SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Madison Bumgarner struck out five of the nine Cubs he faced in his Cactus League debut Sunday. The stuff was there, but at times his command was off.
When Bumgarner tried to explain that throwing strikes at game speed is not easy the first time out, he said, "It's not like riding a bike."
When someone suggested he might want to find a new analogy in light of last year's events, Bumgarner laughed and said, "Bicycle. I meant bicycle."
Bumgarner's dirt-bike accident, which cost him three months of the 2017 season and set a calamitous tone for 2017, seemed like a far-off memory as he faced Chicago at Scottsdale Stadium, probably because he looked so smooth.