So, the Cubs suck. They are in last place in the NL Central, are 12 games under .500, and traded away their ace back in July. But! I am here to tell you that over these last few weeks of the season, you should consider watching a few Cubs games, because you might see some cool shit.
For example, take a look a this play from last night's game between the Cubs and Brewers:
That's Jorge Soler, the Cubs' 22-year-old Cuban prospect who was regarded as a better prospect than Yasiel Puig not too long ago, doing some Yasiel Puig shit. I know it's reductive to compare the two players simply because they are both young and Cuban, but it's hard to think of another player who could muscle a 94-mph fastball that was headed toward his back elbow into an open patch of grass, and then stretch his hit into a double with a ballsy bit of base running.
Soler was called up a week ago and has played in just seven games, but in those seven games he's 12-for-26 with three homers and five doubles. This is what he did in his first career at-bat:
Two days later, he did this:
Yeah, yeah, it's just a few games and all that, but those are three impressive, booming home runs, and you should be excited about any rookie who can do that in his first week on the job.
Speaking of young players who can hit the guts out of a baseball, Javy Baez, who is just 21, is also playing for the Cubs every day. We've already extolled his power few times before, and over the weekend he showed that he can also play a little defense:
Baez is a natural shortstop, but was moved to second this year so that he could fit alongside Starlin Castro with the big club. Castro's going to be out with an injury for the rest of the year, though, so Baez will be the team's primary shortstop going forward. That's good news for people who like to see fancy defensive plays.
The only bummer about this month is that it could have been even better if the Cubs had decided to also call up Kris Bryant, who hit .325/.438/.661 with 34 doubles and 43 homers across Double-A and Triple-A this year. But whatever, for now Cubs fans (and you!) will just have to settle for watching a guy who looks like version 2.0 of the most exciting player in baseball and Gary Sheffield if he'd actually been able to play shortstop. And with Bryant due to come up in 2015, bandwagoning Chicagoans may want to buy next year's tickets early.