Matt Spiegel

He's not Vince Velasquez toiling down in AAA.

He's Javier Asad.

He knew he was going to be counted upon.

Talking about the Cubs taking two of three from the Rays, their second series win of the season here on Rahimi Harris and Grody, and a much-needed one before they get Seiya Suzuki back ahead of a series against the Pittsburgh Pirates, who are above them in the NL Central, because guess what?

Everybody is above them in the NL Central.

Here's a stat for you.

Yes, they're .500.

There are four...

I don't know if I should be slow clapping on that one.

But they fought back to get to 500, and they're within striking distance.

And here's a great stat I picked up.

Four teams in the National League Central above 500.

That's as many teams in the entire American League that are above 500.

Just to show you early season trends.

It does.

It does indeed.

That's what Cubs fans are finding out with the news about Kate Horton, the news about Matthew Boyd.

But also, they should feel a little bit better

in terms of the short term, about having guys like Assad and Ray.

And more importantly, you mentioned Nico Horner leading off.