The Rundown: Cubs Blast Dodgers, Hoyer Rewards Grinding Squad with Deadline Additions, CBA Concerns Follow Skubal to LA

“All the doors I closed one time will open up again.” – Back in the High Life Again by Steve Winwood

The Cubs are 1-0 in post-deadline games and the hated Dodgers are the inverse, so life is pretty good for Cubs fans right now. Chicago fell behind quickly last night, but Matthew Boyd righted the ship, and the offense broke out for another double-digit offensive outburst. Boyd was probably a little tired at the onset of last night’s game from saying his hellos and goodbyes. He now heads a rotation that counts Kevin Gausman and Clay Holmes among its posse. Reinforcements are a beautiful thing, and Jed Hoyer had every right to sip his Arctic Vibe Celsius, pull Boog Sciambi and Jim Deshaies for a mid-broadcast chat, and enjoy last night’s win.

The Cubs will face Tarik Skubal this evening, and baseball fans across the globe are hoping Chicago’s North Side Baseballers will kick his ass. It’s nothing personal, but we’re all pretty sick of the ace’s new employer. The Cubs are just about unbeatable when their offense is clicking, so a heaping portion of what worked last night (four home runs) should mean a second consecutive win against the game’s new Evil Empire. Put that in your deferred-payments pipe and smoke it!

Javier Assad will battle said Empire, and he posts Skubal-like numbers when pitching at Wrigley Field. The 29-year-old righty is 11-7 with a 2.87 ERA in his career at The Friendly Confines. He’s markedly better when Carson Kelly catches him, too, and I’m sure Craig Counsell is aware. Skubal is 1-1 with a 4.12 ERA in three career starts against Chicago, though he has never pitched at Wrigley. There’s no better way to welcome him to the North Side than by pushing him to an early shower.

The win over Los Angeles was nice, but Wrigley was buzzing because of all the new acquisitions. With those moves, Hoyer told his team and its fans that he believes the Cubs can contend for a championship. The quick renovation job puts Chicago in that conversation with the Dodgers, Phillies, Braves, and Brewers. Hoyer and his entourage assuredly took their seat at the high rollers table yesterday. Stacking wins in August is great, but potentially stacking them in October will be even better.

Cubs News & Notes

• Hoyer was one of baseball’s biggest winners at this year’s trade deadline.
• It’s my opinion, but Chicago’s ballsiest move might have been cutting and subsequently trading struggling starter Jameson Taillon. The front office must have had a high degree of confidence in acquiring rotation help, but last-minute deals fall apart all the time. It worked out, though who knows how much Hoyer might not have done if he stuck with Taillon instead.
• Chicago’s front office made several roster moves once the dust had settled after yesterday’s frenzy.
• Hoyer told the press that the Cubs are “here to win” this year, and that yesterday’s moves reflect that attitude and belief.
• Yesterday’s additions are considered a reward of sorts to a team that continues to grind out wins despite its high number of injuries to significant players.
• The Cubs are much better on paper and finally have a reliable rotation, but they still need to prove they can beat the Brewers and the Dodgers.
• Jefferson Rojas was the highest-ranked prospect that Hoyer traded, going to the Mets in the deal for Holmes and outfielder Tyrone Taylor.
• The ex-Met will impact the Cubs rotation as much as any starter traded, including Skubal.
• Holmes was almost traded to the Diamondbacks. The Mets had concerns about the medicals of one of the players involved, so they struck a deal with the Cubs instead.
• Braxton Garrett was acquired with an eye on next year, though he is expected to help in an undetermined role this season. Gausman, Boyd, Shōta Imanaga, and David Peterson will all be free agents in November. The Cubs sent Jonathon Long and Jace Beck to the Marlins for Garrett.
• Finding a good reliever in an overpriced market is always tough, but Hoyer got a hard-throwing strikeout machine in Ryan Zeferjahn. He didn’t come cheaply, though. The Cubs sent Moisés Ballesteros and Mason McGwire to the Angels to complete the deal, though Zeferjahn is controllable through the 2030 season.
• Gausman was Hoyer’s white whale ($), a player the team has long coveted but was unable to acquire until yesterday. One would imagine Hoyer will do as much as possible to keep Gausman in a Cubs uniform beyond this season.
• Gausman will provide experience and durability to a rotation that needed a lot of both. He has 14 postseason appearances, including six last year for Toronto. He’s also started at least 31 games in every season since 2021. The Cubs now have four potential frontline starters in Boyd, Gausman, Holmes and the resurgent Imanaga. They’re also counting on Ben Brown and Justin Steele to provide length to the rotation in October.
• Minor League Pipeline adjusted its top 30 prospects after all of Chicago’s moves. Owen Ayers is now No. 2, Ethan Conrad is the new No. 3, and Logan Poteet (catcher), Will Sanders (RHP),  Enrique Oropeza (outfielder), and Eduardo Gonzalez (3B) are new additions at the bottom of that list.

