9/16 Cubs (Arrieta) @ Pirates (Burnett) 6:05 CDT, CSN

[Guest]

It's easy to forget the Cubs are 10-5 in September with a 4-2 record against the Cardinals and Pirates because most of the losses have been heartbreaking and "must wins" in terms of getting back into the division race. And it's not like you can say the Cubs put themselves in this situation. The Cardinals and Pirates have been extremely good and the Cardinals have benefited from sequencing in head-to-head games. This team is really good and I love it.

 

lmao 108 win pace in september and it feels like we've been plodding along

[bukie]

Today's game is an early one. New game thread go.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Today's game is an early one. New game thread go.

 

Yep. Why is it so early, anyway?

[Guest]

Today's game is an early one. New game thread go.

 

Yep. Why is it so early, anyway?

 

Seems to always be the case in Pittsburgh on getaway day.

[jersey cubs fan]

Today's game is an early one. New game thread go.

 

Yep. Why is it so early, anyway?

 

Seems to always be the case in Pittsburgh on getaway day.

 

Pittsburgh and Cincy are in the eastern time zone, same thing two weeks from now and all previous getaway days from those towns.

[UMFan83]

From Bucs Dugout:

 

Arrieta and A.J. Burnett traded zeroes for the first several innings, with Arrieta looking terrifying in the early going. I'm not sure what happened to the nice-looking boy who used to pitch in Baltimore, but now Arrieta is bearded and gaunt and sort of hawk-like, and he has four plus pitches he locates with precision.

[Guest]

From Bucs Dugout:

 

Arrieta and A.J. Burnett traded zeroes for the first several innings, with Arrieta looking terrifying in the early going. I'm not sure what happened to the nice-looking boy who used to pitch in Baltimore, but now Arrieta is bearded and gaunt and sort of hawk-like, and he has four plus pitches he locates with precision.

 

hahaha thats great

[UMFan83]

Also some smart baseball people tell me I'm a meatball and this is nonsense..

 

Arrieta is averaging 111 pitches per start in his last 9 games and 115 his last 4 starts. He has already blown by his highest IP season and seems to be getting a heavier workload as the season goes on.

 

Look I want to win the divison and I want to have home field for the WC game as a fallback, but at the end of the day we will be playing in the playoffs, and a sharp Arrieta makes me extremely confident in advancing to the LDS regardless. I worry that Jake is going to be gassed when we need him the most and not sharp because he's been throwing 115+ pitches a game for the past 5 weeks.

[jersey cubs fan]

Also some smart baseball people tell me I'm a meatball and this is nonsense..

 

Arrieta is averaging 111 pitches per start in his last 9 games and 115 his last 4 starts. He has already blown by his highest IP season and seems to be getting a heavier workload as the season goes on.

 

Look I want to win the divison and I want to have home field for the WC game as a fallback, but at the end of the day we will be playing in the playoffs, and a sharp Arrieta makes me extremely confident in advancing to the LDS regardless. I worry that Jake is going to be gassed when we need him the most and not sharp because he's been throwing 115+ pitches a game for the past 5 weeks.

 

I feel like they have cautiously stretched him out late in the year. He only has one 120+ pitch game, back in June.

 

On normal rest he is now slated to pitch game 1 against Milwaukee and game 2 against Pittsburgh, before finishing with a game against Cincy. Maybe they prefer not to show him to Pittsburgh again, but they can probably have him go under 105 in each of those games and be ready to go big in Pittsburgh 10/07.

[ConstableRabbit]

Jake is 8th in PaP this season. It's worth discussing.

[Sammy Sofa]

Use him like the meat he is and then cast him adrift in a couple of years. It is a sound plan.

[Guest]

Did anyone ever make a thread where folks predicted win totals for the season? Curious to see how it matches up now that they're at 84 already

 

I thought we did that here but maybe not.

 

At PSD, I had 90

[Sammys Boombox]

I'm all in favor of limiting pitches for Arrieta, Lester and the good pen guys from here on out. The division is over save us winning the next 4 games in a row and then some more amazing stuff happening.

[BigSlick]

I wouldn't ever call Arrieta "gaunt". Dude is jacked and I'm pretty sure he's kicked somebody's ass at some point in a bar fight

[apete6]

I'm all in favor of limiting pitches for Arrieta, Lester and the good pen guys from here on out. The division is over save us winning the next 4 games in a row and then some more amazing stuff happening.

 

Completely agree. I was 100% OK with leaving them in there the last 2 nights, but from now until the playoffs (or possible dicey last series which better not happen), Arrieta, Lester, and Rondon have to be kept to an absolutely average to below average usage rate.