Monday, August 18

Photos courtesy of Justin Steele

Welcome back to the Cubs Beat newsletter. Jordan Bastian has covered baseball for MLB.com since 2005, including the Cubs since the 2019 season. 

CHICAGO -- Justin Steele took a seat inside the Wrigley Field interview room earlier this season with his young son, Beau, on his lap. As the Cubs pitcher discussed his outing, Beau let out a few quiet roars as he surveyed the room with a small toy dinosaur clutched in each hand.

“Say, ‘I stayed up late for my dada tonight. I might be a little delirious,’” Steele quipped.

What Steele did not know at the time was that light-hearted moment on April 7 would follow his final start of the 2025 season. A left elbow injury flared and required surgery, ending the pitcher’s campaign. Steele headed home to Arizona, where he has focused on his rehab, while balancing the daily parental duties with his wife, Libby.

This Father’s Day, as Beau approaches his third birthday -- he was born in 2022 and shares a birthday (July 11) with Steele -- the Cubs pitcher is appreciating the time he is getting to spend with his family. Of course, Steele would love to be on the mound helping Chicago in its push for a playoff berth, but he sees the positive within his situation.

“It’s kind of bringing me back to 2020,” Steele said, “because when I should be playing baseball, I’m able to be at the house. I’m watching the games on TV, but I’m hanging out with Beau. I’m playing in the yard with him. Things that all the dads in here aren’t able to do in the season when we’re off playing games, traveling 162 games in a year.

“I’m able to be home, and cherish those little moments that I know these guys aren’t able to get, because we’re just so busy with our schedules. It’s something that’s definitely been eye-opening. You kind of take for granted how hard your wife works, too.

“Keeping the house in order. Making sure I’m taken care of. Keeping Beau under control. When you’re around Beau 24/7, you realize how hard it can be taking care of a child 24/7.”

Steele said he and his family will try to plan their daily schedule around when the Cubs play each game, so the pitcher can keep close tabs on his team. The lefty said he and his wife will have their spots on the couch, while Beau is set up with his toys and snacks. Steele has also picked spots to bring Beau with him to the Cubs’ complex on rehab days so his son can run around the field.

Steele added that it has also been fun to see how Beau is growing and learning.

“It’s awesome,” Steele said. “It’s really cool watching him learn, use his words, figure things out. It’s just really cool to see when otherwise I wouldn’t get to witness these cool little moments that are very impactful. To be able to be there and witness him do things for the first time, those moments are very special.”

Pete Crow-Armstrong is no stranger to pulling off dramatic defensive plays in center field for the Cubs. He has a knack for chasing down deep fly balls with his elite speed and knows his way around a wall. In September last season, PCA robbed a home run from Max Muncy to end a game in Dodger Stadium.

Crow-Armstrong also appreciates when he sees other center fielders making the kind of jaw-dropping catch that Denzel Clarke turned in for the A’s this week. On Monday in Anaheim, Clarke planted a foot in the padded wall at Angel Stadium, propelling himself high enough to reach over the fence to steal a homer away from Nolan Schanuel.

“My initial reaction was probably like everyone else’s,” Crow-Armstrong said. “But I’ve also seen him scale some walls before, and I’ve seen him run some balls down that are pretty hard to catch. As weird as it is to say, I’m not surprised by that. I think the coolest part is going to be he may make that a regular occurrence.

“He’s just going to have a lot of fun playing walls like that. And we’ve got a lot of those in the big leagues, where it’s easily climbable. I think the funniest part about all that is it’s going to be like a two-or-three-times-a-year thing. He’s already done it twice this year.”

Crow-Armstrong called it a “perfect combination of everything” to give Clarke the chance to make that play.

“It had to be the right time and space,” Crow-Armstrong said. “And then he just had to get up there. It was pretty insane.”

Crow-Armstrong heads into this homestand leading the Cubs with 34 hits at Wrigley Field this season (through 31 games). Who holds the Cubs' single-season record for most hits at home across the past 50 seasons?

A) Mark Grace

B) Ryne Sandberg

C) Derrek Lee

D) Starlin Castro

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“What a remarkable transformation. Making the routine play. Making the great play like [Tuesday] night in the ninth inning. Give him credit for just gaining confidence, working hard. It’s a far cry from what I think we saw in Spring Training and in Japan, where I feel like there was some uncertainty. Now, he’s playing with a lot of confidence.” -- Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, on Matt Shaw’s recent improvement on defense

B) Ryne Sandberg

Sandberg collected 109 of his 188 hits during his brilliant 1990 campaign in front of the Wrigley Field faithful. The Hall of Fame second baseman hit .357/.405/.679 with 25 homers, 21 doubles and 62 RBIs in 78 home games that season en route to a fourth-place finish in National League MVP voting.

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