Cubs will be just fine

It’s baseball season.
That’s been true for a few months now. But with the NBA?playoffs finally over and NFL?training camps still a few weeks away, we’re in the brief stretch of the year when the American sports world undeniably revolves around baseball.
Therefore, it seems appropriate to focus on baseball questions this week.
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How many years did Major League Baseball play two all-star games a summer? What's your opinion of the game “counting?”
—Phil Ford, Dunkirk

Let’s get the second part of the question first. The game “counting” is utterly ridiculous. There is no way an exhibition game should determine anything, let alone home-field advantage in the World Series. It’s mind-boggling that this nonsense has continued for more than a decade.
Major League Baseball had two all-star games from 1959 through 1962 in order to generate money for the players’ pension fund. The National League posted a 5-2-1 record in that stretch, including a sweep in 1960.
The first all-star MVP awards were given in the final year of the stretch, with Maury Wills (Los Angeles Dodgers) and Leon Wagner (Los Angeles Angels) each winning one.
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Has anyone ever had multiple homers in a game that they hit for the cycle?
—Chris Snow, Portland

It’s happened seven times, but only once in the last three decades.
The most recent player to accomplish the feat was Greg Colbrunn, who went 5-for-6 with a pair of home runs for Arizona in a Sept. 18, 2002, game against the San Diego Padres.
Colbrunn also has the distinction of being by far the least famous name on this list.
Joe DiMaggio was the first to accomplish the feat in 1937, and then he did it again 11 years later. Three other Hall of Famers are also on the list in Ralph Kiner, Carl Yastrzemski and George Brett.
Gil Hodges, who became the second player on the list in 1949, is not in the Hall of Fame, but maybe should be. He hit more than 25 home runs in a season nine times, and surpassed the 100 RBI mark seven times.
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The Chicago Cubs are sliding. Is this a slump any team sees in a long season or cause for more concern?
—Adam Gray,
Fort Wayne

Are Cubs fans really starting to panic already?
If so, calm down.
Chicago had lost six out of seven before beating a truly struggling Cincinnati team Monday.
For some squads, that would be something to worry about. For the Cubs, it’s not.
Even with the slump, Chicago remains 10 games ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League’s Central Division. This team will be just fine thanks to the stellar starting rotation of John Lackey, Jon Lester, Jake Arrieta, Jason Hammel and Kyle Hendricks.
The Cubs are in it for the long haul. Sit back and enjoy the summer.