Expert Predictions

[David]

See, that's what I don't understand.

 

"Expecting" to be beaten by what clearly is an inferior team.

 

Being worried that it'll happen because anything can happen in a short series? Sure.

 

But expecting to be beaten makes even less sense to me than expecting to win in a playoff series. Neither one of them make much sense at all to me because you might as well be predicting the flip of a (slightly weighted) coin.

[SouthSideRyan]

The study of pessimism has parallels with the study of depression. Psychologists trace pessimistic attitudes to emotional pain or even biology. Aaron Beck argues that depression is due to unrealistic negative views about the world. Beck starts treatment by engaging in conversation with clients about their negative thoughts. Pessimists however are often able to provide arguments that suggest that their understanding of reality is justified (pessimistic realism)

 

Depressed people are stupid. :blush:

[Exile on Waveland]

The fatalism is unbecoming and irrational. I don't expect the Cubs to win the World Series -- that's too great of expectations for any team, really. I do, however, fully expect them to beat the Dodgers. Sure, anything can happen in a short baseball series, but the Cubs are clearly superior and should win.

[UMFan83]

The fatalism is unbecoming and irrational. I don't expect the Cubs to win the World Series -- that's too great of expectations for any team, really. I do, however, fully expect them to beat the Dodgers. Sure, anything can happen in a short baseball series, but the Cubs are clearly superior and should win.

 

If the Cubs beat the Dodgers, I immediately expect the Cubs to win the World Series. In fact, if the Cubs win the first game against the Dodgers, that will do a lot to get the monkey off their backs and make me feel a lot more confident.

[bukie]

The fatalism is unbecoming and irrational. I don't expect the Cubs to win the World Series -- that's too great of expectations for any team, really. I do, however, fully expect them to beat the Dodgers. Sure, anything can happen in a short baseball series, but the Cubs are clearly superior and should win.

 

If the Cubs beat the Dodgers, I immediately expect the Cubs to win the World Series. In fact, if the Cubs win the first game against the Dodgers, that will do a lot to get the monkey off their backs and make me feel a lot more confident.

 

So, your two options are get swept or win world series?

[anabiono]

The fatalism is unbecoming and irrational. I don't expect the Cubs to win the World Series -- that's too great of expectations for any team, really. I do, however, fully expect them to beat the Dodgers. Sure, anything can happen in a short baseball series, but the Cubs are clearly superior and should win.

 

If the Cubs beat the Dodgers, I immediately expect the Cubs to win the World Series. In fact, if the Cubs win the first game against the Dodgers, that will do a lot to get the monkey off their backs and make me feel a lot more confident.

 

exactly...if they lose...it is 6 straight playoff loses for them right?

 

four straight for pretty much the same team...

 

i want them to win this game so bad because i think it will do great things for their confidence

 

but i won't hit the panic button just yet if they lose...however...the button will be pushed quite rapidly if they drop the first two...

[Transmogrified Tiger]

The fatalism is unbecoming and irrational. I don't expect the Cubs to win the World Series -- that's too great of expectations for any team, really. I do, however, fully expect them to beat the Dodgers. Sure, anything can happen in a short baseball series, but the Cubs are clearly superior and should win.

 

If the Cubs beat the Dodgers, I immediately expect the Cubs to win the World Series. In fact, if the Cubs win the first game against the Dodgers, that will do a lot to get the monkey off their backs and make me feel a lot more confident.

 

I agree for the most part. Scoring a couple runs off Lowe and winning Game 1 eliminates any chance to use that excuse of not being sharp from not having a game of importance in weeks. It also removes the best matchup the Dodgers have. If we get past LA, I'm much more confident in being able to win a 7 game series against Philly or Milwaukee. The world series? It depends on the opponent, but again, the big strength of the Cubs this year was depth throughout, and a 7 game series plays to that strength.

[Guest]

The fatalism is unbecoming and irrational. I don't expect the Cubs to win the World Series -- that's too great of expectations for any team, really. I do, however, fully expect them to beat the Dodgers. Sure, anything can happen in a short baseball series, but the Cubs are clearly superior and should win.

 

If the Cubs beat the Dodgers, I immediately expect the Cubs to win the World Series. In fact, if the Cubs win the first game against the Dodgers, that will do a lot to get the monkey off their backs and make me feel a lot more confident.

 

exactly...if they lose...it is 6 straight playoff loses for them right?

 

four straight for pretty much the same team...

 

i want them to win this game so bad because i think it will do great things for their confidence

 

but i won't hit the panic button just yet if they lose...however...the button will be pushed quite rapidly if they drop the first two...

 

The Cubs are currently on a 6 game playoff losing streak.