Ball Four

I’m confused as to why fans were razzing Kyle Tucker last night. The beleaguered outfielder did the Cubs a favor by bolting for the Dodgers. Perhaps there was a large contingent of enemy fans at Wrigley Field. If anybody has a right to boo Tucker, it’s Dodgers fans.

Cubs fans should be giving Tucker a standing ovation. He’s a league-average batter playing on a four-year, $240 million contract.

Kyle Tucker on getting booed in his return to Wrigley Field, per @FabianArdaya:

“I tried my hardest last year. I tried playing through a hand fracture and calf thing, just trying to get back to the playoffs for them and trying to do what I could to help out the team last year… pic.twitter.com/lolVtYzMkb

— SleeperDodgers (@SleeperDodgers) August 4, 2026

Central Intelligence

• Milwaukee (69-43): The Brewers feel newly-acquired catcher Bo Naylor is a good change-of-scenery acquisition, just like Andrew Vaughn was last season. Naylor is also an insurance policy of sorts. Gary Sánchez will be a free agent this winter, and William Contreras will be entering his walk year. Milwaukee may try to trade Contreras this winter.
• Chicago (64-49): The Cubs nearly acquired Reid Detmers on Monday, as initially reported by Michael Cerami of Bleacher Nation. That deal fell through, however. The Angels were slated to receive three prospects in return: Rojas (the Cubs’ No. 2 overall prospect), right-handed pitcher Dominick Reid (No. 13), and McGwire, (No. 18). Los Angeles quickly backed out of the deal, and the Cubs pivoted to Zeferjahn and Garrett.
• Pittsburgh (57-57): The Pirates made a significant push to improve their bullpen Monday. Pittsburgh added relievers Luke Weaver, Kirby Yates, Lake Bachar, and Andrew Moore. The Pirates have blown 20 of 42 save opportunities this season and already released reliever Dennis Santana, who began the year splitting the closing duties with Gregory Soto. I still think Santana will find his way to Chicago.
• St. Louis (56-57): The Cardinals fortified their farm system on Monday by acquiring outfield prospects Alexander Frias (Brewers’ No. 11) and Josiah Ragsdale (No. 13) for veteran pitchers Dustin May and JoJo Romero.
• Cincinnati (53-58): The Reds are five games under .500 and currently in last place in the National League Central. Instead of selling or even buying, GM Nick Krall once again decided to thread the needle. Cincinnati made three deals on Monday. They traded Nathaniel Lowe to the Guardians, traded Caleb Ferguson to the Cardinals for International Bonus Money, and got 24-year-old switch-hitting infielder Juan Brito, who was designated for assignment earlier in the day.

How About That!

The last few hours of Monday’s open market were just as fast and furious as everyone expected.

Immediately after news of the Skubal deal broke, the conversation pivoted to baseball’s competitive balance, ownership collusion, and the merits of a salary cap.

Speaking of which…

Media rights won’t be enough to bring the owners to the negotiating table during offseason CBA talks. The next work stoppage won’t be for the faint of heart. League owners are prepared to dig in indefinitely to implement a salary cap. You’re in for a big surprise if you are among those who think owners will cave once regular season games start getting canceled.

The Yankees punted on any significant additions, but they did call up No. 1 prospect George Lombard before last night’s game.

As expected, most club-controlled starters stayed with their respective teams. That list includes Detmers, Miller, Emerson Hancock, George Kirby, MacKenzie Gore, and Hunter Greene. The Rangers only traded Josh Smith after notifying other teams that everybody on their roster was available.

