The Rundown: Baseball Is Back, Talking Gin Blossoms & Blues Traveler, Horton Should Get OD Start, RIP Bill Mazeroski

I watched enough of yesterday’s Cactus League opener to get excited about baseball being back, but I was quickly reminded of how rough these early contests can be to watch. They’re hardly indicative of what will actually happen during the regular season, especially when evaluating pitchers. That said, I found it morbidly hilarious that the Cubs did their best to feed all the meatballs who can’t properly contextualize these things.

Jameson Taillon serving up two taters while Seiya Suzuki lost a fly ball in the sun — while playing center, something he won’t otherwise do — was chef’s-kiss perfection. Suzuki did at least homer for the Cubs’ only run, and I do believe he’s primed for yet another very big season. That’s right, another one. Over four seasons with the Cubs, his 127 wRC+ ranks 12th among all qualified outfielders.

Sloan Park is located in Mesa, AZ, but it’s just a stone’s throw away from Tempe, home of Arizona State University and the Gin Blossoms. My wife and I left home before the Cubs game ended in order to see Gin Blossoms and Blues Traveler, something I noted yesterday. While we were there, we discovered that my brother and his wife were also at the show, seated directly across from us at the venue.

Something I believe I had been aware of from an episode of 60 Songs that Explain the 90s is that the band changed the lyrics of “Hey Jealousy” to “You can trust me not to think” instead of drink. That’s because founding member Doug Hopkins was removed from the band in early 1992 due to his heavy drinking and other issues, and was forced to watch from the sidelines as Gin Blossoms’ sophomore album, New Miserable Experience, made them rock stars.

The record label had forced Hopkins to relinquish half of his songwriting royalties and all of his mechanical royalties — payments generated when copyrighted music is reproduced — which deepened his spiral. Hopkins died by suicide on December 5, 1993, but he lives on in songs that continue to hold relevance more than 30 years later.

I was well aware that Gin Blossoms are more adult contemporary yacht rock at this point, but what I didn’t expect was for Blues Traveler to be a relatively loud jam band. Or maybe I knew that and had just memory-holed it because I’d never heard them live. I definitely didn’t realize that lead singer and harmonicist, John Popper, had also co-founded a band called The Trucking Company with singer Chris Barron. You probably know that group better as The Spin Doctors.

Blues Traveler signed their first deal with A&M Records, the very same company that ousted Hopkins, and released their first album in 1990 with Joan Osborne on backing vocals. The “One of Us” singer is performing at this summer’s Bourbon & Beyond festival in Louisville, and her appearance on the 12th row of the lineup poster would be a personal record for how far down I recognize an artist or band. But then you’ve got Tonic and Cracker on the next line, with The Verve Pipe one below. Helluva lineup.

Speaking of Tonic, bassist Dan Lavery stood in for Gin Blossoms last night. Now back to BT, who opened their set with “Run-Around,” which is the first time in recorded history that a band has started with its biggest hit. Well, I guess every time they’ve done it prior to this would have come first. It was a first for me, though, so back off. They also brought GB lead singer Robin Wilson up to cover “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” then launched into “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” all the while giving Popper breaks with long guitar, keyboard, and drum solos.

Popper’s mastery of the harmonica is truly impressive, and it’s no wonder he has to rest his lungs from time to time. I’m not sure how many mouth organs he goes through at each show, but he was constantly throwing them into the crowd. I’d say that’s kind of gross, but I did once finish a beer handed to me by Donnie Wahlberg at a New Kids on the Block show. It’s cool, Naughty By Nature and Salt-N-Pepa were there too.

I guess what I’m saying is that you should take the opportunities to enjoy yourself when you get them. If you never did, you should. These things are fun, and fun is good. Or so I learned from Dr. Suess.

Horton Obvious Opening Day Choice

With all due respect to the Cubs’ other starters, all of whom have been pitching for much longer, Cade Horton is clearly the best option to take the bump on Opening Day. He was their best pitcher in limited action last season, and he may have taken another step forward. That’s really saying something for a guy who put up a 1.03 ERA over 12 second-half starts before a cracked rib shut him down.

