Expert Predictions

[David]

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.

 

Ha... Same, except I totally don't remember scoring in game 6 at all. I didn't think that game ever happened.

[CubmanPi]

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.

 

Ha... Same, except I totally don't remember scoring in game 6 at all. I didn't think that game ever happened.

There was a scoreboard error in game 6, giving the Cubs three extra runs to start the game. A scoreless pitcher's duel ensued for 7 innings, until the umpires realized the error and suspended play to fix the problem. As we know, manual operation results in that scoreboard running a little slower than normal, so any day now, they expect the problem to be resolved so they can resume the series.

[Jon]

Two big omissions. The first is Wood's HR in game 7. As bad as that game was, that was a moment that I'll never forget. The second would be the near HR that Aramis hit in game 5. It would have been a 2-run HR, but I can't remember if that would have given the Cubs a 2-0 lead or tied it 2-2. It was a low line drive that couldn't have been foul by more than 10 feet.

[UMFan83]

Two big omissions. The first is Wood's HR in game 7. As bad as that game was, that was a moment that I'll never forget. The second would be the near HR that Aramis hit in game 5. It would have been a 2-run HR, but I can't remember if that would have given the Cubs a 2-0 lead or tied it 2-2. It was a low line drive that couldn't have been foul by more than 10 feet.

 

Honestly, I havent thought about that ARam thing in Game 5 in maybe 3-4 years. I completely forgot about that. It would have tied it in the 7th inning.

 

Also, I definitely remember the Kerry HR, I just don't want to talk about game 7. Kinda funny that my 2 best memories of the NLCS (Sosas HR, Kerrys HR) came in losses :(

[SouthSideRyan]

Two big omissions. The first is Wood's HR in game 7. As bad as that game was, that was a moment that I'll never forget. The second would be the near HR that Aramis hit in game 5. It would have been a 2-run HR, but I can't remember if that would have given the Cubs a 2-0 lead or tied it 2-2. It was a low line drive that couldn't have been foul by more than 10 feet.

 

That Kerry Wood HR is still one of my favorite sports memories ever. If not for the Illinois/Arizona game, it'd be #1.

[Guest]

Two big omissions. The first is Wood's HR in game 7. As bad as that game was, that was a moment that I'll never forget. The second would be the near HR that Aramis hit in game 5. It would have been a 2-run HR, but I can't remember if that would have given the Cubs a 2-0 lead or tied it 2-2. It was a low line drive that couldn't have been foul by more than 10 feet.

 

That Kerry Wood HR is still one of my favorite sports memories ever. If not for the Illinois/Arizona game, it'd be #1.

 

Same, sub in UCLA/Gonzaga for Illinois/Arizona. Along with MJ's final shot in 98 and Hester's return in the Super Bowl.

[UMFan83]

Two big omissions. The first is Wood's HR in game 7. As bad as that game was, that was a moment that I'll never forget. The second would be the near HR that Aramis hit in game 5. It would have been a 2-run HR, but I can't remember if that would have given the Cubs a 2-0 lead or tied it 2-2. It was a low line drive that couldn't have been foul by more than 10 feet.

 

That Kerry Wood HR is still one of my favorite sports memories ever. If not for the Illinois/Arizona game, it'd be #1.

 

I wish I was a true Illinois fan so that I could claim that experience as one of my own. That was such an amazing comeback. At least I experienced it vicariously with fans who live and die by Illini basketball.

[Little Slide Rooter]

If the Cubs can pull it all off this year, only then will I be willing to relive memories of 2003.

[SouthSideRyan]

Two big omissions. The first is Wood's HR in game 7. As bad as that game was, that was a moment that I'll never forget. The second would be the near HR that Aramis hit in game 5. It would have been a 2-run HR, but I can't remember if that would have given the Cubs a 2-0 lead or tied it 2-2. It was a low line drive that couldn't have been foul by more than 10 feet.

 

That Kerry Wood HR is still one of my favorite sports memories ever. If not for the Illinois/Arizona game, it'd be #1.

 

I wish I was a true Illinois fan so that I could claim that experience as one of my own. That was such an amazing comeback. At least I experienced it vicariously with fans who live and die by Illini basketball.

