The Chicago Cubs are officially on vacation! Now, that's an alarm clock that speaks pleasures only.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Let's talk about a few things while your Wednesday stretches its legs. Pour the coffee and we can get moving.
THE MIKOLAS EFFECT
Wise minds once said that the one who gets away can end up hurting you the most. This much is true for Miles Mikolas and the Chicago Cubs. The 30-year-old diamond in the rough signing for the St. Louis Cardinals went 3-0 against the Cubs in 2018, pitching stellar baseball in the five outings. However, he saved his best for last this past Saturday. By shutting down the North Siders for eight innings and helping the Cardinals win 2-1, he forced the Cubs into a divisional one-game playoff with Milwaukee, where a loss landed them in a wildcard game against the Colorado Rockies, which they lost. Mikolas fulfilled the $7.5 million contract by the All Star break, but he looks like a hero of the Midwest right now with his dismissal and eventual dominance of the Cubs. I'll take that consolation prize.
DEWITT JR. SOUNDING UNCOMFORTABLE ABOUT FREE AGENTS
Cardinals Majority Owner Bill DeWitt Jr. was a guest on 590 The Fan's Tim McKernan's podcast this week, and a certain portion of the interview should give fans an upset stomach. When the Morning After radio show host talked about the pursuit of prized free agents like Manny Machado and Bryce Harper, DeWitt Jr. seemed to freeze up with his responses. Without outright saying the team will not pursue the players, DeWitt Jr. sounded like a husband being asked to explain the search history on his computer between dusk and dawn. A lot of "uhs" and general unsure replies covered the air with a hesitation that didn't produce a confident feeling. A man who has printed money in St. Louis for decades shouldn't sound so tense when talking about spending it on legit proven talent, but that's all I heard. Could it have been conjecture or strategy? Perhaps, but ask yourself when was the last time the Cardinals secured a top free agent. Go ahead and pour some bourbon into that coffee.
SUMMER THROWING ITS FINAL PUNCHES THIS WEEK??
When KSDK morning meteorologist Chester Lampkin mentioned a warm front rolling through St. Louis this week, I pulled over my car and had a scream in South City. I am over the summer season, and have been since the fading days of July. I hate mowing lawns, sweating through shirts, avoiding bugs, and generally feeling like a fever is developing at all hours of the day. When the cold air swooped through the town this past weekend, I was a happy guy. I went on a run early Saturday morning to the loving grace of 57 degrees at at my back. Give me the cold and take the bugs away. It will be nice to leave the house and not walk through three spider webs on the way to the car, or get a mosquito bite while driving because they snuck into the car. I'm done with it. Chester, make it happen!
DARK PHOENIX TRAILER IS PROOF X-MEN FILMS ARE FADING
This past week, a trailer for the new X-Men spinoff flick about Jean Grey was released. A day later, the film had a new title and a reshoot coming. The trailer was met with insipid reviews that ranged from "tired of it" to "this looks like genuine crap". I like Game of Thrones' Sophie Turner, but this films need to stop. The most interesting member of the group, Hugh Jackman's Logan, checked out last year, so let's go ahead and call it. Apocalypse was a pile of garbage, and while First Class and Days of Future's Past were great films, the new fleet doesn't look promising at all. Unless James McAvoy or Michael Fassbender are at the head, the film lacks any kind of power. It's so bad the director dropped the X-Men from the title, now calling it, Dark Phoenix. Meh.
SHAMELESS LACKS PUNCH IN LATEST SEASON
When I said the Showtime series should call it quits after the current ninth season due to the impending departure of its star, Emmy Rossum, I wasn't kidding. Four episodes in, and the sizzle from the eighth season is all but disappeared. What viewers have received in its place is tired storytelling, dull plots pinpointing an election with racial tensions, and a lack of focus on the Gallagher family. Characters like Jeremy Allen White's Lip and William H. Macy's Frank are going in familiar directions with predictable outcomes, and Rossum's Fiona is even spinning her wheels creatively. Creator John Wells will probably soak every drop of juice out of this show before calling it quits, and that will be unfortunate. Earlier this year, I said this was one of television's most enduring shows. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
