The Cubs have a late game tonight, their first of several this week as temperatures rise in the Phoenix area. Today\u2019s high is only 92 or so, about 12 degrees cooler than it\u2019s expected to get over the next few days. You can call it a dry heat, but that midday sun is unrelenting. I mean, an oven is dry too, but I wouldn\u2019t want to put my head inside.<\/p>\n
Then again, I am chronically online and spend way too much time on X, which is the equivalent of microwaving my brain for hours a day. When I\u2019m finally done with this little passion project and I no longer need social media to gather and disseminate information, I think cutting back on my social media usage will greatly improve my quality of life. And with that, I just realized how much worse things tend to get when the real games start.<\/p>\n
Oh joy.<\/p>\n
For now, the games are still fake and still shielded from us by a lack of comprehensive broadcasts. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve really only seen highlights of Edward Cabrera<\/a> and Ben Brown<\/a>, with Cade Horton<\/a>\u2018s starts also receiving limited coverage. You can watch him on Guardians.TV tonight, though, so that\u2019s a plus. Horton had a bumpy start the last time out, but he came away feeling good about his mechanics.<\/p>\n Everyone has a bad game every now and then, and I expect him to settle right back in and get back to looking like an ace soon enough. That might not be tonight, especially if he\u2019s focused on working on something in particular, but Horton will be fine by the end of the month when it matters.<\/p>\n The lineup should be fine as well, though it\u2019s been a while now since we\u2019ve seen the Cubs at full strength. While that\u2019s the case with any Cactus League campaign, having stars out due to their participation in the WBC creates additional continuity issues. At the same time, it affords even more opportunities for non-roster players to show what they can do.<\/p>\n Matt Shaw<\/a> isn\u2019t an NRI, but having fewer regulars around lets him move all over the diamond. He\u2019s leading off at first base tonight as Craig Counsell<\/a> puts together a few short-side platoon options for Michael Busch<\/a>. Miguel Amaya<\/a> is behind the dish, Dylan Carlson<\/a> is in left, and Christian Bethancourt<\/a> is at DH. Kevin Alc\u00e1ntara<\/a> is in right, B.J. Murray<\/a> is at third, Jefferson Rojas<\/a> plays second, and Scott Kingery<\/a> is the shortstop. Brett Bateman<\/a> gets the start in center.<\/p>\n