SUN 28
Cubs at Brewers (1:10 p.m., Ch. 7): Remember back when Jose Quintana owned the Brew Crew so hard, they’d have to pay him rent in their own backyard? Sadly, that isn’t a thing anymore. The lefty is 0-2 with a 10.24 ERA against Milwaukee this season. He’s scheduled to oppose fellow righty Zach Davies, who’s always a pain in the neck for the Cubs to deal with.
TUE 30
Mets at White Sox (7:10 p.m., Ch. 9): Might we see Tim Anderson back in uniform for the Sox? Oh, how they’ve missed him. His attitude, intensity and swagger are, all rolled into one, the engine that drives this team. Special bonus: He’s really good at baseball. (Full disclosure: This blurb originally was going to be about a coming-together of second-banana teams from their respective cities, but that didn’t seem nice at all.)
WED 31
MLB trade deadline (3 p.m.): Thanks for all your fine work, and be sure not to let the door hit you on the way out! The anxiety as this date approaches is real. Just ask Sox veteran Jose Abreu. Just ask any number of members of the Cubs’ big-league roster. Meanwhile, feel free to ignore all those overzealous baseball scribes (except for our own, of course) who post stories by 3:01 p.m. on who won every trade.
THU 1
Cubs at Cardinals (6:15 p.m., NBCSCH): Somehow, despite having inferior pitchers, inferior hitters, inferior fielders, an inferior manager, an inferior ballpark, inferior pizza, etc., those dastardly Redbirds basically have as good a chance to win the NL Central as the Cubs. OK, perhaps we’ll have to revisit one or two of those “inferiors” (definitely not the pizza one, though).
Hall of Fame Game: Broncos vs. Falcons (7 p.m., Ch. 5): Who could possibly resist the excitement of a quarterback dual between Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan, who together might play for, like, seven seconds in this game. Seriously, though, who even cares who’s under center? Who cares who’s on the field? It’s football, baby! God bless America.
FRI 2
Day 1 of Illinois, Northwestern football training camps: You remember college football, don’t you? It’s the little brother of pro football that pretty much nobody in big cities like Chicago notices. How will the quarterback situations on each campus shake out? Are the Wildcats building toward another double-digit-victory season? Are the Illini building toward … well, building?
SAT 3
Bears Family Fest (7 p.m., Soldier Field): Hey, it’s no Bourbonnais, but Chicago’s lakefront is kind of cool in its own way. Watch the Bears scrimmage. Stick around for fireworks. Fit a bunch of family festing, whatever the heck that is, in where you can.
