General Cubs Chit-Chat

[MWV]

538's predictions seem far more sensible.

Link

[davell]

The Dodgers look really good on paper at this point. Kershaw, Hill, and Maeda match up as well as anyone's top 3. Probably a bit better even. And their lineup has hit very well in the second half too. Not saying they should be favored over us, but I can definitely see the argument. I'll be pulling for Washington against them for sure.

[BigSlick]

Its stupid that I get increasingly agitated as the Cubs win games in garbage time and yet see their WS% drop on the fangraphs mode that isn't season-to-date. Like, for no reason at all, they went fro ~19% to ~16% after the Brewers and Reds series. But its also, completely, whatever.

 

I believe the season-to-date and 538 numbers are the most reasonably accurate- about a 25% chance to win the World Series. Which is really, really, really good.

 

Also the Cubs just matched last years win totals at 97, and have 10 more games to play. The baseball gods are good.

[BigSlick]

Oh my god Barry Rozner is so god damn stupid

 

"If Strop is good and healthy...is Edwards on the roster?"

 

Yes, what, what are you even talking about

[jersey cubs fan]

Leake's shoplifting shenanigans might be forgotten by most, but not me. Who the hell shoplifts from Macy's, seriously?

 

This is from the game thread and I don't want to mess with that one but I have to ask, what does this mean? People don't shoplift from Macy's?

[UMFan83]

Leake's shoplifting shenanigans might be forgotten by most, but not me. Who the hell shoplifts from Macy's, seriously?

 

This is from the game thread and I don't want to mess with that one but I have to ask, what does this mean? People don't shoplift from Macy's?

 

Just a throwaway line. I couldn't remember where he shoplifted from and was really hoping it was something like K-Mart but oh well.

[David]

Leake's shoplifting shenanigans might be forgotten by most, but not me. Who the hell shoplifts from Macy's, seriously?

 

This is from the game thread and I don't want to mess with that one but I have to ask, what does this mean? People don't shoplift from Macy's?

I had the exact thought lol

 

Actually, a couple of kids I went to high school with got arrested for shoplifting from Marshall Field's.

[UMFan83]

Good read from Heyman detailing 7 moves that made the Cubs into contenders and doing into detail on each one. For instance with drafting Bryant:

 

Top Cubs executives are said to have had a very spirited debate about the consensus top three players – Jonathan Gray and especially Appel and Bryant. The belief is that while the Cubs also like Appel, who has yet to make the majors, there was a slight leaning toward Bryant after a very productive meeting with Bryant and Cubs execs Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeod in Stockton, CA while Bryant was there for his college conference tournament. They loved the way Bryant loved talking baseball and how “comfortable he was in his own skin,” as one Cubs person put it. They decided then and there he was a guy who could handle being the No. 2 overall pick by the closely watched Cubs.

 

http://www.todaysknuckleball.com/inside-baseball-with-jon-heyman/heyman-7-cubs-moves-turned-lovable-losers-winners/

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Random musing: The last four Cubs playoff eliminations were at the hands of teams that were on paper worse imo. The only way this team avoids making it five is to win it all.

[Cubswin11]

Random musing: The last four Cubs playoff eliminations were at the hands of teams that were on paper worse imo. The only way this team avoids making it five is to win it all.

At the time last year idk if the Mets were worse on paper. But I agree about the rest of the eliminations.

[Brian707]

Random musing: The last four Cubs playoff eliminations were at the hands of teams that were on paper worse imo. The only way this team avoids making it five is to win it all.

 

 

Not sure if the 2003 Marlins were on paper worse than the Cubs.

[SouthSideRyan]

I'm not sure the '03 Marlins at the time were either.

[Brian707]

Or the 2007 Diamondbacks

[UMFan83]

Or the 2007 Diamondbacks

 

The 2007 Diamondbacks had a -20 run differential for the season. They finished 11 games better than their pythag. The 2007 Cubs had a +62 run differential and finished 2 games worse than their pythag.

[Omar]

or the 2008 Dodgers.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Random musing: The last four Cubs playoff eliminations were at the hands of teams that were on paper worse imo. The only way this team avoids making it five is to win it all.

At the time last year idk if the Mets were worse on paper. But I agree about the rest of the eliminations.

 

At the time last year the Cubs were in god mode and had been for half a season.

[David]

looks like clayton kershaw is acting now

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

[David]

Or the 2007 Diamondbacks

 

wait what

[Hairyducked Idiot]

The only one I'll accept as debatable is 2003 Marlins.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

looks like clayton kershaw is acting now

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

 

I'm really upset that I went through most of the effort of making this fake tweet and looking up the original Muskat reference before finding that Kershaw was the mistaken player. I'm gonna post this anyway.

 

[Ding Dong Johnson]

looks like clayton kershaw is acting now

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

put a shirt on

[Cubswin11]

Random musing: The last four Cubs playoff eliminations were at the hands of teams that were on paper worse imo. The only way this team avoids making it five is to win it all.

At the time last year idk if the Mets were worse on paper. But I agree about the rest of the eliminations.

 

At the time last year the Cubs were in god mode and had been for half a season.

I think I give us the edge but it's not a given, looking at it completely at the time. They had what, 3-4 starting pitchers pitching at 5+ WAR pace/level and Murphy and Cespedes going god mode?

[Brian707]

Or the 2007 Diamondbacks

 

wait what

 

 

To be fair to the Diamonbacks they had to play the 90 win Rockies and 89 win Padres 19 times each. Meanwhile the Cubs played in the NL Central. I wouldnt say that the Cubs were "on paper" better than Arizona. It is debatable who was better on paper.

 

The only team the Cubs were far and away better than "on paper" of the last 4 playoff losses was the 2008 Dodgers.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Or the 2007 Diamondbacks

 

wait what

 

 

To be fair to the Diamonbacks they had to play the 90 win Rockies and 89 win Padres 19 times each. Meanwhile the Cubs played in the NL Central. I wouldnt say that the Cubs were "on paper" better than Arizona. It is debatable who was better on paper.

 

The only team the Cubs were far and away better than "on paper" of the last 4 playoff losses was the 2008 Dodgers.

 

I mean, it's debatable in the sense that anything is debatable, but there's a correct opinion here. Baseball Prospectus even did a big pre-series piece on how lopsided the matchup was and had the Cubs at like 2:1 to win.

[UMFan83]

Or the 2007 Diamondbacks

 

wait what

 

 

To be fair to the Diamonbacks they had to play the 90 win Rockies and 89 win Padres 19 times each. Meanwhile the Cubs played in the NL Central. I wouldnt say that the Cubs were "on paper" better than Arizona. It is debatable who was better on paper.

 

The only team the Cubs were far and away better than "on paper" of the last 4 playoff losses was the 2008 Dodgers.

 

The Diamondbacks played like a 79 win team based on pythag. Even if you count the relative tough teams they played, they performed like a sub .500 team. The 2007 Cubs, admittedly no world beaters, started the season terribly at 22-31. They then played at a 94 win pace for the last 109 games of the season (63-46) to win the division. You can't discount the 53 games they played earlier in the year but its clear they were a much better team in September than they were in April.