Mike Trout

Giancarlo Stanton was was my pre-season selection to win the award this year and, while he was productive, he didn’t pull away from the pack as he did last year for the Marlins.  Mookie Betts should run away and hide with this award.

Cy Young Award: Corey Kluber, Blake Snell, Justin Verlander

A late season injury kept my pre-season pick of Chris Sale from competing for his first Cy Young award.  My guess is that Blake Snell takes home the prize.

Manager of the Year: Alex Cora, Kevin Cash, Bob Melvin

Once again, I didn’t make any predictions for this award prior to the season.  Alex Cora should be a shoo-in for the award, given the Red Sox performance in his rookie campaign as skipper.

Rookie of the Year: Miguel Andujar, Shohei Ohtani, Gleyber Torres

Another award I didn’t predict prior to the season.  Despite losing time due to injury, Ohtani seems to be the odds-on favorite.

National League

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Book 21 (of 52) – The Count Of 9

The Count Of 9 – Erle Stanley Gardner

Originally published in 1958, The Count of 9 was the 18th installment of the Cool and Lam series Erle Stanley Gardner wrote under the pseudonym of A. A. Fair, and the 4th republished by Hard Case Crime.  When Cool and Lam are hired to protect the treasures of a globe-trotting adventurer, they are forced to confront an impossible crime.  But that’s nothing compared to the crime they face next: the impossible murder of their client.

These pulps bring you back to a different, simpler time, where the world wasn’t wired (in more ways than one) the way it is today.  It seems that reprinting episodes from this series is going to be a yearly event, so I look forward to the next installment sometime next year.

 

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FB4: Week 39

A hugely successful week, thanks to a couple of trips out of town.  Things got off to a slow start on Sunday, finishing just a step shy of 2650 steps.  Monday picked back up, coming in at nearly 8000 steps.  Tuesday I headed off to Boston, where dinner with Angelina and a Garbage concert put me just over 19,300 steps.  Wednesday was even better, thanks to a tour of Fenway Park prior to game 2 of the World Series and a trip to Harvard which put me over 23,300 steps.  Thursday was back to work, where I managed to just eke past 7000 steps.  Friday was more of the same, with only 17 steps less than the day before.  Saturday we traveled down to St. Louis for a band competition, where walking around town on my birthday left me at over 9700 steps.

Total steps: 77,172

Daily average: 11,024.6

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FB4: Week 38

Another disappointing week, thanks to another poor start to the week on Sunday, where a trip up to the Glen to see Venom with Jeff and John, followed by dinner at the Yardhouse, left me at just over 2700 steps.  Things rebounded on Monday, where I was able to finish over 8000 steps.  Tuesday was back down again, as I came nearly 300 steps shy of my daily goal.  Wednesday was the high point of the week, falling just short of 8100 steps.  Thursday improved on Tuesday’s step total by a single step, despite a return trip to the Glen for a goodbye dinner for John, again at the Yardhouse.  Friday was a disappointing day, with just over 5100 steps.  Saturday was another down day, despite heading in to work for a round of video games followed by the latest Halloween film and yet a third trip to Yardhouse for the week.

Total steps: 42,327

Daily average: 6046.7