Horton is reportedly sitting 96 mph and touching 98 already in camp, a great sign for both his health and his outlook for the regular season. Jordan Bastian ranked Horton first among the OD candidates, followed by Matthew Boyd, Jameson Taillon, Shōta Imanaga, and Edward Cabrera. The latter has much better stuff than the three prior, maybe even better than Horton, but his track record is working against him.

The Cubs may also treat him with kid gloves, and I could see him working kind of a timeshare with Justin Steele once the lefty returns. All indications are that Steele will be back by mid-May, though the Cubs certainly aren’t tipping their hands verbally. Steele has been throwing for a while now and told reporters prior to camp that he expected to face live hitters during spring training, though that could just mean he’ll throw a simulated game or two.

Perhaps the most telling sign thus far is the team’s choice to DFA utility infielder Ben Cowles rather than placing Steele on the 60-day IL. Even though Cowles’ path to the majors was beset by obstacles, the Cubs have always preferred to avoid procedural moves of any permanence when they can. And with Opening Day falling on March 26, a 60-day designation would only keep Steele on the shelf until May 26. I’m repeating myself from a little while back, but this tells me the expectation is to activate him at least a week earlier than that.

Wiggins Following Former Little League Rival’s Path

Just as Horton broke out last season, righty Jaxon Wiggins is looking to do the same. Born just 44 days and 180 miles apart, the two actually competed against one another in Little League before becoming stars at the prep level in Oklahoma. They would have been college rivals, but the Sooners didn’t join the Razorbacks in the SEC until 2024.

Wiggins was dominant at High-A and Double-A last season, then had some hiccups over three abbreviated starts at Triple-A Iowa. The Cubs prioritized his health after shoulder soreness sidelined him for three weeks last summer, enforcing strict workload limits that kept him under four innings or 60 pitches over his final six starts. Everything looks good in camp so far, with Wiggins sitting around 96 mph with filthy breaking and offspeed stuff.

His locker is next to Boyd’s and he’s been picking the veteran’s brain throughout camp, but Horton is likewise a source of advice. Horton’s success provides great optimism for what Wiggins can be, though the (slightly) younger hurler has yet to display the same degree of control. The Cubs might look to use him the way they probably would have preferred to deploy his counterpart, with more controlled usage as a reliever in the early going.

A lot of that depends on health, both for Wiggins and the rest of the rotation. Horton’s promotion and heavier-than-expected usage came as a result of injuries to multiple starters, after which he forced the Cubs to keep him around. Ideally, Wiggins won’t get that same opportunity this season. With Taillon, Imanaga, and Boyd all possibly gone after this season, however, Wiggins should get his shot before long one way or the other.

More News and Notes

• Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski passed away Friday at the age of 89. The career Pirate was one of the best defensive players to ever live, but he was left out of the Hall over 15 years of eligibility due to his offensive numbers. That was rectified in 2001, nine years after he’d fallen off the BBWAA ballot, when the Veterans Committee voted him in.
• All 30 MLB teams are in action today.
• UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky is MLB Pipeline’s No. 1 draft prospect and could very well hear his name called when the White Sox have the first pick in this summer’s draft. He hammered two homers yesterday, including a grand slam, to give him five dingers with a 1.786 OPS so far.
• Oregon State’s Dax Whitney would be pushing for that top spot, but he’s not eligible until 2027. The 20-year-old righty struck out 17 Baylor batters with a triple-digit heater and an array of nasty secondaries.
• Under Armour has released a new signature Bryce Harper cleat, and it looks like something AI generated for a Nickelodeon promotion.

Trailer Time

We’re going in a different direction here with Toy Story 5, which is being released nearly 30 years after the original. I have watched bits and pieces of the previous iterations, all of which have been massive box office blockbusters, and I’m sure this will be quite successful as well. It’s just wild to me that legions of viewers know John Ratzenberger as Hamm rather than Cliff Clavin.

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