The red, white and blue (literally) Chicago Cubs saw their 2021 season completely turned on its head during the span of time in between two super patriotic American holidays. On Flag Dlay, June 14, they were 38-28 and tied with the Milwaukee Brewers atop the NL Central division.

A 4-11 June swoon, including a sweep at those aforementioned Brewers, now has them riding a six game losing streak and six games out of first place entering Fourth of July weekend. Happy Independence Day Cubs fans! In a span of just over a fortnight, the Cubs have gone from likely buyers at the trading deadline to almost certain sellers.

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Ahead of last night’s 7-1 win at the San Diego Padres, the Chicago Cubs placed starting pitcher Adbert Alzolay on the 10-day injured list (blister on the middle finger on his pitching hand) and recalled right-hander Kohl Stewart from Triple-A Iowa.

They also activated Alec Mills off the 10-day IL, and sent right-handed pitcher Cory Abbott back down to the I-Cubs. Mills saw relief action last night, giving one hit, one run, it was earned, in an inning of relief work. He walked two and struck out two.

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In the preseason, we saw plenty of Chicago Cubs season win projections in the 77-79 range. At the time, those seemed very legit. Then the season started, and the Cubs offense was very late to joining the rest of us here in the 2021 baseball season.

At that point, the Cubs were looking much more like a 70 win or thereabouts kind of team. Then they started winning a few here and there, then they claimed a couple series wins, and the season was unfolding in a manner akin to the plot of the timeless classic sports movie “Major League.”

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Was this brilliance by the Chicago Cubs’ Javy Baez? Maybe, or perhaps it’s just total bone-headedness on the part of the Pittsburgh Pirates. “THERE WERE TWO OUTS!” is a top trending term on Twitter right now, because the social media world of baseball fans just cannot believe what they just watched.

You’ve heard of “manufacturing a run,” well, what El Mago did here is basically “grifting a run” or “conning your opponents out of a run. Watch after the jump:

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It’s the Chicago Cubs at the Cleveland Indians, on a Wednesday, just like one specific game in the annals of baseball history that you might have once heard about. The Cubs have a long list of injury and fitness concerns for this game, but there is some good news, to go along with the bad.

There is a lot to get to, so let’s just dive right in with Javier Baez, who is back in the lineup today at shortsop and hitting fourth. Baez missed the last two games with tightness in his back.

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The Chicago Cubs are back to being the Cubes. Legendary former NFL Coach Bill Parcells is now synonymous with the phrase “you are your record,” and yes, indeed that is always true. But the record doesn’t tell the whole story sometimes, and in the case of the Cubs, not really at all.

If there is one theme to the season so far, it’s “the wheels have come off now, here in inning XYZ.” They’re 4-6, which sounds mediocre, but mediocrity is actually a level that’s far above where they reside right now.

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