4/21 Cubs (Darvish) @ Rockies (Anderson) 7:10 CST NBCS Chicago

[Brian]

is iPads in the dugout something that was approved over the offseason? I don't remember seeing them before, and it seems weird with Apple Watch gate last season.

[Cubswin11]

is iPads in the dugout something that was approved over the offseason? I don't remember seeing them before, and it seems weird with Apple Watch gate last season.

I thought they had them there starting last year?

[Cubswin11]

Don’t like using Schwarber there. Save him for the 8th or 9th in case he can come up as the tying run. Send up Heyward or Seal Boy instead.

[Brian]

Justin Wilson is exactly what this game needed

[Sammy Sofa]

[17 Seconds]

Yeah it’s frustrating but the expectations are warranted and they’ve lived up to them. It’s just mostly people being idiots and not understanding baseball. Even in the most successful seasons there’s going to be 55+ losses. Losing sucks, I get that but it’s gonna happen.

 

i just think you go too far the other way in not trying to be a meatball. yes it's baseball, which means that even a team that should be great could suck. the fact that they went on a huge run in the last 2 months of last season doesn't mean that the 4 months of being mediocre couldn't have continued.

 

yeah, overreacting is annoying, but so is the "actually they are good, and you're an idiot if you think it's not a lock" also gets annoying. you don't know that. they suck to start the season again, and it wouldn't even be the weirdest thing to happen in baseball this year to see them finish the year at .500. does 3 weeks of mediocrity make that significantly more likely? no. but the rotation has some questions, and we can't count of the cardinals and the brewers being mediocre.

Fair enough. I think there’s enough underlying indicators and data points to think and know fairly certainly this team is in fact good and will win mid 90s games and the reaction to results and baseball being baseball shouldn’t have people overly worried. If we could point to real things causing the suckage I’d be worried or other teams in the division being anything better than mediocre but that’s really not the case and over time this team should rise to the top.

 

"fairly certainly" just seems very generous to me, especially if you're talking about mid 90s wins. and it's not just the results. the cubs invested a crazy amount of resources into this rotation, and there are valid concerns.

[Brian]

missed so bad it was accidentally strike 3

[Cubswin11]

 

i just think you go too far the other way in not trying to be a meatball. yes it's baseball, which means that even a team that should be great could suck. the fact that they went on a huge run in the last 2 months of last season doesn't mean that the 4 months of being mediocre couldn't have continued.

 

yeah, overreacting is annoying, but so is the "actually they are good, and you're an idiot if you think it's not a lock" also gets annoying. you don't know that. they suck to start the season again, and it wouldn't even be the weirdest thing to happen in baseball this year to see them finish the year at .500. does 3 weeks of mediocrity make that significantly more likely? no. but the rotation has some questions, and we can't count of the cardinals and the brewers being mediocre.

Fair enough. I think there’s enough underlying indicators and data points to think and know fairly certainly this team is in fact good and will win mid 90s games and the reaction to results and baseball being baseball shouldn’t have people overly worried. If we could point to real things causing the suckage I’d be worried or other teams in the division being anything better than mediocre but that’s really not the case and over time this team should rise to the top.

 

"fairly certainly" just seems very generous to me, especially if you're talking about mid 90s wins. and it's not just the results. the cubs invested a crazy amount of resources into this rotation, and there are valid concerns.

I guess my issue is what are the valid concerns you can point to that have you so worried other than bad results? Like what do you think is leading to it that’s concerning because “stuff” wise everyone seems about where they have been for their career and that should give us some certainty they will pitch close to the good to great pitchers they’ve always been over thinking things from some early horsefeathers starts is what they are now (which they’re going to have horsefeathers starts).

[Cubswin11]

Let’s get Wilson a team leading 2 wins

[Sammy Sofa]

Fair enough. I think there’s enough underlying indicators and data points to think and know fairly certainly this team is in fact good and will win mid 90s games and the reaction to results and baseball being baseball shouldn’t have people overly worried. If we could point to real things causing the suckage I’d be worried or other teams in the division being anything better than mediocre but that’s really not the case and over time this team should rise to the top.

 

"fairly certainly" just seems very generous to me, especially if you're talking about mid 90s wins. and it's not just the results. the cubs invested a crazy amount of resources into this rotation, and there are valid concerns.

I guess my issue is what are the valid concerns you can point to that have you so worried other than bad results? Like what do you think is leading to it that’s concerning because “stuff” wise everyone seems about where they have been for their career and that should give us some certainty they will pitch close to the good to great pitchers they’ve always been over thinking things from some early horsefeathers starts is what they are now (which they’re going to have horsefeathers starts).

