September 11: Cubs (Harden) at Cards(Wellemeyer) 7:15 CT,CSN

[SouthSideRyan]

Can the WC magic number go down while we're off? I don't think it can

 

It cannot as Houston can't lose any games and they're in 2nd in the WC.

[Derwood]

Can the WC magic number go down while we're off? I don't think it can

 

It cannot as Houston can't lose any games and they're in 2nd in the WC.

 

magic number can go down when the WC leader is off

[UMFan83]

If Philly wins tomorrow and then loses Saturday our magic number doesnt change does it?

[SouthSideRyan]

Can the WC magic number go down while we're off? I don't think it can

 

It cannot as Houston can't lose any games and they're in 2nd in the WC.

 

magic number can go down when the WC leader is off

 

WC leader isn't what matters for the WC Magic #, it's the WC 2nd place team. Houston is tied in the loss column with Philly, and HOuston can't lose when they're waiting out a hurricane. It can't go down these next 2 days.

[Cynosure]

If Philly wins tomorrow and then loses Saturday our magic number doesnt change does it?

 

yes it does...

 

Magic number can go down if your team wins or the current 2nd place team in the division (or WC leader) loses.

 

Our magic # is 12 for the division. As of now that means the Cubs needs to win and the Brewers need to lose a combined 12 games. That's it, very simple.

Edited September 12, 2008 by Cynosure

[Hall7810]

If Philly wins tomorrow and then loses Saturday our magic number doesnt change does it?

 

Yeah it does.

[Old Style]

If Philly wins tomorrow and then loses Saturday our magic number doesnt change does it?

 

yes it does...

 

Magic number can go down if your team wins or the current 2nd place team in the division (or WC leader) loses.

 

Our magic # is 12 for the division. As of now that means the Cubs needs to win and the Brewers need to lose a combined 12 games. That's it, very simple.

Shouldn't that be 11 since the Brewers lost while the Cubs won?

[Little Slide Rooter]

If Philly wins tomorrow and then loses Saturday our magic number doesnt change does it?

 

No, because theyd still be tied with the Stros, and in that case, both teams would have to lose in order for us to bump the # down.

[Sammys Boombox]

If Philly wins tomorrow and then loses Saturday our magic number doesnt change does it?

 

yes it does...

 

Magic number can go down if your team wins or the current 2nd place team in the division (or WC leader) loses.

 

Our magic # is 12 for the division. As of now that means the Cubs needs to win and the Brewers need to lose a combined 12 games. That's it, very simple.

 

Our magic # is 11. If the Brewers lose that will go down.

 

For a playoff spot it is 8. It cannot go down b/c the Astros are idle and are tied for 2nd in the loss column in the WC race.

[UMFan83]

If Philly wins tomorrow and then loses Saturday our magic number doesnt change does it?

 

Yeah it does.

 

Hmm...

 

So the way to calculate the magic number is Leader games remaining (16) + 1 - difference in losses (67-58 = 9)

 

So our magic number over the Phillies and Astros is 8

 

If the Phillies win Saturday its still 9

If the Phillies lose sunday its now 16 + 1 - 10 = 7

BUT Houston is still tied for the WC, and still % points ahead of Philly. And for us the magic number to eliminate them from the WC is still 8. So I believe the answer is no, it cannot.

[Sammys Boombox]

Whoa! Think of this crazy scenario.

 

Brewers get swept by Phils. Cubs/Stros entire series is rained out and pushed to after the season.

 

Both magic numbers would be 8, but the Brewers would still be 1.5 up on HOU. If the Brewers lose another and the Astros win another, the Brewers would be still leading by 0.5 game over HOU, but would have one more loss. So the division magic number would be 7 and the "playoff spot" magic number would be 8. Say they both match each other win-for-win for the rest of the year.

 

The Cubs could clinch the division BEFORE they clinch the "PLAYOFF SPOT" (really the WC) WITH the best record in the league! I bet that has never happened before.

[Ski]

Someone start the next game thread. The title should be:

 

"9/?? Cubs/???? @ ????/Cubs ?:?? ?M CDT ???/720. Game 1/?"

 

And we'll fill in the rest as we go along

I would love to do that if I was making the next game thread.

[SouthSideRyan]

Whoa! Think of this crazy scenario.

