AP Photo/Erin Hooley

The Rundown: Hoyer Could Be King of Hot Stove Season, PCA Expected to Improve, World Series Heads to LA for 3 Games

Photo of Michael Canter Michael CanterOctober 27, 2025

“The other day I had myself a wish sandwich. Well a wish sandwich is the kind of a sandwich where you have two slices of bread and you wish you had some meat.” — Rubber Biscuit, originally by The Chimps and performed here by the Blue Brothers.

Other than the historic run by the Bulls in the 1990s and three championships in six seasons by the Blackhawks starting in 2009-10, Chicago hasn’t seen anything close to a sports dynasty in the last 100 years. The city has had its share of great teams, including the 1985 Bears and 2016 Cubs. Both teams were built for sustained greatness but came up heartbreakingly short in the seasons following the pinnacle of their successes. We’ll be celebrating the 10th anniversary of that Cubs team — a band of brothers so powerful that they could turn goat piss into gasoline — next year.

Baseball dynasties are a different kind of animal. Few teams repeat as World Series champions, but teams that annually control their divisions, like the Dodgers, are downright empirical. Los Angeles has 12 division championships in the last 13 seasons, but the Cubs have just eight titles since 1984. Like the ’85 Bears, the Blues Brothers, Joe Charboneau, and Jerry O’Connell’s acting career, a promising start sometimes means peaking far too early. That’s why 2016 is such an endearing memory for most fans.

Those Cubs were led by a core that included Jake Arrieta, Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, and Javier Báez. The supporting cast featured the likes of Dexter Fowler and Ben Zobrist, plus unsung heroes Jason Hammel, Miguel Montero, David Ross, and Willson Contreras. They won 103 regular-season games with one tie, and beat the Giants, Dodgers, and Indians in the playoffs to end a 108-year championship drought.

The 2025-26 Cubs have a new core in place, but with a potential work stoppage looming over the 2027 season, it’s already transitory. Ian Happ, Nico Hoerner, Matthew Boyd, Carson Kelly, and Jameson Taillon will be free agents at this time next year. Barring an extension, Justin Steele‘s contract year may coincide with a lockout or strike. Seiya Suzuki will also be a free agent in 2028. The remaining members of that core, which includes Cade Horton, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Michael Busch, and Matt Shaw, have yet to reach their arbitration years. Dansby Swanson is signed through 2029, and the Cubs have some promising prospects ready for extended big league playing time, including Owen Caissie, Moisés Ballesteros, and Kevin Alcántara.

That puts Jed Hoyer in the crosshairs heading into next season. Chicago won 92 games this season, but will likely lose Kyle Tucker to free agency. Shōta Imanaga could be pitching elsewhere, too, which would leave Hoyer with about $100 million in wiggle room and 10-12 open roster spots that must be filled. Who would replace Tucker and Imanaga in that scenario? A combination of Caissie and free agent starter Dylan Cease won’t make the ’26 Cubs any better than the team that was recently eliminated by the Brewers.

Trading for one of Tarik Skubal, MacKenzie Gore, or Mitch Keller makes a lot more sense if Hoyer can convince Tucker to stay. Short of that, 2026 might feel a lot more like 2019, but without the fading buzz that came with being World Series champions three years earlier. So, once again, we are depending on Hoyer to find creative ways to compete next season, due to or in spite of his unwillingness to dispense cash with the largesse of an addled philanthropist.

Hoyer also lacks tradeable assets thanks to significant roster attrition. His best hope might be to engage teams that have players who struggled this year but are also on contracts that expire at the end of the 2027 season. That’s why Adley Rutschman is such an intriguing buy-low trade candidate. That’s also why it may make more sense to keep Imanaga rather than paying up for a pitcher who is staring into the abyss of compounding regression.

Regardless, the impending winter is Hoyer’s oyster, provided he’s willing to take a fresh approach to building his roster. He should be this year’s King of the Hot Stove, and he has the assets to keep Tucker or sign Pete Alonso and Alex Bregman and then trade for Rutschman and one of Keller or Joe Ryan. Those are ballsy moves that run contrary to Hoyer’s measured, thread-the-needle approach that has become his trademark. Then again, one postseason appearance in six years is not a Disney sports flick waiting to happen. There’s nothing wrong with throwing an occasional curve when everybody’s expecting your run-of-the-mill fastball, as long as you can get it over the plate.

Cubs News & Notes

Ball Four

Give me Alonso and Bregman (both $30.3 million AAV) with shorter obligations and then trade for Rutschman and Ryan.

Central Intelligence

World Series News & Notes

The careers of Max Scherzer and Clayton Kershaw will be forever linked.

Scherzer will start tonight in Game 3 of the World Series. Tyler Glasnow takes the home field bump for the Dodgers.

Dodgers fans are hoping Kershaw will get to pitch in one of the three games at Chavez Ravine this week. The future Hall of Famer is retiring at the end of the season.

Fans gather at the Storehouse Bar & Grill to watch their beloved Blue Jays, a watering hole that is closer to the North Pole than Toronto.

The Dodgers are the first MLB team to reach $1 billion in revenues.

A 5th-inning performance by the Jonas Brothers in Game 2 caught everybody off guard.

Monday Stove

Fans will witness a rare sports equinox with tonight’s tilt in the Fall Classic, plus games being played in the NBA, NHL, and NFL.

The rift between Bryce Harper and Dave Dombrowski does not appear to be resolving itself.

Aroldis Chapman said he’d rather retire than ever play for the Yankees again.

The Orioles have agreed to hire Cleveland bench coach and assistant manager Craig Albernaz as their new skipper.

Extra innings

Ryne Sandberg is easily the greatest throw-in of all time.

Apropos of Nothing

The Dodgers are selling chargrilled tomahawk steaks to high-rolling diners during the World Series. I can neither confirm nor deny that they’ll let you defer payment for the meal until 2032.

They Said It

  • “Going forward, I think [Crow-Armstrong] is going to have to shrink his strike zone and he’s gonna have to focus on those things — but I think he will. He’s still 23 years old. He’s still learning, so I expect him to keep getting better and better. It may be gradual, or it may all come at once, but I have no question that he’ll continue to get better.” – Hoyer

Monday Walk-Up Song

Jake Blues’ listed address was 1060 W. Addison. I kind of like the Wrigley Field bit.

Photo of Michael Canter Michael CanterOctober 27, 2025
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