5/23/2018 Cubs (Lester) vs. Tribe (Plutko) 7:05 CST NBC Sports Chicago

[BigSlick]

Cubs are now Cobs. Don’t @ me

[Sammy Sofa]

 

where did i imply they were in uncharted waters? i'm saying it's really annoying that they're in this position again 2 months into the season, sustainable or not. if you're not frustrated, then more power to you, but there is plenty to be frustrated about so far.

 

I get that it's enough for them to hang on how good the team SHOULD be and hopefully will be in the second half, as the Cubs did last year. But for a lot of us, that doesn't make the long stretch where they do struggle/are inconsistent to be any less annoying to sit through. There's this repeated response that any thinking along the lines of, "why is this good team playing better" is basically just parroting r_mack. Or that being frustrated with them again getting off to an up and down first half is somehow over the line, as if, something that was really annoying the previous season shouldn't be annoying the very next season simply because it happened before.

 

Definitely frustrating and annoying but also not at all unusual for good teams to play extended mediocre stretches. As long as you don't lose perspective of that, be as annoyed as you want.

 

Yeah, it should be obvious that most of us gripers aren't acting like this is a genuinely terrible team. It's like, I dunno, getting a flu shot...the end result will ideally be very good, but actually getting the shot always sucks no matter what, and there's someone there trying to tell me that getting jabbed with a needle is something I shouldn't be bugged by because it should prevent me from getting really sick.

[CyHawk_Cub]

Meanwhile, over at bleacher nation comments section, almost as bad as the #firemaddon hot takes is the guy excusing Heyward's AB vs. Miller due to a 6 plate appearance career sample reaching back to 2010.

[philosophizer75]

Yeah, it should be obvious that most of us gripers aren't acting like this is a genuinely terrible team. It's like, I dunno, getting a flu shot...the end result will ideally be very good, but actually getting the shot always sucks no matter what, and there's someone there trying to tell me that getting jabbed with a needle is something I shouldn't be bugged by because it should prevent me from getting really sick.

 

Watching sports is putting the needle in your arm as a baseline. The goings on upon the field of play just decide what is in the needle.

[Sammy Sofa]

Yeah, it should be obvious that most of us gripers aren't acting like this is a genuinely terrible team. It's like, I dunno, getting a flu shot...the end result will ideally be very good, but actually getting the shot always sucks no matter what, and there's someone there trying to tell me that getting jabbed with a needle is something I shouldn't be bugged by because it should prevent me from getting really sick.

 

Watching sports is putting the needle in your arm as a baseline. The goings on upon the field of play just decide what is in the needle.

 

Of course, as Cubs fans we have the wild card factor of the heroin needle to the forehead at any given moment.

[Brian707]

Man I really did think this season would be easy.

 

last season taught me not to expect it to be easy, but i didn't think it would be like this. it could/should change in an instant, but i'm past the point of expecting it to. it's just not worth it to be invested in the team right now. every day should be the day the brewers fall off and the cubs take off, and it just won't happen. it's still early, but its not THAT early.

 

I mean, this literally just happened last year, almost to the letter. Last year the Cubs were 5.5 games out of first and 2 games under .500 at the all star break. They won the division by 6 games and the last week of the season was functionally meaningless. Be as mad or disappointed as you want, but it's real hard to feel like they're remotely in uncharted waters.

 

 

After 46 games last year the Cubs had an identical record of 25-21, and then went on to drop 6 straight. As has been stated here before the VB 2.0 will start to fall off the cliff, the Cardinals probably will finish like 87-75. I think the Cubs finish around 93-69 so the last week of the season should be pretty meaningless. With the way the other divisions are playing 93-69 might be enough to have the #1 seed and a date with a team like the Cards or the VB 2.0 in the NLDS. I would love to play either of them.

[Cubswin11]

 

last season taught me not to expect it to be easy, but i didn't think it would be like this. it could/should change in an instant, but i'm past the point of expecting it to. it's just not worth it to be invested in the team right now. every day should be the day the brewers fall off and the cubs take off, and it just won't happen. it's still early, but its not THAT early.

 

I mean, this literally just happened last year, almost to the letter. Last year the Cubs were 5.5 games out of first and 2 games under .500 at the all star break. They won the division by 6 games and the last week of the season was functionally meaningless. Be as mad or disappointed as you want, but it's real hard to feel like they're remotely in uncharted waters.

 

 

After 46 games last year the Cubs had an identical record of 25-21, and then went on to drop 6 straight. As has been stated here before the VB 2.0 will start to fall off the cliff, the Cardinals probably will finish like 87-75. I think the Cubs finish around 93-69 so the last week of the season should be pretty meaningless. With the way the other divisions are playing 93-69 might be enough to have the #1 seed and a date with a team like the Cards or the VB 2.0 in the NLDS. I would love to play either of them.

I still think this team avoids last years bottom (like u mentioned were at the same record then lost 6 straight). I think we have a really good run in us soon and also will just play better overall baseball and end up between 95-98 wins and think 100+ is still reasonably possible and we won’t have to play .700 baseball in the second half to get there.

[Sammy Sofa]

YET THAT POSSIBLE OUTCOME DOESN'T AUTOMATICALLY MAKE THE SHITTY STRETCH ANY LESS AGGRAVATING AS IT'S HAPPENING.

 

[David]

with all the references being made to last year's record at this time being the same, just FWIW, that team had a +22 RD at the time...this year's is at +62

[BigSlick]

The Cubs will be very good by the end of the year and the 215, 2016 and especially 2017 teams had real long annoying rough stretches. It’s baseball, and baseball sucks.

[philosophizer75]

Hey man, all you can do is wait and see what they're gonna do, just like the rest of us.

 

The only benefit of being pessimistic/worrying about the valleys of the season is that, in the event of an entire season of subpar play, you already had the doomboner out so it hurts less?

 

Either way, you're gonna be disappointed at the end of the season if they suck. Might as well enjoy the season regardless of its variances from the ideal.

 

Lester was a boss yesterday and we got to bear witness to our badass defensive stud in LF making a sweet play that was capped by the most fun player in baseball making one of his signature tags.

 

Edit: And this isn't even a valley, its a plateau.

Edited May 24, 2018 by philosophizer75

[Sammy Sofa]

with all the references being made to last year's record at this time being the same, just FWIW, that team had a +22 RD at the time...this year's is at +62

 

Somewhere David is flicking his power button over that sweet, sweet RD.