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Playoffs Part The First

With about seven weeks remaining in the 2026 season, it appears that both Chicago teams may be heading to the postseason for the first time since 2008.  The Cubs, the team with a more secure hold on making the playoffs despite currently sitting in second place, got the ticketing process started.

Sitting five and a half games behind the Brewers for the NL Central crown but holding a six-game lead for the first Wild Card slot, the Cubs sent out post-season invoices to their season ticket holders last week for the second straight year.  Thanks to a randomly selected combination assignment, I would end up with tickets to two games in each potential round.  I would maintain my normal seats through the NLCS but would end up relocated to the right field side should the team advance to the World Series.

Barring a complete collapse over the next seven weeks, the Cubs seem to be a lock to make the postseason.  Getting out of that Wild Card round, where they would face the Phillies if the season ended today, might be more difficult.

On the other side of town, the White Sox currently sit atop the AL Central, holding a three and a half game lead over the Tigers, but have yet to release any postseason ticketing plans.

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Hanging Up The Spikes

On Monday, on a call to celebrate the return of the Field of Dreams game, Tim Anderson announced his official retirement from baseball.  Anderson, who was arguably the face of the White Sox franchise earlier this decade, saw his fortunes fall due to injuries and off-the-field issues starting in the second half of 2022.  He last played for the Angels in 2025.

Drafted by the White Sox in the first round in 2013, Tim Anderson made his major league debut on June 10, 2016, going 2-3 in a victory against the Royals at US Cellular Field.  Replacing veteran Jimmy Rollins, who would be released five days later, Anderson played 99 games, hitting .283 with nine home runs, and finished seventh in Rookie of the Year balloting.  Showing that he was still a work in progress, Anderson slashed .257/.276/.402 in 2017, with a 2.1% walk rate, the lowest in the major leagues.  Defensively, he led the major leagues in errors, with 28, as well as fielding errors (16) and throwing errors (12).  He showed slight improvements in 2018, with slight improvements in his OBP and slugging percentage, while reducing his overall errors.

2019 was Anderson’s coming out party.  He led the major leagues with a .335 average while raising his OPS to .865, setting career highs with 167 hits, 32 doubles, and 81 runs.  He still had some issues on defense, leading all major league players with 26 errors, leading to the lowest fielding percentage amongst all shortstops.  His hot bat continued into the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, notching a .322 average and an .886 OPS.  He won his first Silver Slugger award while leading the White Sox to their first post-season appearance since 2008.  He thrived in the Wild Card series against the A’s, going 9-14 in the three-game series.

Anderson continued to prove that he his offensive improvement wasn’t a fluke when baseball returned full time in 2021.  He was named to his first All Star team and, on the game’s biggest stage, he hit a walk-off home run against the Yankees in the inaugural Field of Dreams game in the cornfields of Iowa.  Overall, he hit .309 and posted an .807 OPS while hitting 17 home runs and driving in 61 RBIs.  Continuing where he left off the previous October, Anderson hit .368 in the ALDS against the Astros.

Things started to sour for Anderson in 2022, both on the field and off.  Injuries limited him to just 79 games and left him with his lowest OPS since 2018.  Off the field, an Instagram post by a woman who was not Anderson’s wife insinuated they were in a relationship, and he was the father of her unborn child.  Looking for a fresh start, Anderson played with Team USA in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, earning praise from manager Mark DeRosa and outfielder Mike Trout.  Unfortunately, those good vibes did not spill over to the 2023 season.  After an early injury, Anderson struggled the entire year, his OPS dropped to a career-low .582 and he managed just a single home run.

He signed with the Marlins for 2024. but appeared in just 65 games before being released in July.  Returning the following year with the Angels, he made it into just 31 games before his May 29th release.

The White Sox will be celebrating Anderson’s career next month, bringing back the Southside uniform set for one night.

