Chicago Cubs had the kind of a weekend they needed by blowing out Baltimore Orioles all weekend scoring eight or more runs in each of the games. Cubs looked like the team we saw all of 2016 which is a refreshing sight after how poorly the 2017 campaign has gone for Chicago. It prompted Willson Contreras, the Cubs young catcher, to say to media after game that ‘Cubs are back.’ I get Cubs swept their first team in forever, but the pitching staff of Orioles can make any team feel this way after a couple of days.

Contreras: "I think we're back."

— Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) July 16, 2017

To me, Contreras’ comment reads as someone who is speaking for a team that’s trying to talk themselves into having the same sort of swagger they did last season. It also reads as a team who knows Brewers are a very real threat, and there is a level of intimidation, whether, either fan base wants to believe it or not. Contreras can get the squad fired up with comments like this, but the fact is they will not likely see a series with starting pitchers as bad as what Baltimore is trotting out right now. They are a team full of gas cans, and Cubs took advantage of that just like Brewers did earlier this month.

This weekend felt like a buckle your seatbelts message for the rest of the season. This is going to be fun, terrible, thrilling and depressing all at the same time. It’s amazing how many people are still cheering scared (Podcast will focus on this on Wednesday). Time to buy in and mount up against Chicago.

Charlie.