If you’re a baseball -starved fan like me, there’s no such thing as too much Cubs baseball-no matter how poorly they are playing and no matter how far out of the playoffs they are.

I’m not going to litigate today’s game with the Jays, the highs and lows. The particulars aren’t important to the discussion. Rather, is there any benefit in watching a team as disappointing as Toronto and what can we learn?

Unless one actively roots against a specific team and you relish seeing them underperform, you probably don’t consider yourself with their failures as disappointment. You have your own team to worry about.

Heading into the 2024 season, the smart money had the AL East as being a better, more competitive division than the NL Central. 128% of all Cub fans and the beat reporters stated that the NL Central was winnable because the teams were so mediocre. Forget who everyone predicted to win it all and surprise everyone.

As much as I follow the league, the group that took the field against the Cubs today was mostly unrecognizable. While they unloaded some talent at the deadline, they didn’t move any of their better players. In fact, since the Cubs offensive woes of the first half of the season, there were murmurs about acquiring some of the Jays young talent-most notably the juniors, Vlad Guerero, Daulton Varsho, and Bo Bichette.

I don’t know of any Cub fans that secretly follow the Jays and because the own the AL East cellar it’s no surprise. I’m guessing that some Cub fans are trying to picture what Vlad Jr. would like in a Cubs uniform. As we all know that is a futile exercise as there is no way of knowing how he’s perform.

However, we can observe how he is performing when there is nothing on the line except pride and meaningless stats. Is he giving the same effort or is he playing out the string? If you watch some teams in similar circumstances, you can pick out players that have given up.

What seems like an obvious spark is often a poor addition that screws up chemistry. Pretending for the moment that the Cubs could have acquired Vlad, they would have had to part with some young talent. Who is to say, that that particular guy’s (currently on the roster) absence wouldn’t have a deleterious effect on the team and their postseason chances.

Everyone assumes that every trade that the Dodgers and Yankees make has positive results. Likewise, the poorer Brewers and Rays don’t always do the right thing either. It’s been noted 3,264 times in the last two weeks that the Cubs have the easiest remaining schedule. They face the Washington Generals 23 times in the last 40 games. That they’re up against so many sub .500 teams should ensure their success, but that’s not how baseball works.

Check the box scores! There are a bunch of Marlins and Nats that continue to bust their humps, no matter what their records say. I can’t figure out how they do it, but they do. Let’s also not forget how quickly fortunes can change.