Once again, the Padres added to their big league roster when everyone believed they’d sell. San Diego acquired starters Robbie Ray and Casey Mize in a couple of buzzer-beating trades.

A total of 10 teams acquired three or more top 30 prospects, with the Mets (8) leading the pack. The Mets are also one of two teams with a new No. 1 prospect (Rojas). The Orioles are the other. They acquired Anthony Eyanson from the Red Sox as part of the package for Adley Rutschman.

Outfielder Mickey Moniak and the Rockies agreed to a two-year contract extension which begins next season.

Bryce Harper loves playing for the Phillies. The slugger agreed to move back to the outfield so that Philadelphia could add infielder Luis Arráez. He said he’d “do anything for this ballclub” after the trade was announced.

Apropos of Nothing

Zeferjahn is a strikeout machine who sometimes misses the plate a little more than you’d like, though he’s only walked four batters in his last 16 innings pitched. The Cubs didn’t get Mason Miller, but Zeferjahn is a great addition who is dominating enough to work as a closer. You can decide for yourself if that’s a small sample size (I say it isn’t), but he’s immediately Chicago’s best reliever in a sneaky good bullpen.

Extra Innings

The Jaguar knows how to celebrate not being traded. Congratulations, Kevin Alcántara, on your first big league home run. Kelly, Seiya Suzuki, and Michael Busch also homered in the win.

It also sounds like Hoyer is still firmly in Alcántara’s corner, and that’s nice to hear.

That one time Jed Hoyer called a Kevin Alcantara HR LIVE ON AIR 🤯🤯🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/GUn8yPCqoB

— CHGO Cubs (@CHGO_Cubs) August 4, 2026

They Said It

• “[The Dodgers are] the team you’ve got to beat, right? Clearly, they’re going to be the favorites. They’ve won two times in a row. They’ve got the most talent in baseball. I don’t think there’s any question about that. It’s a great challenge for everybody.” – Hoyer
• “[Gausman] was kind of a white whale type of target for us for a long time. Going way back, he kind of struggled early on, and we kept asking about him, we kept asking about him. We never acquired him. He went to San Francisco and took off. We were like, ‘Ah, this is why we’ve been asking about this guy for years,’ thinking this is the talent he had. Great job by the Giants, they finally brought it out of him. And he’s been excellent ever since.” – Hoyer
• “We have to decide exactly how we want to play [Holmes]. I think we loved the fit from a [pitch] shape standpoint, and he’s a fantastic ground-ball guy, doesn’t give up home runs. Putting that kind of guy in front of this defense makes a ton of sense for us.” – Hoyer
• “[Garrett’s] a guy we’ve always liked. He’s having a really good year in Triple-A for the Marlins and we control him going forward. We’re going to need depth. We’re going to need innings. He’s likely to provide that here, but it’s also a future play, as well. We’ve always thought highly of him, so it worked out. It lined up well.” – Hoyer
• “The reliever market was probably the tightest market. That was a challenging market. Getting a guy [like Zeferjahn] with a great arm and a great strikeout rate — we don’t have a ton of swing and miss in our bullpen.” – Hoyer
• “[Striking batters out] is what [Zeferjahn] is really good at. And I think he’s getting better. I think he’s an improving player. [He has] a talented arm [who] got his feet wet in the big leagues and has developed in the big leagues, and has particularly developed this year. He’s on a good trajectory.” – Counsell
• “This year, we had very clear goals just based on how the team has played. Certainly, the resilience this team has shown, I think, has been really special. I think we did things we felt like would honor that.” – Hoyer
• “Ideally, you don’t trade prospects. But at the same time, we’re here to win and we’re here to make this roster better. We’ve invested a lot in this roster, not just financially, but in how we put the roster together. It’s a really good team. That’s part of being in contention and being in a good position. You have to make those decisions.” – Hoyer
• “There’s some belief that’s shown in the group here… In what we can accomplish with the caliber of people that are coming here. And I think that fires everybody up, for sure. That part’s important.” – Counsell

Tuesday Walk-Up Song

Statement game tonight, boys and girls. Let’s fly that W.