 

Brewers get swept by Phils. Cubs/Stros entire series is rained out and pushed to after the season.

 

Both magic numbers would be 8, but the Brewers would still be 1.5 up on HOU. If the Brewers lose another and the Astros win another, the Brewers would be still leading by 0.5 game over HOU, but would have one more loss. So the division magic number would be 7 and the "playoff spot" magic number would be 8. Say they both match each other win-for-win for the rest of the year.

 

The Cubs could clinch the division BEFORE they clinch the "PLAYOFF SPOT" (really the WC) WITH the best record in the league! I bet that has never happened before.

 

That's impossible. (Assuming you're not including Philly in this scenario.) We can't clinch the division while there's still a team in our division we haven't eliminated yet.

Edited September 12, 2008 by SouthSideRyan

[Old Style]

Whoa! Think of this crazy scenario.

 

Brewers get swept by Phils. Cubs/Stros entire series is rained out and pushed to after the season.

 

Both magic numbers would be 8, but the Brewers would still be 1.5 up on HOU. If the Brewers lose another and the Astros win another, the Brewers would be still leading by 0.5 game over HOU, but would have one more loss. So the division magic number would be 7 and the "playoff spot" magic number would be 8. Say they both match each other win-for-win for the rest of the year.

 

The Cubs could clinch the division BEFORE they clinch the "PLAYOFF SPOT" (really the WC) WITH the best record in the league! I bet that has never happened before.

You just blew my [expletive] mind.

[Hall7810]

If Philly wins tomorrow and then loses Saturday our magic number doesnt change does it?

 

Yeah it does.

 

Hmm...

 

So the way to calculate the magic number is Leader games remaining (16) + 1 - difference in losses (67-58 = 9)

 

So our magic number over the Phillies and Astros is 8

 

If the Phillies win Saturday its still 9

If the Phillies lose sunday its now 16 + 1 - 10 = 7

BUT Houston is still tied for the WC, and still % points ahead of Philly. And for us the magic number to eliminate them from the WC is still 8. So I believe the answer is no, it cannot.

 

Are you talking about overall or just the division? If the Brewers lose, the number goes down.

[bukie]

Whoa! Think of this crazy scenario.

 

Brewers get swept by Phils. Cubs/Stros entire series is rained out and pushed to after the season.

 

Both magic numbers would be 8, but the Brewers would still be 1.5 up on HOU. If the Brewers lose another and the Astros win another, the Brewers would be still leading by 0.5 game over HOU, but would have one more loss. So the division magic number would be 7 and the "playoff spot" magic number would be 8. Say they both match each other win-for-win for the rest of the year.

 

The Cubs could clinch the division BEFORE they clinch the "PLAYOFF SPOT" (really the WC) WITH the best record in the league! I bet that has never happened before.

 

That's impossible. (Assuming you're not including Philly in this scenario.) We can't clinch the division while there's still a team in our division we haven't eliminated yet.

 

Yeah, they can't clinch the division without eliminating all the teams. In your scenario, the last team to be eliminated would be Houston.

[UMFan83]

If Philly wins tomorrow and then loses Saturday our magic number doesnt change does it?

 

Yeah it does.

 

Hmm...

 

So the way to calculate the magic number is Leader games remaining (16) + 1 - difference in losses (67-58 = 9)

 

So our magic number over the Phillies and Astros is 8

 

If the Phillies win Saturday its still 9

If the Phillies lose sunday its now 16 + 1 - 10 = 7

BUT Houston is still tied for the WC, and still % points ahead of Philly. And for us the magic number to eliminate them from the WC is still 8. So I believe the answer is no, it cannot.

 

Are you talking about overall or just the division? If the Brewers lose, the number goes down.

 

I'm talking about the WC

[CubColtPacer]

Whoa! Think of this crazy scenario.

 

Brewers get swept by Phils. Cubs/Stros entire series is rained out and pushed to after the season.

 

Both magic numbers would be 8, but the Brewers would still be 1.5 up on HOU. If the Brewers lose another and the Astros win another, the Brewers would be still leading by 0.5 game over HOU, but would have one more loss. So the division magic number would be 7 and the "playoff spot" magic number would be 8. Say they both match each other win-for-win for the rest of the year.

 

The Cubs could clinch the division BEFORE they clinch the "PLAYOFF SPOT" (really the WC) WITH the best record in the league! I bet that has never happened before.

