6/21 Cubs(Hendricks) @ Reds(Harvey) 6:10 NBC Sports Chicago/MLBN

[Sammy Sofa]

So it appears I'm the anti-Sammy Sofa. I left to go for a run tonight and the Cubs were up 2-0. I get back and they're down 6-2.

 

Same thing happened to me. I left for the gym after they blew getting more than 2 in that inning against Harvey, and came back expecting to find that the Cubs had won, like, 14-3.

[r_mack]

3-3 against the Reds is pretty sickening

 

In 2015, the Cubs went 3-3 against the White Sox (76 wins), 1-3 against Detroit (74 wins), 3-3 against Miami (71 wins), 2-5 against Philly (63 wins) and 3-3 against San Diego (74 wins). The 2015 Cubs won 97 games that year.

 

In 2016, the Cubs went 3-3 against Atlanta (68 wins), 2-2 against the White Sox (78 wins) and 2-4 against Colorado (75 wins). The 2016 Cubs won 103 games.

 

In 2017, the Cubs went 2-4 against San Diego (71 wins). The 2017 Cubs won 92 games.

None of these are bad division teams that the entire division gets to beat up on 15 times a year. There’s a chance beating the Reds the most can be the difference in winning the division

[soccer10k]

3-3 against the Reds is pretty sickening

 

In 2015, the Cubs went 3-3 against the White Sox (76 wins), 1-3 against Detroit (74 wins), 3-3 against Miami (71 wins), 2-5 against Philly (63 wins) and 3-3 against San Diego (74 wins). The 2015 Cubs won 97 games that year.

 

In 2016, the Cubs went 3-3 against Atlanta (68 wins), 2-2 against the White Sox (78 wins) and 2-4 against Colorado (75 wins). The 2016 Cubs won 103 games.

 

In 2017, the Cubs went 2-4 against San Diego (71 wins). The 2017 Cubs won 92 games.

 

Dude, consider who you're arguing with

 

Oh I’m fully aware. I considered not looking up the info because of that but figured I would anyway.

[UMFan83]

Damn Heywards OPS is up to .775? That's insane

[David]

Damn Heywards OPS is up to .775? That's insane

 

On pace for a 3+ WAR season, and that's with a probably deflated defensive contribution (relative to his ability) because he was temporarily blind or concussed or something.

[BigSlick]

Jason Heyward has catapulted to a 109 wRC+ which means hes currently 9% better than the average MLB hitter, lol

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Damn Heywards OPS is up to .775? That's insane

 

On pace for a 3+ WAR season, and that's with a probably deflated defensive contribution (relative to his ability) because he was temporarily blind or concussed or something.

 

Yep. And the defensive numbers are starting to get back in order as he’s played excellent defense since then. Obviously, he’s going to finish a few runs worse than he’d like defensively because of the two-week blindness, but after 162 games that stretch won’t be dragging his numbers down as much as it is now.

[CubInOK]

How does new Heyward at the plate compare to Zobrist? I feel like Heyward just smacks the ball everywhere now for tons of singles and a few doubles.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

How does new Heyward at the plate compare to Zobrist? I feel like Heyward just smacks the ball everywhere now for tons of singles and a few doubles.

 

Similar, but Zobrist is going to walk more and I think Heyward will hit for more power if he keeps hitting the ball like this.

 

Heyward's been really unlucky with his ISO. And it's coming from bad luck on balls in the air. He ranks 178 of 202 batters with 200 PA in HR/FB. But he's hitting the ball hard when he gets it in the air. He ranks 95 of 244 batters with 50 fly balls and line drives in FB/LD average exit velocity. And he ranks 96 of 244 in average FB/LD distance.

 

Those things correlate really strongly with HR/FB and ISO. For reference, Heyward's HR/FB is 5.4% this year. It was 4.8% in 2016 and 9.4% last year. Between 2016 and 2017, Heyward ranked 221 of 252 batters with 200 FB/LD in average FB/LD exit velocity and 219 of 252 in average FB/LD distance.

 

Heyward ranks 229 of 251 in xSLG-SLG for all hitters with 25 fly balls this year. He's hitting the ball with power, but it's not showing up yet.

 

Somehow the dongs are going to come next for Heyward.

[Sammy Sofa]

Somehow he needs to get in line waiting for those damn dongs with the rest of the team (except Baez and Schwarber).

[Cubswin11]

Somehow he needs to get in line waiting for those damn dongs with the rest of the team (except Baez and Schwarber).

The Cubs don’t owe us the elusive 20 run game, they owe us a 20 DONG game

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Somehow he needs to get in line waiting for those damn dongs with the rest of the team (except Baez and Schwarber).

The Cubs don’t owe us the elusive 20 run game, they owe us a 20 DONG game

 

20 solo dongs because they'll find a way to go 0-8 with RISP.