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Shane Victorino‘s MLB career looks to be in serious jeopardy, as the Chicago Cubs released the 35-year-old outfielder Monday.

Victorino never made it to the majors this season. He was in Triple-A Iowa at the time of his release, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times:

Victorino signed with the club on February 26 in hopes of winning one more championship before the sun set on his career, which he told MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat at the time of the signing.

“It’s not about playing time, it’s not about where things are, it’s about winning,” Victorino said. “Obviously, for me, I have to win my job on the team, and from there be the best player I can be to help the Cubs win a championship.”

After a spring training calf injury and poor play, Victorino was released on March 29 and re-signed on the same day to a minor league deal. He never seemed to rediscover his game, as he batted .233 with Iowa.

ESPNChicago.com’s Jesse Rogers reported that Victorino did not want to spend a lot of time in the minors, so the split could have been mutual after nearly two months of playing Triple-A ball.

The Cubs have a loaded roster and sit atop the National League Central at 29-13, so it was always a long shot that Victorino could become a consistent role player. Even after Kyle Schwarber went down for the season with a torn ACL and MCL in early April, Victorino still could not find a spot in Chicago’s outfield rotation. 

He was instrumental in the Philadelphia Phillies‘ 2008 World Series title run, as he hit .293 in the regular season and batted .269 in that postseason. He also won a championship with the Boston Red Sox in 2013 and was twice named an American League All-Star.

After 12 seasons, Victorino is a lifetime .275 hitter with 108 home runs, 489 RBI and 231 stolen bases.

There is no shame in walking away after giving the best effort possible. Victorino has done that, and his comeback attempt was admirable. But it does not seem like he’ll have a place on a major league roster for the time being.

Victorino may get one more shot, though. Injuries to other players always change things, and the Cubs have brought him back before. Yet Victorino would be justified if he chooses to hang up his cleats in the near future after a tremendous career.  

All statistics are courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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Chicago Cubs outfielder Jason Heyward suffered an injury to his right torso and abdominal region against the San Francisco Giants on Friday when Denard Span hit a ball that looked destined for extra bases in right-center field. Heyward spread out to make a diving catch, landed hard on his shoulder and then made contact with the wall, staying down and rolling in pain while clutching his side. 

It is uncertain exactly when Heyward will be ready to return to the field.

Continue for updates.

Latest on Heyward’s Playing Status 

Saturday, May 21

Jesse Rogers of ESPNChicago.com reported Heyward will miss three to five days with a contusion to the ribs area, but he won’t hit the disabled list.

Heyward Comments on Injury, to Undergo Additional Testing

Saturday, May 21

“Uncomfortable, in pain, but relieved nothing is broken,” Heyward said, per Rogers. “MRI [on Saturday] to see what else is going on in there.”

Rogers noted Heyward had an ice wrap around his waist and said he was in pain but hoping for the best.

“My lower rib bone and hip bone hit each other,” Heyward said. “Got pushed up against the wall, and that was it.”

Maddon Comments on Heyward‘s Catch

Saturday, May 21

“That might have been the game right there,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said, per Rogers. “As crazy as it might sound, if that falls, that’s probably an inside-the-park home run, and all of a sudden they have a different vibe about them.”

Heyward Important to Cubs’ Long-Term Success

The Cubs pulled off one of the biggest coups of the offseason when they signed Heyward away from their biggest rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals. Chicago signed him to a team-record, eight-year, $184 million deal.

Adding the 26-year-old wasn’t the proverbial final piece of the puzzle, but to a certain extent, the move firmly cemented the Cubs’ transition from a relatively young, rebuilding team to one that aspires to end its historic World Series drought, which dates back to 1908.

Given his overall consistency since he entered MLB with the Atlanta Braves in 2010, signing Heyward, even for $180 million-plus, looked like a good deal for the Cubs. However, Heyward has struggled offensively at the start of this season. He’s hitting .225 with one home run, 14 runs batted in and a .282 slugging percentage.