Anderson’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

Continue reading →

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Fitbit 12 – Week 29

A tremendous week thanks to my trip to Boston, notching my highest total since going to Hawaii in 2022 for the third time in the last four weeks and scoring my first 20,000 step day since 2019.  The week got off to a great start on Sunday thanks to a morning walk, which left me with 7600 steps.  Flying to Boston after work on Monday put me over goal for the second straight day, finishing with 7800 steps.  Tuesday went a little nuts, as I walked around Boston, having breakfast, going on a duck boat tour, and, eventually, meeting Angelina at Fenway Park for a horrible baseball game, ending the night back at my hotel with 20,100 steps.  Coming home Wednesday morning, I saw a big drop, falling just 7 steps shy of 5600.  A trip to Wrigley on Thursday pushed me back up to 6900 steps.  A morning walk on Friday pushed me back up over goal, hitting 7800 steps.  A longer walk on Saturday morning followed by a trip to Rate Field for Ozzie Guillen’s jersey retirement finished the week with a bang, coming just a single steps shy of 11,800.

Total steps: 67,685

Daily average: 9669.3

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Book 43 (of 52) – The Midnight Train

The Midnight Train – Matt Haig

Shortly after his death, Wilbur Budd is visited by the Midnight Train, taking him on a journey back through his life and giving him the opportunity to relive the best and worst times of his life on his way to the afterlife.  Seeing an opportunity to risk his ever-after by fixing the mistakes of his past, Wilbur decides to throw caution to the wind, bringing his dreaming self from his long-ago honeymoon along for the end of the ride to see how they squandered the love of their lifetime for material goods.

While not a direct sequel, Matt Haig’s latest, The Midnight Train, shares some themes and characters with The Midnight Library, his award-winning book from 2020.  It takes some familiar concepts, like your life flashing before your eyes as you shuffle off this mortal coil, and mixes them up with a risky way to try and update the past.  Regret over the various roads not taken is a common theme in Haig’s work, at least the ones I’ve read, and this is no different.

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You Ought To Be In (10) Pictures

Many years ago, using the weekly TV guide that came with the Sunday Chicago Tribune, I started keeping track of all of the movies I had seen over the course of my lifetime.  The guide would list the two main stars for each movie, and that is a tradition that I’ve carried on in my database ever since.  Given those guidelines, it is time once again to look at the now 111 actors that have starred in at least ten films that I have seen, as of August 1.

We start today with the 28 actors that have starred in exactly ten movies that I have seen, up one from three years ago.

Jessica Alba

With her first starring role coming in 2000’s Paranoid before stringing together eight films in six years in the mid 2000s, there has been nothing new for Jessica Alba since I saw her in 2010’s Valentine’s Day in 2011.

Dan Aykroyd

No change in Aykroyd’s total, with it going on 24 years since I last saw one of his starring roles, in the 2000 film Stardom.

Elizabeth Banks

Banks first graced my screen in a starring role in 2006 thanks to The Baxter.  After a dry spell in the early 2010s, she bounced back with seven films in five years, finishing up with 2018’s The Happytime Murders, which I saw in 2019.

Kate Beckinsale

It’s been a quiet six years for Beckinsale, who I last saw in Underworld: Blood Wars in early 2017.

Emily Blunt

Emly Blunt’s first starring role was in 2007’s Wind Chill.  Thanks to three films in 2014 and another two in 2018, her latest, 2021’s A Quite Place Part II, gave her ten appearances.

Chevy Chase Continue reading →

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Return Of The Single Game Batting Leaders

After eight long years (to the day!) and well over 250 games, it is time once again to look at the single game leaders in offensive categories across all of the games I have identified as having attended in person dating back to 1984.  There are some new names of the list that obviously weren’t there when we first looked in 2012 and again in 2015 and 2018.  So, let’s get the ball rolling.