 

Very good and creative logic. The conclusion is close but not quite correct. If that happened, when the Brewers were eliminated the Cubs would clinch a WC spot. They would then clinch the division when they eliminated the Astros. It is a strange scenario to eliminate the 2nd place team in the standings before the 3rd place team, but it can happen in that scenario. But the WC spot has to be the one clinched first, and then the division is only clinched when the top team has eliminated all the teams below them.

It's similar to in football when 3-4 teams are separated by a game depending on the tiebreaker scenarios. Sometimes the 3rd place team is the only one that can actually catch the 1st place team.

[Hall7810]

If Philly wins tomorrow and then loses Saturday our magic number doesnt change does it?

 

Yeah it does.

 

Hmm...

 

So the way to calculate the magic number is Leader games remaining (16) + 1 - difference in losses (67-58 = 9)

 

So our magic number over the Phillies and Astros is 8

 

If the Phillies win Saturday its still 9

If the Phillies lose sunday its now 16 + 1 - 10 = 7

BUT Houston is still tied for the WC, and still % points ahead of Philly. And for us the magic number to eliminate them from the WC is still 8. So I believe the answer is no, it cannot.

 

Are you talking about overall or just the division? If the Brewers lose, the number goes down.

 

I'm talking about the WC

 

Gotcha. You were correct.

[sweetpeteman]

Whoa! Think of this crazy scenario.

 

Brewers get swept by Phils. Cubs/Stros entire series is rained out and pushed to after the season.

 

Both magic numbers would be 8, but the Brewers would still be 1.5 up on HOU. If the Brewers lose another and the Astros win another, the Brewers would be still leading by 0.5 game over HOU, but would have one more loss. So the division magic number would be 7 and the "playoff spot" magic number would be 8. Say they both match each other win-for-win for the rest of the year.

 

The Cubs could clinch the division BEFORE they clinch the "PLAYOFF SPOT" (really the WC) WITH the best record in the league! I bet that has never happened before.

You just blew my ---SOAPDROPPING--- mind.

 

 

 

Except that once they clinch the division, they clinch the playoff spot and can not be the wild card, so both would default to 0...

 

And it would happen if say it was

 

Cubs: 90-70

Mets: 89-71

Phils: 89-71

Brewers: 88-72

NLWest Leader: 81-79

 

 

The Cubs in this senario have clinched the division with the Best Record, but are still not out of being passed by the Wild Card. However, if that were to happen, they would not be the best record, as in order for the other team (say the Phils) to be the wild card, the Mets would have to win the division and claim best record (depending on tiebreakers; if it goes to the Mets, I don't know).

 

However, in this case, the PO # will ALWAYS be less than the DIV # because in order for the Second place team in the Wild Card to impact the Cubs, it has to be within striking distance OR in the same division. (If the WC is already ahead of the Cubs, but in another div, it does not impact the number). The PO# can not be less than the DIV#

[RedFlash]

I don't much care for all of these crazy scenerios, but I do know they are important to watch for. But the simpliest of simple truths is this...................in the words of Al Davis, the Cubs need to do is this........."Just win, baby." No other scenerio applies to the Cubs, other then taking care of the business at hand.......

[Bote McBoteface]

Man, I never watch BBTN but I wanted to see the highlights of this one....why the hell are they now referring to the Red Sox as "Nation"?

 

It honestly took me quite a while to realize what they were talking about, and it's incredibly lame and annoying.

[Bote McBoteface]

Man, I never watch BBTN but I wanted to see the highlights of this one....why the hell are they now referring to the Red Sox as "Nation"?

 

It honestly took me quite a while to realize what they were talking about, and it's incredibly lame and annoying.

 

 

Stop watching Baseball Tonight.

 

 

 

 

 

Yes I just responded to myself.

[Mark_R]

I just got back from Busch Stadium. Holy hell, was that an awesome game! The most nerve racking eighth and ninth innings that I can remember being at live. The adrenaline was outstanding and seeing our closer take out the best player in the game to win it was a fabulous site to behold. I had friends come down for Chicago for the game, along with a few friends who are Cardinals fans and it was a great back and forth affair all night.

 

I love this team.

[Outshined_One]

I listened to the 9th inning in my car and nearly veered off the road a few times throughout Wood's save. Yikes.