I wish the Winter Olympics were capturing more of my attention. That is to say, it’s fun for me when it hits, and I’d love to be participating in it, but for whatever reason it’s just not grabbing me this year. Now that I say it out loud, though, I realize it’s probably got a whole lot to do with Spring Training kicking off this week. That necessarily super-charges my sports-related focus on baseball and on the Cubs, and everything else goes to the background, even if it comes only every four years ….
Cade Horton is as important to the Chicago Cubs’ success in 2026 as any individual pitcher, and you have to figure he’s going to be extra hungry after the disappointing way his otherwise brilliant rookie season ended. He was primed to lead the Cubs in the playoffs when a rib injury cost him. Thankfully, he was able to have a normal, healthy offseason, and he comes to Cubs camp ready for a normal, healthy ramp-up. All you could ask for at this point in the year (and, to reiterate from the front office presser yesterday: no surprise injuries to announce for anyone!). The questions – and he acknowledges them, too – are about the league adjusting to him in his second year, about whether he can lengthen out a bit in his starts, and about whether he can be as dominant over a longer period of time this year. All easier said than done, and the answers for which we shouldn’t make any assumptions about Cade Horton’s 2026 season in advance, even as we dream about the upside. As Horton noted there, so much of his success as a rookie came by way of being forced to really attack the strike zone (he was only getting 50-60 pitches per start, so he had to pound the zone if he wanted to try to get through 5+ innings). That left him with a walk rate that plummeted (good!) and a strikeout rate that was also down from where you might expect it given the stuff (less good, but it was still solid). The quality of contact numbers were actually probably more mixed than you realized, and, yes, there was probably some good luck baked into the sub-3 ERA. All that said, we can’t ignore that, even as the league will adjust to Cade Horton, he can do the same thing right back. Consider how much better he got as the season went on and that process was playing out initially. This is a guy whose changeup got so much better through the year, whose sinker started to get a lot more play later on, and whose strikeout rate reached 26.0% over his final nine starts (with a 4.7% BB rate – that 21.3 point difference was the 18th highest in baseball over those two months). In other words, Horton was not JUST a contact-managing guy who got lucky on that contact. I think it’s fair to project some regression on the results relative to the batted ball data, but I think it’s also fair to project some more strikeouts and maybe a touch better batted ball data (his hard contact rate and barrel rate were both also down in those final nine starts). Matthew Boyd on Alex Bregman, who took Jameson Taillon deep yesterday in live BP:"I'm glad he's in our lineup and I'm glad I don't have to face him anymore."Matthew Boyd on Alex Bregman ? pic.twitter.com/OwdwYwdyMf
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) February 12, 2026 Craig Counsell with some encouraging words on Shota Imanaga:Craig Counsell on a Shota Imanaga bounce back: “I’m very excited for Shota to have an outstanding season.”Says it’s subtle changes Shota has made this offseason that has him confident he will respond. Says he needed time to “step back.” @cbschicago pic.twitter.com/EjX3w6Pkzq
— Matt Zahn (@mattzahnsports) February 11, 2026 Unfinished business and such:The Sun-Times Sports cover, featuring the Cubs, who are being fueled by "unfinished business" as they begin spring training, by @maddie_m_lee. t.co/Yuef9TDhxT pic.twitter.com/F0S72G4WPe
— Sun-Times Sports (@suntimes_sports) February 12, 2026 From Jameson Taillon in that Sun-Times piece: “It’s cool to return so many guys. We know where we were last year and know how bad that hurt. And it’s also exciting to add new guys with playoff history, new guys who come here and now expect to win. This is not a place now where guys are coming to necessarily just hope they can steal some playing time. We have a good reputation on the coaching side and the development side, but I also think guys come here now expecting to win, which is a cool shift to see and feel.” The Brewers are bringing back Gary Sanchez, who was a great backup catcher for them a couple years ago, but then missed much of 2025 with Orioles thanks to wrist and knee issues. Best I can guess, given that they’ve said for months – openly! – that Nick Castellanos would not be part of the 2026 Phillies, is that they were hoping a team would show up to Spring Training and realize they have a rash of positional injuries in the first two days:The Phillies are expected to trade or release Nick Castellanos in the next two days, per @MattGelb pic.twitter.com/eyazrWtLqB
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) February 11, 2026 Elsewhere on the Phillies, Zack Wheeler hoards ribs. Well, at least one:Zack Wheeler casually admits he has his rib just chillin' in his closet. ? pic.twitter.com/z97DN2fZqK
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) February 11, 2026 This story is nuts, but Maury Brown is right that (1) you can’t blame the kid at all, (2) it’s really not that rare, and (3) I’ll add that it’s a symptom of the broken system:This is a complicated topic that sees kids in the crossfire. I don’t know about you, but at age 13 if an authority figure said, “Eat this food. Take this supplement. Inject this in your body, and you can earn enough to get you and your family out of abject poverty,” a large… t.co/KhPQod5PkW
— Maury Brown (@BizballMaury) February 12, 2026 VERY much looking forward to having full Statcast at Sloan Park this year:Last year, a lot of the games on Baseball Savant said "no Statcast," as a lot of the spring parks weren't available.This year … well, fun that you don't see that label baseballsavant.mlb.com/gamefeed?dat…
— Mike Petriello (@mikepetriello.bsky.social) 2026-02-11T14:18:05.148Z Not having Game 7 of the 2016 World Series on a list like this is deeply embarrassing stuff:What are the best championship games since 2000? Our writers ranked the top 10. pic.twitter.com/0RT1TJdry2
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) February 11, 2026 Speaking of deeply embarrassing stuff, there has to be some explanation for this beyond “he didn’t know and no one corrected him four times”:Great job by many of you flagging this.Here are FOUR different times this offseason where #WhiteSox GM Chris Getz has referred to Luisangel Acuña as a switch hitter.Acuña is, in fact, NOT a switch hitter.Not great. Four times isn’t a misspeak. pic.twitter.com/yYYsHBH49w
— Sam Phalen (@Sam_Phalen) February 11, 2026 MORE CUBS FROM BLEACHER NATION: Go Ad Free | Subscribe to the BN NewsletterWhy are some writers viewing a couple #Blackhawks prospects as "reclamation project" trade candidates? Thoughts on that situation here: t.co/4XKMMIvB9e
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) February 11, 2026Vučević Gets the Last Laugh: Celtics 124, Bulls 105 – February 11, 2026 t.co/0Zdi1M3JCt
— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) February 12, 2026Rome Odunze Explains How Bears 2025 NFL Draft Class Opened Up Ben Johnson’s Offense t.co/5jlrMirdeN
— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) February 11, 2026Hence then, the article about horton s successful year and offseason unfinished business sanchez castellanos and other cubs bullets was published today ( ) and is available on Bleacher Nation ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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