About 60 percent of the Bears draft picks came in the last two rounds of the 2019 NFL Draft, but they still made solid moves and ended up nabbing a solid cache of talented NFL prospects. The Cubs won their series against the Diamondbacks, getting a solid Darvish outing on Saturday and another home run from Kris Bryant on Sunday. Not be outdone, the White Sox completed one of the craziest rallies you will ever see, complete with an engagement, Chuck Garfien becoming a good luck charm, and another Tim Anderson signature moment.
Here are some of the Chicago sports stories you may have missed from the weekend.
Bears
The Bears closed out the 2019 NFL Draft with a huge influx of speed and athleticism. They traded up from No. 87 overall to No. 73 overall to grab Iowa State running back David Montgomery. They continued their run of taking the “best player available”, grabbing explosive Georgia wide receiver Riley Ridley and K-State cornerback Duke Shelley.To top it all off, Chicago nabbed some additional special teams/offensive speed with the pick up of Kerrith Whyte in the 7th round.
Now that the Bears have even more youth and athleticism added to an already encouraging offense, franchise quarterback Mitch Trubisky has everything he needs to truly take the Bears to the next level.
White Sox
Nothing scares White Sox fans more than the prospect of Eloy Jiménez being hurt, and especially when there is no clear-cut timetable. And Eloy is the only White Sox player dealing with injury woes, as Ryan Burr joined Nate Jones on the IL, leaving the White Sox bullpen in a bit of trouble at this early stage of the season. But similar to the Cubs, we are seeing encouraging signs from the White Sox starters, with Reynaldo Lopez racking up a career-high 14 Ks in a win over the Tigers on Sunday.
NFL
Cubs
The Cubs have seen things trending in the right direction for their up-and-down starting rotation, with Yu Darvish and Jose Quintana turning in solid outings in consecutive games. Amid all of it, Javy Báez has continued his rapid ascent to absolute superstar status, putting up numbers that compare favorably well to 2018, MVP-caliber season.
Other
The Blackhawks got a good look at some of their potential draft candidates in the 2019 IIHF World Under-18 Championship. They have been linked in som mock drafts to Russian Vasili Podkolzin, who went goal-less until Sunday’s gold medal game, but had three assists in seven games overall in the 2019 IIHF World Under-18 Championships.
The United Center scoreboard makeover is underway, with video surfacing of the scoreboard being taken down and disassembled so the new, state-of-the-art scoreboard can go in its place. And Sean Highkin joined our Mark Schanowski to talk about Zion Williamson’s impact and Kris Dunn’s future with the Bulls.