Chicago is deep enough across the board that it could get lackluster production from its biggest investment and still be a title favorite. Losing Heyward altogether would be a different issue, though, especially with Kyle Schwarber out for the rest of the year.

When Heyward missed time earlier in the year with a wrist injury, Maddon turned to Jorge Soler to patrol left field, with Kris Bryant moving from third base to right field.

While Maddon may not move so many pieces around following Heyward‘s latest injury, Soler is the likeliest candidate to take over the vacant spot in the starting lineup.

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No team is playing better baseball right now than the San Francisco Giants (25-18), who have won eight games in a row, allowing three runs or fewer in their last seven and only one run in four straight.

Regardless, the visiting Chicago Cubs (28-11) are listed as -200 betting favorites (wager $200 to win $100) for Friday’s series opener at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark behind unbeaten ace Jake Arrieta (7-0, 1.29 ERA).

The Giants and Cubs were the two preseason favorites to win the National League pennant. After a slow start, San Francisco is finally living up to those high expectations, while Chicago has dropped three of four and five of eight, including the team’s only pair of consecutive losses this year.

The Giants have won the last two meetings following a five-game losing streak in the series, according to the Odds Shark MLB Database.

Arrieta has been masterful again after winning the NL Cy Young Award in 2015. He has allowed two runs or fewer in seven of his eight starts this season, with the Cubs winning by four runs or more in seven of them as well.

Arrieta’s last regular-season loss took place on July 25, 2015, opposite Cole Hamels of the Philadelphia Phillies, who threw a no-hitter. That was the second time in the regular season he gave up as many as three earned runs since last June 16, although he surrendered four twice last postseason.

San Francisco will also be giving the ball to a Jake here—one who is barely holding on to a spot in the starting rotation. Jake Peavy (1-4, 7.43) has been brutal for the most part this year, but he is coming off his best outing on the road against the Arizona Diamondbacks last Saturday. Peavy allowed a season-low one run and three hits in six innings with two walks and five strikeouts.

The Giants had lost five of his previous six starts, with him giving up four runs or more four times during that stretch.

With Arrieta and Peavy on the mound, there is a good chance there will be a lot of runs scored and the total will go over. In Arrieta’s eight starts, the over is 7-1, compared to 6-2 for Peavy. The over is also 5-2 in the past seven meetings between the teams overall.

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The Chicago Cubs reached an agreement Tuesday with veteran relief pitcher Joe Nathan on a major league contract for the rest of the 2016 season.

The Cubs officially announced the signing and confirmed Nathan would be placed on the 60-day disabled list as he works his way back from Tommy John surgery performed in April 2015. Jon Heyman of MLB Network reported the deal includes a team option for 2017 that can turn into a mutual option based on performance. Heyman added Nathan can make up to $2.4 million in incentives this season and up to $4.6 million next season. 

It’s a low-risk addition for Chicago. Nathan, who was once among the league’s most dominant closers, owns a 2.89 ERA with 967 strikeouts in 917 career innings. Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish reports he could return to action by the start of July.

The 41-year-old reliever enjoyed most of his success with the Minnesota Twins, where he registered 260 saves across seven seasons. He’s also made stops with the San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers during a career that began in 1999.

What he’s going to eventually provide to the Cubs is a mystery, though. He struggled for the Tigers in 2014, posting a 4.81 ERA and 1.53 WHIP in 62 games and making just a single appearance last season before suffering the season-ending elbow injury.

Still, Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports thinks it’s a worthwhile chance to take:

Ultimately, the Cubs will probably work Nathan into the bullpen mix with some low-leverage innings once he’s ready. They have been blowing teams out on a regular basis, as their league-best run differential illustrates, so there have been plenty of those opportunities to go around.

Should he showcase some vintage form in that role, there’s a chance he could work his way into the seventh-inning spot in front of Hector Rondon and Pedro Strop. While those two relievers have been reliable for Chicago, the bullpen as a whole ranks a middling 13th in ERA, per ESPN.

