10/25 World Series Game 1: Cubs (Lester) vs Indians (Kluber) 7 p.m., FOX

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I think Maddon wants to pick his spot with Contreras against Miller, hence the move to start Coghlan. But over Heyward, it's a surprise just purely based on defensive metrics.

 

It's a bit tough to question Maddon's process when it has the Cubs on the doorstep of history.

 

I also think that he might be saving Contreras in case Schwarber comes up to face Miller. Given his rust and his numbers against lefties last year, it might make sense to PH for Contreras (or Soler). But of course if you PH the DH spot, you lose the DH spot for the game and need to PH there the rest of the game or hit with the pitcher. Hence having 2 quality bats off the bench in Willy and Georgie.

 

You only lose the DH if the DH takes a defensive position, you can pinch hit for the DH as much as you want without the pitcher having to hit. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/about_mlb/rules_regulations.jsp

[muntjack]

You know, I wonder what odds you could have gotten at the all-star break for Kyle Schwarber: WS MVP ?

 

At the All Star Break? Hell...Saturday night...

 

True, I was just trying to think at what point of the season the Cubs had the lowest odds of even making it to the WS.

[UMFan83]

I think Maddon wants to pick his spot with Contreras against Miller, hence the move to start Coghlan. But over Heyward, it's a surprise just purely based on defensive metrics.

 

It's a bit tough to question Maddon's process when it has the Cubs on the doorstep of history.

 

I also think that he might be saving Contreras in case Schwarber comes up to face Miller. Given his rust and his numbers against lefties last year, it might make sense to PH for Contreras (or Soler). But of course if you PH the DH spot, you lose the DH spot for the game and need to PH there the rest of the game or hit with the pitcher. Hence having 2 quality bats off the bench in Willy and Georgie.

 

You only lose the DH if the DH takes a defensive position, you can pinch hit for the DH as much as you want without the pitcher having to hit. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/about_mlb/rules_regulations.jsp

 

Interesting...thanks for the correction.

[gobigred]

If the Cubs win the Series are they in the category of an all time greats? I mean its actually kinda rare that the best team actually win the whole thing but this team has been the best all year and finished with 100+ wins. I would think winning 114 games would at least have you in some sort of elite class...at least in terms of the modern discussion

[Cubswin11]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/chris-coghlan-is-starting-in-the-world-series-and-thats-weird/

I like the move more now that Cameron hates it. Coghlan will probably hit for the cycle tonight

[BigSlick]

Coghlan has been an overall decent player for the Cubs, and he's been signifcantly better than Heyward has in the last few months, so I don't know why Cameron is getting so pouty about it

[UMFan83]

If the Cubs win the Series are they in the category of an all time greats? I mean its actually kinda rare that the best team actually win the whole thing but this team has been the best all year and finished with 100+ wins. I would think winning 114 games would at least have you in some sort of elite class...at least in terms of the modern discussion

 

FiveThirtyEight looked at this earlier in the month and showed that the Cubs were the 26th best regular season team ever.

 

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-year-of-the-cubs/

 

And of the 25 teams above them, 13 won the World Series. So if you combine best regular season team with a World Series title, the Cubs hypothetically would be the 14th best team of all time.

 

If you only want to consider teams since the invention of divisional play in 1969, the Cubs are the 4th best team in the last 47 years, behind only the 1998 Yankees, 1975 Reds and 1970 Orioles (the Reds and Orioles are both just in front of the Cubs, the Yankees way ahead)

[Banedon]

Kipnis is in....

 

[squally1313]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/chris-coghlan-is-starting-in-the-world-series-and-thats-weird/

I like the move more now that Cameron hates it. Coghlan will probably hit for the cycle tonight

 

I understand the concern, but it seems to be a bit overly harsh on Coghlan. I don't know how you'd argue he's the same outfielder defensively as Contreras, and I'm also confused as to why the Steamer projections have him so low. I'd say the 133 PAs he has with the Cubs (.343 wOBA) should hold at least as much weight as the 167 he had with Oakland (.215 wOBA), if not more, due to recency, and then you have the two prior seasons of at least 430 PAs with wOBAs of .353 and .337.

 

Plus, we largely know how the Indians pitchers are going to play out. Coghlan will be in there until Miller is in there. If it's early, you pinch hit Soler and stick him in left or go straight to Heyward. If it's late, you use Contreras and double switch him into the catching spot. We'll be fine.

[BigSlick]

Rajai Davis leading off for a World Series team makes me laugh and laugh

 

those scrubs are in for a dongin'

[itisallpartoftheplan]

You know, I wonder what odds you could have gotten at the all-star break for Kyle Schwarber: WS MVP ?

