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Sports Tuesday, August 25, 2026 | | |
| | | | | Good morning. Chicago. Kevin Gausman’s approach last night quickly became apparent. The Cubs right-hander fed Arizona a steady dose of four-seam fastballs that the Diamondbacks seemed unprepared to face. Gausman typically relies more heavily on his splitter. Instead, his fastball accounted for 66% of his pitches thrown, leading to a career-high 24 called strikes on the pitch. That helped Gausman toss seven shutout
innings in the Cubs’ 7-0 victory, just the fourth time this year they’ve had a starter go seven frames without allowing a run. Gausman credited catcher Carson Kelly for calling “a hell of a game” and recognizing that with two strikes, Arizona’s hitters might be looking for the splitter. Cubs starting pitcher Kevin Gausman throws during the first inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on Aug. 24, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) “We blew some fastballs with two strikes kind of by guys today,” Gausman said. “It’s always nice when you have good enough command where you can throw that pitch a lot and kind of knew early on
that it was gonna be there when we needed it, so, yeah, you just kind of go with what you got.” His fastball command played a key role in Gausman’s fastball usage. He landed 13 of his 15 first-pitch fastballs for strikes, and while Arizona put 11 of his fastballs in play, only two went for hits. In the Statcast era, dating to 2015, only one pitcher has gotten more called strikes on their four-seam fastball (Drew Hutchinson, 25 in 2015) than Gausman did Monday. | | | | After a personnel meeting Monday at Halas Hall, Chicago Bears players have just a few chances left to stand out before roster decisions are due. | | | | | Munetaka Murakami and Colson Montgomery need to start hitting consistently for the Chicago White Sox to get where they need to be. | | | | | Kevin Gausman toss seven shutout innings in the Chicago Cubs’ 7-0 victory, just the fourth time this year they’ve had a starter go seven frames without allowing a run. | | | | | The Chicago Sky spent the last week teetering on the edge, racking up a few last-gasp wins to hold off the looming inevitability of their own elimination. | | | | | Veteran sports anchor Jarrett Payton, son of Bears great Walter Payton, will join David Haugh beginning next week to helm the morning show, the station announced Monday. | | | | | Justin Steele is around the Chicago Cubs this week during their three-game series in Arizona as he moves closer to getting back into major-league action. | | | | | Angel Reese rebounded her way into the record books not once, but twice in one night as the Atlanta Dream beat the Los Angeles Sparks. | | | | | Here’s a look at true freshmen across the nation who could make an immediate impact. | | | | | Now that the 2026 IHSA football season is fully underway, college coaches across the country now have an important recruiting tool at their disposal. | | | | | It took Sarah Cox two years to put together what promises to be a thrilling exhibit for fans of football — especially the Chicago Bears, a franchise that dates back over a century. | | | |
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