A healthy, rejuvenated Nathan could certainly help further bridge that gap between the starters and the back end of the bullpen, but for now, there are obvious question marks about whether he’s still capable of that high-end production at this stage of his career.

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Chicago Cubs ace Jake Arrieta has been the hottest pitcher on the planet since the beginning of last season. 

Once a little-known back-end starter with the Baltimore Orioles, Arrieta was dealt in 2013 to Chicago, where he transformed into a Cy Young Award winner and one of the most unhittable pitchers the game has seen in this millennium.

Arrieta is signed with the Cubs only through 2017, though, and is making $10.7 million this season preceding a year of arbitration, per Spotrac. That means he is poised to make some big bucks, whether it be through a long-term contact extension with the Cubs or in free agency.  

When asked Wednesday if he was worth $175 million—like the deal Stephen Strasburg signed with the Washington Nationals on Tuesday, per Bill Ladson of MLB.com—Arrieta said, “I’ll let you judge that. Just look at the numbers,” per Jesse Rogers of ESPN.com. 

Arrieta has answered a 22-6 Cy Young campaign in which he posted a 1.77 ERA with a 6-0 start and a 1.13 ERA, far better than any season Strasburg has posted in his seven years in the league despite his solid 5-0 start in 2016. 

There are not many pitchers who can perform at Arrieta’s level, which is why he’s expecting to be rewarded with a big contract:

That’s why starting pitching is so valuable. There’s not many guys that can pitch at the top of the rotation floating around the league… aces get 7 years… Financially I’m fine, regardless. You want to be paid in respect to how your peers are paid. I don’t think that changes with any guy you ask. It happens around baseball every year.

Rogers noted that a deal for Arrieta, whose agent is Scott Boras, will be in the range of around $200 million, and he won’t be generous when negotiating with the Cubs. Arrieta answered questions on whether he’d give the Cubs a hometown discount with a quick “no.”

He added: “The misconception is that Scott wants everyone to go to free agency. I made it clear I like Chicago. I think everyone knows that. If I had it my way, I’d stay here. That’s just one side of the story. We’ll see.”

If he had it his way though, Arrieta would like a new deal to get done “quickly.”

“Most of the focus has to stay on what we’re trying to accomplish today,” he said. “If we keep winning, those kinds of things work themselves out in time. If they want to talk, they know where I’m at, and we can get something going. … Let’s get it over with and go play.”

While Arrieta’s contract status looms, the Cubs are the best team in baseball with a 25-6 record, as general manager Theo Epstein has pieced together an early juggernaut that is an early favorite to win the National League. 

It’s imperative the Cubs keep Arrieta in order to keep up with the strong pitching teams in the National League, such as the New York Mets and Washington Nationals. If he continues this elite level of play and the Cubs manage to find new levels of success, then Arrieta will likely become a very wealthy man.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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It’s no secret how the Chicago Cubs have raced out to the best record in the majors.

The National League Central club, who OddsShark.com pegs as the early Fall Classic favorites, has scored the most runs in baseball and given up the fewest.

Thanks to that potent offense and stingy pitching staff, the Cubs own a 24-6 mark after sweeping aside the Pittsburgh Pirates and Washington Nationals. As ESPN’s Baseball Tonight noted via Twitter, the last time the Cubs owned such a record was 1907, when the team won the World Series.

So, just what exactly does this year’s squad need to match the accomplishments of the 1907 club? Naturally, it all starts with Jake Arrieta, but the staff ace is far from the only pitcher who the club will have to rely heavily on in the upcoming months.

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The Chicago Cubs improved to 24-6 with Sunday’s 4-3 win over the Washington Nationals in 13 innings, becoming the first team since the 1984 Detroit Tigers (26-4) to win 24 or more of its first 30 games in a season, per MLB Stat of the Day.