[UMFan83]

The fatalism is unbecoming and irrational. I don't expect the Cubs to win the World Series -- that's too great of expectations for any team, really. I do, however, fully expect them to beat the Dodgers. Sure, anything can happen in a short baseball series, but the Cubs are clearly superior and should win.

 

If the Cubs beat the Dodgers, I immediately expect the Cubs to win the World Series. In fact, if the Cubs win the first game against the Dodgers, that will do a lot to get the monkey off their backs and make me feel a lot more confident.

 

So, your two options are get swept or win world series?

 

I'm an all-or-nothing kinda guy :)

[anabiono]

The fatalism is unbecoming and irrational. I don't expect the Cubs to win the World Series -- that's too great of expectations for any team, really. I do, however, fully expect them to beat the Dodgers. Sure, anything can happen in a short baseball series, but the Cubs are clearly superior and should win.

 

If the Cubs beat the Dodgers, I immediately expect the Cubs to win the World Series. In fact, if the Cubs win the first game against the Dodgers, that will do a lot to get the monkey off their backs and make me feel a lot more confident.

 

exactly...if they lose...it is 6 straight playoff loses for them right?

 

four straight for pretty much the same team...

 

i want them to win this game so bad because i think it will do great things for their confidence

 

but i won't hit the panic button just yet if they lose...however...the button will be pushed quite rapidly if they drop the first two...

 

The Cubs are currently on a 6 game playoff losing streak.

 

oh god really?

 

i wasn't watching baseball early in the decade...

 

they lost the last 3 games against the marlins in 2003????

 

:-&

[Guest]

The fatalism is unbecoming and irrational. I don't expect the Cubs to win the World Series -- that's too great of expectations for any team, really. I do, however, fully expect them to beat the Dodgers. Sure, anything can happen in a short baseball series, but the Cubs are clearly superior and should win.

 

If the Cubs beat the Dodgers, I immediately expect the Cubs to win the World Series. In fact, if the Cubs win the first game against the Dodgers, that will do a lot to get the monkey off their backs and make me feel a lot more confident.

 

exactly...if they lose...it is 6 straight playoff loses for them right?

 

four straight for pretty much the same team...

 

i want them to win this game so bad because i think it will do great things for their confidence

 

but i won't hit the panic button just yet if they lose...however...the button will be pushed quite rapidly if they drop the first two...

 

The Cubs are currently on a 6 game playoff losing streak.

 

oh god really?

 

i wasn't watching baseball early in the decade...

 

they lost the last 3 games against the marlins in 2003????

 

:-&

 

Yes. They were up 3-1 on the Marlins after Aramis was done with Dontrelle Willis.

[David]

I remember watching Game 5, seeing Beckett shut us down against Z, thinking "eh, whatever, it'll be cooler to win it at home anyway."

 

I don't actually remember much of game 5 outside of Beckett striking out Sammy on a pitch that FOX somehow had clocked at ~100 mph.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Neyer, Law, Stark, Clapisch, Cransnik, Kurkjian, Nelson, and Phillips are all very, very dumb.

So the cubs lose this series, then?

 

Have you ever been positive in your entire life?

 

Of course. Just not about our ballclub.

 

So then why even bother watching if you can't even muster up positivity (er, realism, actually) during the best season any of us have seen?

 

I'm addicted.

:?

 

mkay. Something tells me when the cubs are celebrating a WS championship on the field you are going to be complaining about how they didnt deserve it.

 

Wrong. In the extremely unlikely event that happens, I will be quite pleased.

So give me some reason behind your belief that the cubs will lose this series. What about being the best team in the National League makes then a lesser team than the brewers. Especially when we have home field advantage considering our ridiculous record at home this year.

 

I'm expecting our offense to be overmatched by the Dodgers pitching and our woeful middle relief to be horribly exposed.

 

Maybe we'll get lucky and Soriano will get super hot and carry us to victory in the division series.

 

I'll be a little more confident should we make it to a seven game series.

 

I knew I knew you from somewhere

 

http://www.virginmedia.com/microsites/movies/slideshow/top-ten-movie-robots/img_6.jpg

[Little Slide Rooter]

So do any of the stat heads out there have each NL playoff teams record vs. >.500 teams? Just curious.

[C.C.]

I remember watching Game 5, seeing Beckett shut us down against Z, thinking "eh, whatever, it'll be cooler to win it at home anyway."

 

I don't actually remember much of game 5 outside of Beckett striking out Sammy on a pitch that FOX somehow had clocked at ~100 mph.

 

I remember having a drunken meltdown on the ESPN message board, telling everyone we are going to choke this away.

[MSG T]

So do any of the stat heads out there have each NL playoff teams record vs. >.500 teams? Just curious.

 

 

I posted this in another thread. It only covers the Dodgers and Cubs in the 2nd half, so it will only be a teaser. Sorry.

