The likely playoff matchups

[TruffleShuffle]

i don't think d-bag or dodger fans are really afraid of anyone. that division sucks and whoever wins it is lucky to even be in the playoffs, so a first round loss against a cub team that's 15 games better would be no surprise. they're kinda playing with house money once they're in.

 

I don't know about that. Going into the 03 NLDS, I was nervous as all hell and worried about the Braves, who looked like a powerhouse that year. I didn't feel like we were playing with house money. I thought we had a legitimate shot with our dominant pitching staff that eeked out a playoff spot in a crappy division (sound familiar?) ... In 98 I wasn't treating it that way, either. Granted, I was 15, but I was crushed when they lost, even though that team was crap compared to the Braves. Given the nature of the playoffs, I never felt that nothing to lose mentality and I don't see why other fans would either. I suppose it might be different for a Cubs fan, though, given how (at the time of those appearances) rarely we did make it to the postseason and the drought crap along with it.

 

a lot of people were giving the cubs a good chance to win that series, because of the starting pitching. the braves' top 4 starters had an era+ of 112, 112, 108 and 107 - pretty average. the cubs' top 4 had 178, 139, 135 and 105. power pitchers who are on their game are tough to hit, no matter how good your offense is.

 

i guess that d-bag fans would argue that their top 3 of webb, haren and a healthy randy johnson gives them a formidable front 3, but the cubs would counter with zambrano, harden and dempster, which is way better than the braves' 1-3 of russ ortiz, mike hampton and old greg maddux.

[jersey cubs fan]

i don't think d-bag or dodger fans are really afraid of anyone. that division sucks and whoever wins it is lucky to even be in the playoffs, so a first round loss against a cub team that's 15 games better would be no surprise. they're kinda playing with house money once they're in.

 

I don't know about that. Going into the 03 NLDS, I was nervous as all hell and worried about the Braves, who looked like a powerhouse that year. I didn't feel like we were playing with house money. I thought we had a legitimate shot with our dominant pitching staff that eeked out a playoff spot in a crappy division (sound familiar?) ... In 98 I wasn't treating it that way, either. Granted, I was 15, but I was crushed when they lost, even though that team was crap compared to the Braves. Given the nature of the playoffs, I never felt that nothing to lose mentality and I don't see why other fans would either. I suppose it might be different for a Cubs fan, though, given how (at the time of those appearances) rarely we did make it to the postseason and the drought crap along with it.

 

a lot of people were giving the cubs a good chance to win that series, because of the starting pitching. the braves' top 4 starters had an era+ of 112, 112, 108 and 107 - pretty average. the cubs' top 4 had 178, 139, 135 and 105. power pitchers who are on their game are tough to hit, no matter how good your offense is.

 

i guess that d-bag fans would argue that their top 3 of webb, haren and a healthy randy johnson gives them a formidable front 3, but the cubs would counter with zambrano, harden and dempster, which is way better than the braves' 1-3 of russ ortiz, mike hampton and old greg maddux.

 

 

Isn't that, by definition, significantly above average?

 

 

I think there's a difference between how Arizona and LA fans would feel going into the playoffs compared to how Cubs fans feel. I think either of those teams would be much more likely to feel like they are just happy to be there and playing with house money than Cubs fans would feel. They've seen WS titles.

[TruffleShuffle]

i don't think d-bag or dodger fans are really afraid of anyone. that division sucks and whoever wins it is lucky to even be in the playoffs, so a first round loss against a cub team that's 15 games better would be no surprise. they're kinda playing with house money once they're in.

 

I don't know about that. Going into the 03 NLDS, I was nervous as all hell and worried about the Braves, who looked like a powerhouse that year. I didn't feel like we were playing with house money. I thought we had a legitimate shot with our dominant pitching staff that eeked out a playoff spot in a crappy division (sound familiar?) ... In 98 I wasn't treating it that way, either. Granted, I was 15, but I was crushed when they lost, even though that team was crap compared to the Braves. Given the nature of the playoffs, I never felt that nothing to lose mentality and I don't see why other fans would either. I suppose it might be different for a Cubs fan, though, given how (at the time of those appearances) rarely we did make it to the postseason and the drought crap along with it.

 

a lot of people were giving the cubs a good chance to win that series, because of the starting pitching. the braves' top 4 starters had an era+ of 112, 112, 108 and 107 - pretty average. the cubs' top 4 had 178, 139, 135 and 105. power pitchers who are on their game are tough to hit, no matter how good your offense is.

 

i guess that d-bag fans would argue that their top 3 of webb, haren and a healthy randy johnson gives them a formidable front 3, but the cubs would counter with zambrano, harden and dempster, which is way better than the braves' 1-3 of russ ortiz, mike hampton and old greg maddux.

 

 

Isn't that, by definition, significantly above average?

 

no, it's a little above average. significantly above average is 178, 139, 135.

[biittner77]

Given how close the races are it's possible and maybe even likely that the winner of the NL West won't have the luxury of setting up their rotation the way they want to. Also, the Cubs have a big advantage in that they have 4 good starters whereas the D-Backs only have 3. So that 2nd time against Webb might be on short rest in game 4.

[dew1679666265]

i don't think d-bag or dodger fans are really afraid of anyone. that division sucks and whoever wins it is lucky to even be in the playoffs, so a first round loss against a cub team that's 15 games better would be no surprise. they're kinda playing with house money once they're in.

 

I don't know about that. Going into the 03 NLDS, I was nervous as all hell and worried about the Braves, who looked like a powerhouse that year. I didn't feel like we were playing with house money. I thought we had a legitimate shot with our dominant pitching staff that eeked out a playoff spot in a crappy division (sound familiar?) ... In 98 I wasn't treating it that way, either. Granted, I was 15, but I was crushed when they lost, even though that team was crap compared to the Braves. Given the nature of the playoffs, I never felt that nothing to lose mentality and I don't see why other fans would either. I suppose it might be different for a Cubs fan, though, given how (at the time of those appearances) rarely we did make it to the postseason and the drought crap along with it.

 

Once you're in, you want to win. It's sort of a pointless thing to argue about, though.

 

I agree it's up to the individual fan whether they're nervous or not, but I did have that feeling of "playing with house money" in 98. I knew we shouldn't be there and would likely be swept by a great Braves team.

 

Therefore, I was mainly just happy that we made it and hoped we'd go farther in 99. #-o