Only the 10th team in MLB history to start 24-6 or better, the Cubs boast an astounding plus-102 run differential, leading all of the majors in both runs scored (184) and allowed (82).

They already have a commanding lead in the National League Central, sitting 7.5 games ahead of the Pittsburgh Pirates (17-14) and nine clear of the St. Louis Cardinals (16-16).

The Pirates qualified for the playoffs in each of the past three seasons, and the Cardinals are hoping to add to a streak of five straight years.

It seems likely that both teams will need to gain entrance via the wild-card spots, as the Cubs appear destined to win 100 or more games.

Viewed as one of the World Series favorites before the season, Chicago has no real weakness to speak of, though another relief pitcher certainly wouldn’t hurt.

Granted, that’s merely nitpicking, as the Cubs bullpen enters Monday ranked seventh in the majors with a cumulative 2.99 ERA, led by closer Hector Rondon (six saves, 0.79 ERA) and setup man Pedro Strop (seven holds, 2.03 ERA).

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They don’t hand out trophies in early May.

No one understands that truism better than the average Chicago Cubs fan. A 107-year-and-counting championship drought is bound to feature more than a few hot starts.

But after finishing a four-game sweep of the Washington Nationals in dramatic fashion with a 4-3, 13-inning victory Sunday at Wrigley Field, the Cubs solidified their status as the best team in baseball.

Sunday’s win, which came on a walk-off home run by Javier Baez, moved Chicago to 24-6. That’s the Cubs’ best 30-game start since 1907, when they won the first of two consecutive titles, as SportsCenter highlighted:

That early win tally is even more impressive considering the Cubs got there by taking four straight against the Nats, who entered the series with a 19-8 record, second-best in either league.

None of the Cubs’ wins against Washington were blowouts. Their largest margin of victory was three runs, and Sunday’s game looked like a tussle between two worthy, playoff-quality opponents.

The fact remains, however: If the Cubbies wanted to make a statement, they couldn’t have roared much louder.

Here’s the part where we’d normally hit you with a litany of eye-popping stats, sprinkled with a dusting of sample-size salt.

But for the moment, let’s focus on one number: 102.

That’s the Cubs’ run differential entering play Monday, the best mark in baseball. The next best? The New York Mets at 44.

If the Cubs can sustain that pace, they could do something not seen since the Teddy Roosevelt administration, per Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Chicago was supposed to be good. After winning 97 games and advancing to the National League Championship Series in 2015, president of baseball operations Theo Epstein added key pieces over the winter with an emphasis on chemistry and experience.

Jack-of-all-trades Ben Zobrist reunited with manager Joe Maddon from their days with the Tampa Bay Rays, fresh off a World Series win with the Kansas City Royals. 

Right-hander John Lackey joined his old Boston Red Sox rotation-mate, Jon Lester, and brought 127.1 postseason innings and two rings with him.

And, of course, five-tool outfielder Jason Heyward jilted the archrival St. Louis Cardinals to join the party on the North Side.

That augmented an already-impressive core led by reigning NL Rookie of the Year Kris Bryant and reigning NL Cy Young Award-winner Jake Arrieta.

In an era when baseball is increasingly defined by parity, particularly in the wide-open American League, the Cubs look like a legitimate juggernaut, built to win now and for years to come.

It’s easy to slip into hyperbole when discussing this club. Take this snippet from Rob Arthur at FiveThirtyEight: “Tabbed in spring training as a potential 100-game winner by nearly every projection algorithm, the Cubs are somehow exceeding even those lofty expectations. Now the benchmark is quickly shifting to whether they can become one of the best teams in baseball history.”

Yes, he went there. On May 4. And you know what? While it’s a premature question, it’s not an entirely laughable one.

At the very least, the Cubs look like a team playing on a higher level than the contemporary competition. We don’t know how they’d stack up against the ’27 New York Yankees. But we just saw what they did against the ’16 Nats.