 

Dumb things happen in baseball with enough regularity that getting off to a shitty start wouldn't make an ultimately disappointing end result all that much more surprising than how they managed to turn it around last year.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I just cannot relate to the mindset that is so vocally worried about doom 10% into a baseball season. Especially a team with the talent the Cubs have, and one that has seen the Cubs run roughshod over the league in the second half every year of Maddon’s tenure. There isn’t even a team in the division getting off to an incredible start that we can start having mathematical worries about either.

[Cubswin11]

Willy, seriously what the hell. His throws to first are a thing to worry about

[Sammy Sofa]

I just cannot relate to the mindset that is so vocally worried about doom 10% into a baseball season. Especially a team with the talent the Cubs have

 

Full stop. You guys keep trying to make it sound like everyone who isn't on the same page as you is like that r_mack or whatever the horsefeathers guy and just think they're terrible and destined to fail. Most of us are just annoyed that a team that SHOULD be a lot better keeps finding so many different ways to have these long stretches of not being consistently awesome (or worse). We all know the Cubs easily could and should be better, but some of us would rather vent than acting like it's not frustrating as hell when they rack up too many dumb losses, or things stack up like the starting rotation looking like complete butt.

[17 Seconds]

i think a big part of it is the way last season played out. 92 wins, a +150 RD, and an NLCS is a great season. but actually watching them all year didn't really feel like it. the expectations were still so high for the team that the four months of mediocrity were extremely hard to watch, and the burst at the end felt more like a relief than an achievement. then the season ended and the focus shifted to fixing the rotation and then avoiding the mediocrity again to start 2018. so even though this is only 3 weeks of baseball, it feels like they're just right back in that aggravating purgatory that they spent most of last season in, and it's even more aggravating not knowing when/if it will turn around this time. i wasn't asking for a hot start, i just wanted them to be solid to start the season, like they should be.

[Guancous]

Luke Farrell with the 1-2-3 inning. Is he someone who could stick in middle relief for a while?

[Cubswin11]

Luke Farrell with the 1-2-3 inning. Is he someone who could stick in middle relief for a while?

He put up pretty meh numbers in AAA in 2016 and 2017 anytime he racked up decent innings

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I just cannot relate to the mindset that is so vocally worried about doom 10% into a baseball season. Especially a team with the talent the Cubs have

 

Full stop. You guys keep trying to make it sound like everyone who isn't on the same page as you is like that r_mack or whatever the horsefeathers guy and just think they're terrible and destined to fail. Most of us are just annoyed that a team that SHOULD be a lot better keeps finding so many different ways to have these long stretches of not being consistently awesome (or worse). We all know the Cubs easily could and should be better, but some of us would rather vent than acting like it's not frustrating as hell when they rack up too many dumb losses, or things stack up like the starting rotation looking like complete butt.

 

Even amazing MLB teams will lose 2+ months’ worth of games. Many of them will be very dumb and frustrating losses. Baseball is so great because you don’t have to retreat to the angrydome after every frustrating thing that happens because these things largely come out in the wash. The Cubs aren’t even going through a terrible stretch either, assuming no comeback they’ll be 9-9 with only 7 games at home and most of the games played in weather that’s barely football weather. Baseball gives you freedom from fearing doom around every corner, be liberated by it!

[gobigred]

I just cannot relate to the mindset that is so vocally worried about doom 10% into a baseball season. Especially a team with the talent the Cubs have

 

Full stop. You guys keep trying to make it sound like everyone who isn't on the same page as you is like that r_mack or whatever the horsefeathers guy and just think they're terrible and destined to fail. Most of us are just annoyed that a team that SHOULD be a lot better keeps finding so many different ways to have these long stretches of not being consistently awesome (or worse). We all know the Cubs easily could and should be better, but some of us would rather vent than acting like it's not frustrating as hell when they rack up too many dumb losses, or things stack up like the starting rotation looking like complete butt.

 

 

This should be a sig ....perfect post

[Andy]

No one reached after Darvish went crazy.

[Sammy Sofa]

I just cannot relate to the mindset that is so vocally worried about doom 10% into a baseball season. Especially a team with the talent the Cubs have

 

Full stop. You guys keep trying to make it sound like everyone who isn't on the same page as you is like that r_mack or whatever the horsefeathers guy and just think they're terrible and destined to fail. Most of us are just annoyed that a team that SHOULD be a lot better keeps finding so many different ways to have these long stretches of not being consistently awesome (or worse). We all know the Cubs easily could and should be better, but some of us would rather vent than acting like it's not frustrating as hell when they rack up too many dumb losses, or things stack up like the starting rotation looking like complete butt.

