How About Those Cubs

 Just for fun, I asked AI, specifically Gemini, the following question:

Based on their current record, what is the projected Win-Loss record for the Chicago Cubs?

Gemini's response:

The Chicago Cubs currently hold a record of  36–34 through their first 70 games of the 2026 Major League Baseball season.

A standard MLB regular season consists of exactly 162 games. Based strictly on their current winning percentage of  .514, their simple mathematically projected final record is:

Projected Record: 83–79 (Rounded from 83.3 wins and 78.7 losses)

---

Advanced Projection (Pythagorean Record)

If you want to look slightly deeper than their raw surface record, we can use Baseball-Reference's Pythagorean Win-Loss formula, which projects future success based on the team's actual run differential (runs scored vs. runs allowed) rather than just pure luck or timing.

Through 69 games, the Cubs have scored 317 runs and allowed 313 runs. Because they are outscoring opponents by a razor-thin margin, their expected performance aligns almost identically with their actual pace:

• Pythagorean Pace: 35–34 (.507 winning percentage)
• Pythagorean Projected Final Record: 82–80

Sitting at 7.5 games behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central, a final record hovering right around 82 to 83 wins will likely put them dead center in a chaotic battle for a National League Wild Card spot down the stretch.

I'm inclined to agree with this prediction.  The Cubs Magic Number is currently 102.  This time last year it was 90 (or 88, the site listed both numbers for June 12, 2025.)  Either way, after starting the season hot with two 10-game winning streaks, they had a 10-game losing streak in between some other tough losses.  

It's not impossible they couldn't get hot again, after all the is how baseball works.  But they would likely need some of their division rivals to go cold.  I guess we have 92 games left to find out.  I try not to get too invested until August or at least after the All-Star Break.

Summer is Here

Edit from the future:  Yet another post sitting in my draft folder.  I'm gonna try to wrap it up and publish it, backdating this to the date I wrote it.

Seasonal summer begins on June 21st, which is also Father's Day, but most of the USA thinks of summer as the time between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

This year, Memorial Day — the last Monday in May — fell on the earliest possible date on the calendar, and Labor Day — the first Monday in September,— will fall on the latest possible date on the calendar, Sept. 7. Thus we can look forward to the longest possible unofficial summer.

The 105 day span won’t happen again until 2037, though it generally happens every five to seven years.

The Friday before Memorial Day weekend was the kids' last day of school.  The kids who at least once a week asked if they really had to go to school opted to go every day even though they were implicitly given permission by the educators to skip the last three days.  They wanted to see their friends one last time and the last three days are essentially a party for the kids.

We packed up and headed to St Louis to meet up with Katness.  When the trip was originally planned, she was gonna come down that Friday.  But things happen.  One kid had a baseball playoff he couldn't miss.  Another had a theatre activity he also couldn't miss.  So she couldn't come until Saturday, but was wiggy on the time of arrival.  

This made meeting up with my one college friend that I see once in a while challenging.  Initially, I was stressing about going to the Science Museum and then trying to have lunch with a bunch of people that might not cross-pollinate well.  

Eventually, I just said Fuck It.  And it worked out because we all sat down for lunch and were able to get separate checks.  

The rest of the weekend was the usual challenge.  Katness wants to fill every moment with doing something, and there's nothing wrong with that.  But our respective kids really just want to hang out with each other, either at the pool or playing Minecraft.  

It usually works out but I need to remind myself the next time we are getting together to factor that in to the equation.