They’re also 3-0 against the Pittsburgh Pirates and 2-1 against the Cardinals, their only legit challengers in the NL Central.

They’ve yet to play the New York Mets, who swept them in the 2015 NLCS. Circle your calendar for June 30, when the two clubs meet for a four-game set in Queens.

Cubs hitters have cut back on their strikeouts after leading the league in that category last season. So it should be popcorn-popping entertainment to watch their potent, patient lineup battle the Mets’ stable of power arms, led by bolt-hurling demigod Noah Syndergaard.

Is there an element of good fortune to what the Cubs are doing, an unsustainable mojo that could melt in the dog days of summer?

Nationals outfielder Ben Revere suggested as much Saturday, per Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post. 

“Everything is just falling the Cubs’ way right now,” Revere said, per Janes. “To the folks back at home in D.C. and wherever, know that everything is going well for them, but we’re still right there.”

He’s right. No one should write Washington off, not with NL MVP Bryce Harper crushing baseballs—and drawing a record-tying six walks Sunday—and contract-year Stephen Strasburg fronting the rotation.

Likewise, the Mets and even-year San Francisco Giants could prove formidable foils. 

Then again, the Cubs have already weathered adversity, losing sophomore slugger Kyle Schwarber to a season-ending knee injury, and they didn’t miss a beat.

This is the club Epstein has constructed: deep, young and ludicrously talented. Every test that’s been thrown at them so far, they’ve passed with honors.

They don’t hand out trophies in May. But long-suffering Cubs fans can be forgiven for dreaming of the one they do hand out in November.

All statistics current as of May 8 and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.

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With Saturday’s 8-5 win over the Washington Nationals, the 2016 Chicago Cubs became the second-fastest major league team (since at least 1900) to reach a run differential of plus-100, per Sportsnet Stats.

The Cubs needed just 29 games to get to the century mark, trailing only a 1902 Pittsburgh Pirates club that got to plus-100 in its 26th game en route to finishing with a 103-36-3 record.

That Pirates team easily won the National League, but it didn’t have an opportunity to play in the World Series, which was first contested the following year.

The Pirates lost to the Boston Red Sox (then called the Boston Americans) in the first World Series, falling by a tally of five games to three in a major upset.

In any case, the Cubs are positioning themselves for a run at their first World Series title since 1908, as they’re the first National League team since the 1977 Dodgers to win 23 of its first 29 games, per MLB Stat of the Day on Twitter.

Making the 23-6 record even more impressive, the Cubs enter Sunday having won three consecutive games against the Washington Nationals, owners of the National League’s second-best record at 19-11.

Prior to the ongoing series, the Cubs completed a three-game sweep of the division-rival Pittsburgh Pirates, a team that reached the playoffs in each of the last three seasons.

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Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Jake Arrieta witnessed his home scoreless streak come to an end at 52.2 innings when he surrendered an RBI double to Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Alex Presley in the fifth inning of Thursday’s eventual 7-2 Cubs victory, per Sportsnet Stats.

Arrieta‘s streak, unsurprisingly, is the longest of its kind by any Cubs pitcher in Wrigley Field history. 

Although Presley’s RBI double was the only earned run charged to Arrieta on Thursday, the Cubs ace did walk four Brewers and allow three hits en route to his league-leading fifth win of the 2016 season.

Last year, he posted a 22-6 record to go along with a 1.77 ERA and 236 strikeouts on his way to winning the Cubs’ first National League Cy Young Award since Greg Maddux in 1992.

Arrieta‘s impressive feat brings back memories of other notable scoreless innings records in MLB history. One in particular that comes to mind is that of Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Orel Hershiser, who famously went 59 consecutive innings without allowing a run during the 1988 season.

Interestingly enough, Hershiser tossed 41 of those innings on the road, per Andrew Simon of MLB.com.

In any case, Arrieta‘s next home start is scheduled for May 8 against the Washington Nationals, though he’s first slated to face the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park on Tuesday.

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