Home Runs

Name Total Date
Sammy Sosa 3 6/5/1996
Moises Alou 3 7/4/2003
Manny Machado 3 8/7/2016
Enrique Hernandez 3 10/19/2017
Brad Miller 3 7/8/2021
Seby Zavala 3 7/31/2021
Dansby Swanson 3 7/1/2026

Hits

Name Total Date
Scott Rolen 5 4/22/2007
Mike Fontenot 5 6/25/2007
Mark DeRosa 5 9/17/2007
Alfonso Soriano 5 5/17/2008
Derrek Lee 5 6/28/2008
Ryan Braun 5 8/2/2010
Prince Fielder 5 8/2/2010
Danny Santana 5 8/3/2014
Melky Cabrera 5 6/21/2015

Runs

Name Total Date
Chris Burke 5 6/13/2006
Gary Ward 4 8/14/1984
Paul Konerko 4 6/28/2002
Continue reading →
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Tired Discourse – Polyamory

In January of 2025, the good folks at Defector.com published a list of 35 topics that have been discussed to within an inch of their life here on the internet.  Lucky for me, I haven’t publicly commented on most, if not all, of these topics, so I figured why not dip my toes into the fray on occasion.  We will continue today with the next question on their list:

Polyamory

First, let’s define what this is.  Google’s AI bullshit says it is “the practice of having more than one romantic or sexual relationship at the same time. It requires the full knowledge, agreement, and consent of all people involved. It is a form of ethical non-monogamy that focuses on open communication and honesty.”  As long as everyone involved is aware and consenting, you do you, player.

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Book 42 (of 52) – In Cold Blood

Truman Capote – In Cold Blood

In November of 1959, the four members of the Clutter family of Holcomb, Kansas were murdered in their home.  A pair of ex-convicts, who met in the Kansas State Penitentiary, were eventually tracked down and tried for the crimes.  The duo were both executed on April 14, 1965.

Learning of the crimes before the murderers were captured, Truman Capote travelled to Kansas, along with his childhood friend Harper Lee, to interview residents and the investigators assigned to the case.  Six years later, Capote turned nearly eight thousand pages of notes into In Cold Blood, considered by many to be the prototypical true crime novel.  A few weeks back, the book was the answer to Final Jeopardy, which spurred me into adding it to my waitlist at the library.

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Fitbit 12 – Week 28

Another great week, going over goal two days as my step challenge at work came to an end.  The week got off to a great start on Sunday, with a trip to Rate Field for Munetaka Murakami bobblehead day leading to 7300 steps.  The good times continued on Monday, wrapping up the step challenge with 7900 steps.  Things slowed down a bit on Tuesday, falling down to 6200 steps.  I rebounded on Wednesday, with a White Sox/Yankees tilt leading to 9100 steps.  A busy Thursday left me with 6000 steps, with Friday dropping by a mere 12 steps to also score 6000.  A rainy Saturday ended the week with 5200 steps.

Total steps: 47,939

Daily average: 6848.4

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Bolstering The Staffs

Both the Cubs and the White Sox made moves yesterday to bolster their pitching staffs heading into the stretch run.  The Cubs struck first, acquiring starter Kevin Gausman from the Blue Jays for Brett Bateman and Ty Southisene.  Gausman, 35, is 5-10 with a 4.38 ERA and 127 strikeouts in 23 starts for the Blue Jays this season coming off a long post-season in 2025 and is in the final year of his deal.  Bateman, 24, is a left-handed hitting outfielder was the eighth-round pick for the Cubs in 2023 and is currently ranked as the organization’s No. 21 prospect according to MLB.com.  Southisene, 21, is an infielder selected in the fourth round of the 2024 draft and the organization’s 13th top-ranked prospect.

On the South Side, a day after acquiring Luis Castillo for the rotation, the White Sox acquired reliever Huascar Brazobán from the Mets for Gabe Davis and Zach Franklin.  Brazobán, a late bloomer at 36, is having a career-year, posting a 2.56 ERA over 46 games and 52⅔ innings.  He has three years of team control remaining and won’t become eligible for free agency until he’s 39.  Davis, a 6’9″ righty starter, has struggled after being promoted to Birmingham earlier this year.  The 22-year-old was selected in the fifth round of the 2025 draft.  Franklin turns 28 shortly before he becomes eligible for the Rule 5 draft this December.