 

I'm a way bigger Cubs fan than I am anything else, but I'm not even sure being there for a run of the mill Cubs World Series win would match being at that Illinois game. Of course if it was like a walk off HR in extra innings to win it, I'd probably poo myself.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Wood's HR in game 7

one of the very few plays I saw over the crowd in Chili's at the Minneapolis airport

[JGalt73]

Baseball Musings' David Pinto picks the Cubs and gives them a 65% chance of winning the division series.

[Vanilla Ice]

Cubs will win games 1, 3, and 4

We lose game 2

[UMFan83]

Cubs will win games 1, 3, and 4

We lose game 2

 

I think Cubs lose games 1 and 4

Cubs win games 2,3 and 5

[Guest]

I have revised my odds:

 

Cubs

in 3: 17.8%

in 4: 19.8%

in 5: 23.2%

TOTAL: 60.8%

 

Dodgers

in 3: 7.8%

in 4: 17.1%

in 5: 14.3%

TOTAL: 39.2%

 

Chances of a game 5 = 37.5%

[Guest]

btw, Alou would have caught that ball.

[Banedon]

Greenberg and Golic both picked the Dodgers this morning. Greenie says he's rooting for the Cubs, but the Dodgers pitching scares him, and Manny is on fire, and we can't pitch around him every time.

[radarluv1]

Wood's HR in game 7

one of the very few plays I saw over the crowd in Chili's at the Minneapolis airport

that sounds like an all-together awful experience.

[UMFan83]

btw, Alou would have caught that ball.

 

I've always thought that too

[abuck1220]

Greenberg and Golic both picked the Dodgers this morning. Greenie says he's rooting for the Cubs, but the Dodgers pitching scares him, and Manny is on fire, and we can't pitch around him every time.

 

a guy on local sports radio said a really dumb thing yesterday. he picked the dodgers and said aramis is going to have to have a huge series to pick up lee if he struggles. 1) we're just assuming lee is going to struggle? and why is it lee that you're randomly assuming will struggle instead of the other seven cub hitters? 2) what about soriano, derosa, theriot, soto, edmonds picking up the slack for lee, who is for some reason assumed to struggle?

 

then he points to manny, the one good dodger hitter, and says the dodgers will win.

[bhogg]

I love how "experts" just casually throw Harden into the "inconsistent pitcher" pile.

 

Yeah, they can keep on assuming Lee will struggle. They fail to realize that he's the 4th best hitter on our team -- if that.

 

And of course the Cubs can pitch around Manny all series. The only reason it didn't happen down the stretch is because the dodgers didn't play anyone who had a dog in the hunt.

[Magnetic Curses]

predictions are pointless in the playoffs, they're subjective and dilluted by the incorrect baseball logic applied by all so-called experts.

 

statistically, the cubs have a slight edge over the dodgers, but there's absolutely no way of predicting what will happen.

[Old Style]

btw, Alou would have caught that ball.

 

I've always thought that too

Without a doubt.

 

And when Woody blasted that HR, I just KNEW we were going to win the game. It was a sign from above. :blackeye:

[Guest]

http://baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=8139

 

Christina Kahrl (BP) says Cubs in 5:

 

Prediction

 

It's that pen which might save the Dodgers from the kind of outsized matchup their fourth game might otherwise appear to be, because that might also spare them from attempting to start Lowe on short rest, something that has yet to produce a quality start in the four times it has been tried in the LA portion of his career. Nevertheless, I still see this winding up as a Cubs series win in five, perhaps something of an upset considering the relative perceived virtues of the two clubs, but a victory that will be worth watching and hard-fought. I guess if I sketch out a scenario and take it to some fanciful conclusions, I can foresee a split between the two teams in the Lowe/Dempster matchup, a Cubs' win in the second game after losing the opener, a pitcher's duel in the third game that comes out with Big Z adding something to his legend, a pen-led win by the Dodgers in the fourth game that involves some Manny heroics at Lilly's expense, all capped by a Dempster gem for the folks at home. As long as I'm predictin', may as well aim high, right?

 

Why in the world does everyone think Zambrano is starting game 3?

[Hairyducked Idiot]

"Why in the world does everyone think Zambrano is starting game 3?"

 

Because that would have been smarter than what they are doing.

[bukie]

Why in the world does everyone think Zambrano is starting game 3?

 

Because it makes too much sense not to happen.