 

 

Unless I counted wrong, they(the Dodgers) were 15-11 against teams with winning records the second half, and 3-0 in Sept. Other than one series against the Pirates, they played the whole month of Sept against the NL west, and only 3 of those games were against the D-Backs( the only other NL West above .500).

 

The Cubs were 27-21 vs teams with a winning record in the second half( 23 more games than the Dodgers), and 11-10 in Sept, despite having clinched prior to their last two series. The Cubs have played a much tougher schedule, at least in the second half. I didn't look at the first half.

 

Does that all mean much, I doubt it. But there is an obvious difference in schedule strength.

 

[Exile on Waveland]

The fatalism is unbecoming and irrational. I don't expect the Cubs to win the World Series -- that's too great of expectations for any team, really. I do, however, fully expect them to beat the Dodgers. Sure, anything can happen in a short baseball series, but the Cubs are clearly superior and should win.

 

If the Cubs beat the Dodgers, I immediately expect the Cubs to win the World Series. In fact, if the Cubs win the first game against the Dodgers, that will do a lot to get the monkey off their backs and make me feel a lot more confident.

 

I agree for the most part. Scoring a couple runs off Lowe and winning Game 1 eliminates any chance to use that excuse of not being sharp from not having a game of importance in weeks. It also removes the best matchup the Dodgers have. If we get past LA, I'm much more confident in being able to win a 7 game series against Philly or Milwaukee. The world series? It depends on the opponent, but again, the big strength of the Cubs this year was depth throughout, and a 7 game series plays to that strength.

 

I agree that if the Cubs beat the Dodgers (I certainly think they will), I'll be even more confident in a 7-game series in the NLCS. I'd fear Milwaukee more, especially depending on their pitching situation (how Gallardo fairs, Sheets's health and Sabathia's arm not falling off). I've thought for awhile the Cubs would break the World Series jinx, but I'm concerned it'll just be the 1945 variety, not the 1908 variety.

[UMFan83]

I remember when we made the 2003 NLCS, I was much more laid back than the NLDS, except of course during games 6 or 7. In a 7 game series, it just seems like there is much more room for error, so when you lose game one like we did, we don't immediately start pressing.

[YearofDaCubs]

I have to be honest here. I have a bad feeling about the Dodgers. They have been a pretty good team since Manny joined the club. They have starting pitching that could give us problems and a better bullpen than us. Why the heck did we not let the Mets win those games? I feel that we had a MUCH better shot to beat the Mets over the Dodgers. Maybe Lou feels different about it but I sure as heck don't.

[Andy]

I remember watching Game 5, seeing Beckett shut us down against Z, thinking "eh, whatever, it'll be cooler to win it at home anyway."

 

I don't actually remember much of game 5 outside of Beckett striking out Sammy on a pitch that FOX somehow had clocked at ~100 mph.

I remember a key double play with a chance to make a game of it - might have been the game-ender, I dunno. But honestly, my mind has wiped much of that NLCS. I don't remember Games 2 or 3 at all, only remember Game 4 because I listened to the radio of Aramis's slam, and only remember Game 1 because of Sammy.

[JGalt73]

Rosenthal picks Cubs in 5.

[UMFan83]

I remember the NLCS like this

 

Game 1: Quick start, Zambrano implodes (9 HRs allowed all season, 3 HR to 4 batters in game 1), Sammy ties it, Lowell wins it

 

Game 2: Lots of HRs, why is Prior still pitching?, easy victory

 

Game 3: Randall Simon!, Marlins rallies aplenty but no runs, Glanville triple, Castillo picked off

 

Game 4: Aramis!

 

Game 5: Scoreless duel, Marlins finally break through, Beckett awesome

 

Game 6: Sammy RBI, run scores on WP, fade to black

 

Game 7: When are they going to get around to playing that game? It's been like 5 years.

[SouthSideRyan]

I have to be honest here. I have a bad feeling about the Dodgers. They have been a pretty good team since Manny joined the club. They have starting pitching that could give us problems and a better bullpen than us. Why the heck did we not let the Mets win those games? I feel that we had a MUCH better shot to beat the Mets over the Dodgers. Maybe Lou feels different about it but I sure as heck don't.

 

Dodgers with Manny have a worse record than the Mets did in that timeframe.

[C.C.]

I have to be honest here. I have a bad feeling about the Dodgers. They have been a pretty good team since Manny joined the club. They have starting pitching that could give us problems and a better bullpen than us. Why the heck did we not let the Mets win those games? I feel that we had a MUCH better shot to beat the Mets over the Dodgers. Maybe Lou feels different about it but I sure as heck don't.

 

 

Man up will ya! Cubs in 4.

[Butterscup1679666578]

I still say Cubs sweep.