 

Ha, I was just going to ask who had better odds of starting Game 1 of the 2016 World Series for the Cubs?

 

Dex- Pre Y'all thought this horsefeathers was over.

Cogs- Post Y'all thought this horsefeathers was over.

Or

Schwarbs- Post Lackey sucking in his first Cub start.

Edited October 25, 2016 by itisallpartoftheplan

[UMFan83]

Strangely enough, despite the Cubs being 63-37 favorites in the series by FiveThirtyEight, for Game one the Cubs are actually 52-48 dogs.

[BigSlick]

Strangely enough, despite the Cubs being 63-37 favorites in the series by FiveThirtyEight, for Game one the Cubs are actually 52-48 dogs.

At home with their best pitcher, this is probably their most favorable match up

[Brian]

Lester solidifies himself as a Chicago Cubs legend tonight. Edited October 25, 2016 by Brian

[minnesotacubsfan]

Maybe they just want Coghlan to stand there with a bat and absorb pitches

[gobigred]

Cubs are -112 Over Under is 6.5 -120

[doublebubble]

our starting lineup reeks of Theo and 2004 Red Sox. Start all offensive players, then with a late innings lead replace them with defensive studs like Doug Mientkiewicz and O.Cabrerra.

[Irrelevant Dude]

I'm not overly excited about Coghlan being in the starting lineup, but I am thankful that the plug has finally been pulled on Heyward for 2016 and the team was able to survive 2 series of his complete ineptness on offense.

[squally1313]

I'm not overly excited about Coghlan being in the starting lineup, but I am thankful that the plug has finally been pulled on Heyward for 2016 and the team was able to survive 2 series of his complete ineptness on offense.

 

Lol 'survive'. We're 7-3. Can you imagine how much we would have dominated if Maddon would have just gone with Almora (0-9 in the postseason) or Soler (0-8, 2 BBs) from the beginning?

[TysonCBulls423]

I can't believe I'm posting in a World Series thread. It's all still surreal to me. I'm going to games 4 and 5 sooooo cubbies let's get this thing started right tonight.

 

:flythew:

[Transmogrified Tiger]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/chris-coghlan-is-starting-in-the-world-series-and-thats-weird/

 

What a lazy, lazy article.

 

If you’re overweighting recent performance in order to talk yourself into benching Heyward, I’m not entirely sure how you ignore Coghlan’s 2016 struggles to determine that he’s the better option. To do so would require ignoring what he did in Oakland this year, and only focus on his performance after getting to Chicago, which amounts to a total of 133 plate appearances. Deciding on a World Series starter based on the most recent 133 PAs is to weight recent performance so highly that it’s essentially indefensible.

 

Coghlan v. RHP in 2014: .362 wOBA in 296 PA

Coghlan v. RHP in 2015: .355 wOBA in 397 PA

Coghlan v. RHP in 2016 to his DL stint: .240 wOBA in 195 PA

Coghlan v. RHP in 2016 post DL stint: .370 wOBA in 51 PA

 

What's the indefensible short sample we're reacting to now?

[UMFan83]

I can't believe I'm posting in a World Series thread. It's all still surreal to me. I'm going to games 4 and 5 sooooo cubbies let's get this thing started right tonight.

 

:flythew:

 

FYI, I am an official World Series ticket inspector. PM me so I can send you my address so you can drop by to let me verify whether your tickets are actually legit. If they are fakes, I will save you any legal troubles by taking them from you and privately disposing of them.

[USSoccer]

I can't believe I'm posting in a World Series thread. It's all still surreal to me. I'm going to games 4 and 5 sooooo cubbies let's get this thing started right tonight.

 

:flythew:

 

FYI, I am an official World Series ticket inspector. PM me so I can send you my address so you can drop by to let me verify whether your tickets are actually legit. If they are fakes, I will save you any legal troubles by taking them from you and privately disposing of them.

 

 

[Elrhino]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/chris-coghlan-is-starting-in-the-world-series-and-thats-weird/

 

To come to the conclusion that you don’t want to start Heyward against a right-handed pitcher, you have to put a lot of weight on his 2016 performance, believing that he’s currently unable to hit anywhere near his career levels for one reason or another.

 

http://i2.wp.com/i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/210/116/youdontsay.jpg?resize=433%2C368

[JonJayCutler]

I'm just glad Heyward is finally starting to be held accountable. The Cubs magical run has softened the blow to this point, no doubt.

 

But there's still no reason at all for him to escape the vitriol that Soriano and Cutler endured in this city for underperforming on a ridiculous horsefeathering contract.