 

Even amazing MLB teams will lose 2+ months’ worth of games. Many of them will be very dumb and frustrating losses. Baseball is so great because you don’t have to retreat to the angrydome after every frustrating thing that happens because these things largely come out in the wash. The Cubs aren’t even going through a terrible stretch either, assuming no comeback they’ll be 9-9 with only 7 games at home and most of the games played in weather that’s barely football weather. Baseball gives you freedom from fearing doom around every corner, be liberated by it!

 

OK? Again, it's like you and Cubswin act like you have to lecture the rest of us as to how baseball works when we're venting in the game threads over the course of a pretty mundane start to the season. We get it; almost everyone here thinks the Cubs have an awesome team. With that comes elevated hopes and expectations that make starts like this, while obviously likely not disastrous, really horsefeathering annoying. Like 17 pointed out, that everything comes out in the wash doesn't make actually following/watching long stretches of mediocre baseball any more enjoyable.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

 

Full stop. You guys keep trying to make it sound like everyone who isn't on the same page as you is like that r_mack or whatever the horsefeathers guy and just think they're terrible and destined to fail. Most of us are just annoyed that a team that SHOULD be a lot better keeps finding so many different ways to have these long stretches of not being consistently awesome (or worse). We all know the Cubs easily could and should be better, but some of us would rather vent than acting like it's not frustrating as hell when they rack up too many dumb losses, or things stack up like the starting rotation looking like complete butt.

 

Even amazing MLB teams will lose 2+ months’ worth of games. Many of them will be very dumb and frustrating losses. Baseball is so great because you don’t have to retreat to the angrydome after every frustrating thing that happens because these things largely come out in the wash. The Cubs aren’t even going through a terrible stretch either, assuming no comeback they’ll be 9-9 with only 7 games at home and most of the games played in weather that’s barely football weather. Baseball gives you freedom from fearing doom around every corner, be liberated by it!

 

OK? Again, it's like you and Cubswin act like you have to lecture the rest of us as to how baseball works when we're venting in the game threads over the course of a pretty mundane start to the season. We get it; almost everyone here thinks the Cubs have an awesome team. With that comes elevated hopes and expectations that make starts like this, while obviously likely not disastrous, really horsefeathering annoying. Like 17 pointed out, that everything comes out in the wash doesn't make actually following/watching long stretches of mediocre baseball any more enjoyable.

 

Again, if you’re co-signing a sentiment that treats following the 2017 Cubs as a disappointment or exercise in frustration, I just can’t relate to it. Think how narrow that makes your window for enjoying following a team.

[Cubswin11]

I apologize to Sofa and 17 and others if my posts have come off as lecturing. That is not the intention, just trying to calm the nerves, feelings, and frustrations so people feel better it’s not as bad and shouldn’t continue to be as bad as it seems because I have a hard time relating to those feelings about this team just ending up not being good in the end.

 

 

I get a point of a board is to allowing irrational (and sometimes rational) venting so I’ll tone it down, especially because nearly everyone here is a smart baseball person so even in venting they know we are good.

Edited April 22, 2018 by Cubswin11

[SpongeWorthy]

if people didn’t vent their impotent nerdrage over the cubs game to game failings the baseball aspect of this forum would be entirely dead instead of mostly dead

[UMFan83]

All 12 Cubs retired after Darvish’s meltdown. Before that8 of the first 20 Cubs batters reached

[Sammy Sofa]

Again, if you’re co-signing a sentiment that treats following the 2017 Cubs as a disappointment or exercise in frustration, I just can’t relate to it. Think how narrow that makes your window for enjoying following a team.

 

Really not sure how you're turning, "I enjoy my favorite baseball team more when they're consistently good and would prefer for them to be like that sooner rather than later" into a "narrow window" for enjoying said baseball team.

 

Personally, I think to act like the Cubs didn't play long, LONG stretches of frustrating baseball last year is just flat out denial. Thinking that doesn't somehow negate the end result or even mean someone is saying it was all a disappointment; like, how can anyone disagree with the idea that it would be more enjoyable to see the Cubs play better than they are right now, or for basically the whole first half last year? Relax; we don't need our hands held in explaining why the Cubs are actually a good baseball team who should be playing better; that's why we're sulking in the first place.