WELCOME to today’s episode of Cub Tracks news and notes™, a greatest-hits collection of Chicago-style beat writers and bloggers, ground from #Cubs, #MiLB, and #MLB baseball, overheated, steeped in writers’ tears, and then cold-brewed overnight for maximum flavor. No artificial intelligences were deployed, employed, entranced, or embalmed in the commission of this missive (apparently I might be training some though). Cub Tracks eagerly awaits the advent of robotic umpires and has already amended the three laws. The going is weird. Cub Tracks turned pro a long time ago.

Cub Tracks. Where the great ones run away.

Shohei is a damn good player. I’d still stop short of deifying him. I mean, seriously? The hype is real {$}. Also, Eat the Dodgers.

Okay, the season-opening non-exhibition games are over. To say that I suspect the fix was in does not detract from the spectacle any more than being completely fake invalidates the athletic competition in the WWE. Am I bitter and cynical? You bet.

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“That’s what’s great about the Cubs, we’re always the come-from-behind team,” said Zach Valavanis, a Cubs fan entering a theme bar in the Tokyo Dome complex, filled with Cubs logos and memorabilia — and dozens of other Chicago fans. — Stephen Wade.

• Sonja Chen (MLB.com*): Ohtani’s aura evokes hometown awe in Tokyo — and MVP delivers. “There was just so much anticipation to see anything he did,” manager Dave Roberts said.
• Stephen Wade (AP*): Baseball in Japan looks about the same, but the food and the vibe are different. “Baseball in Japan — the game is called “yakyu” (field ball) in Japanese — carries more of a rock-concert vibe than its American cousin.” More from Wade.
• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com*): For Lee & Fukudome, Tokyo school visit all about Japan’s baseball future. “This is where I fell in love with baseball,” Lee said.
• Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Chicago Cubs swept in Tokyo Series in playoff-like atmosphere: ‘That’s a great experience for our young players’. “These are great experiences, period, and they’re fun experiences. They’re different,” Counsell said. “They do resemble the playoffs. The pregame especially resembled the playoffs, I thought.”

• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com*): Cubs hope Tokyo’s ‘playoff environment’ a sign of things to come.
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider*): Let’s dispel 3 myths about Cubs’ Opening Day loss with some perspective. “… all that matters is how well the Cubs play over the remaining 160 games of the schedule.”
• Matthew Trueblood (North Side Baseball*): 3 Cubs things you are absolutely forbidden to freak out About—and one that might matter. “Be better than the fan you want to be.”
• Matthew Trueblood (North Side Baseball*): Nico Hoerner has been lying to you for years, was finally exposed Monday. “With the automated ball-strike (ABS) system being test-driven in the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues this year, accurate heights are required for calibration of the system, so there can be no more fudging.”
• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com*): ‘I’ll remember everything’: Shaw makes much-anticipated debut in Tokyo. “You try to take in everything the whole time.” Sahadev Sharma has more {$}.
• Laura Molloy (NME*): Jack White attends Cubs vs Dodgers game with Bill Murray, wearing jersey gifted from Eddie Vedder. “The former White Stripes frontman was attending the game in Tokyo, Japan, where he recently played two shows as part of his current world tour.”

Food for thought:

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