Evan Altman

2 days ago | cubsinsider.com | Evan Altman

The White Sox announced Thursday that they have reached an agreement that will give Justin Ishbia, the brother of Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia, the chance to buy a future controlling interest in the club. Far from an immediate sale, this is a long-term play that allows Ishbia to gradually increase his stake in the team over a period of at least four years. I’m on a plane about to take off, so I’ll share some of the press release and leave it at that.

3 days ago | cubsinsider.com | Evan Altman

The Cubs imposed their will on Trevor Williams and the Nats’ subpar bullpen Tuesday night, knocking the ball all over the yard and cruising to a series-opening victory. That’s exactly what they’ll need to do as often as possible this month, because there will be little reprieve in terms of either breaks or competitive opponents. The Nats showed some fight early on, but this Cubs team has an iron jaw and can take several shots while still being able to land big blows late.

4 days ago | cubsinsider.com | Evan Altman

Today starts a stretch of 26 games in 27 days for the Cubs, with 13 of those games coming against teams listed in MLB.com’s top 10 power rankings. The Nationals are not one of those teams, but they have been playing decent baseball over the last few weeks and aren’t necessarily a pushover. Then again, their 302 runs allowed are the fourth-worst in the NL. That means all Cade Horton needs to do is keep them to four runs and he’s got an easy win.

4 days ago | cubsinsider.com | Evan Altman

Rather than falling into my usual trap of getting overly wordy about niche topics, I wanted to touch briefly on three different items that piqued my interest recently. The first is MLB Network’s power rankings, which see the Cubs listed third behind the Tigers and Dodgers. Never mind that the Cubs have a better overall record than the Dodgers while also taking the season series. This won’t be the last time we talk about LA getting preferential treatment here either.

5 days ago | cubsinsider.com | Evan Altman

Ryan Pressly hasn’t earned a save since April 13 against the Dodgers and was demoted as the closer following a disastrous outing in which he gave up nine runs (eight earned) without recording an out against the Giants on May 6. The offense wasn’t doing him many favors by building several big leads and eliminating save opportunities, but Pressly’s inability to miss bats was bound to bite him at some point.