Welcome to the late night pop-up indie coffee shop that is serving whatever beverage you prefer to kick off your weekend. Whether it’s a mixed drink to celebrate Friday turning into Saturday or a steaming cup of chai to start your morning off right, we’ve got you covered. Just remember to bus your tables so we can turn the joint over like we found it to Josh on Monday.

But Monday is ages away and we have lots of fun planned before it gets here. In fact, if you’re in the Wrigleyville area on Saturday night the Cuppa Cubbie Blue podcast crew will be Cubs Caroling with Danny Rockett and a number of excellent bleacher bums. We’ll be meeting at Output Wrigleyville at 6 pm Saturday night. It’s going to be a blast and you can RSVP here!

In fact, before we get to tonight’s question, let’s just sample some Cubsmas carols…

The thing about Christmas Carols is that we’ve all heard them so many times you have to have fun new take on one for it to make an impact. Unfortunately the vast majority of them are just not all that good, which means we spend more than a month each year inundated with songs like Santa Claus is Coming to Town that just get stuck in our head.

That doesn’t mean every rendition of Santa Claus is Coming to Town is bad! I mean, just check out this gem from the Boss:

That “you better be good for goodness sake” just hits different.

And who would object to one of the most amazing voices of all time riffing on an earworm? Not me, which is why we’re gonna all check in on Mariah Carey right now:

10/10 no notes.

But today I want to focus on the latest entry into this Hall of Great Covers — from our own Danny Rockett, a 2024 Cubsmas themed riff on the classic:

At least we’re not the White Sox, indeed.

There have been rumors connecting the North and South Side of the city this week on the eve of Winter Meetings. There have also been rumors of the Cubs trying to trade players, including their best hitter by multiple metrics from last season, Seiya Suzuki:

Sure. Why not. Who needs to hit on the 2025 Chicago Cubs anyway?

I mostly jest and am doing a bit of a hyperbolic eyeroll as I write this, but Seiya has been really good for the Cubs during his time in Chicago and today I’d like to look at whether he’s if he’s got another level in 2025 or is due for a regression.

Let’s take a look at his time in MLB so far plus his steamer projection for 2025:

It’s a bit of a curious projection that projects a bit of a decline for Seiya next year. Now, that’s a bit understandable with it being Suzuki’s age-30 season. There cold be a bit of age-related regression in the projections. Based on performance, however, there seems to be more evidence of the .285/.360/.480 Seiya than the .255/.340/.445 projection.

I’m not entirely sure why Steamer thinks Seiya is more likely to play like his 2022 self than his 2023 and 2024 seasons.

So I put the question to you, BCB After Dark — what do you think Seiya Suzuki can provide the Cubs in 2025? Will it look more like his last two seasons or more like his first?