6/25 Corbs (Underhill) at Dodgers (Maeda) 9:10 CDT ESPN

[Bertz]

lets marvel at how bad our starting pitching is

 

Our best starter, Lester, has lucked (or veteran presenced) himself to a whole 0.9 WAR, good for 57th among qualifiers, behind studs like *squints* Clayton Richard (42nd,) Tyson Ross (34th,) and Jose Urena (31st.)

 

After that you've got Jose Quintana (0.6 WAR, 67th,) Kyle Hendricks (0.5 WAR, 71st,) and ... that's it. Only 88 pitchers qualify.

 

Our rotation is so bad that Chatwood has been allowed to throw 70 innings despite literally walking a batter an inning and our second-most valuable pitcher is a 115-pound reliever who hasn't pitched in a month and may be dead. Or I guess it might be 5.9 K/9 Mike Montgomery.

 

Ugh. Who would we really feel comfortable with making a playoff start?

 

All of them except Chatwood.

 

Yeah. I'm a bit worried about Kyle, but I think Lester/Q are fine and I only need like 2-3 good starts from Darvish for my worries there to melt away.

[jersey cubs fan]

I have found it incredibly difficult to get that upset about this team not being flawless. I've had more fun joking about their struggles than actual anger at the losses.

[Tim]

Houston hit the tank button a year before we did (2011 vs 2012), hit that button much harder than we did (three straight years of

[Sammy Sofa]

Another way of looking at it is that they looked like horsefeathers against the Nats and eked out that series win, and then got handily bounced out in short order by the Dodgers, and aren't really shaping up to do much better this year.

[BigSlick]

I have to chant a mantra that the Cubs are still 9 games over .500 and even at their lowest (god willing) point they're still well their lowest point last year

 

Getting swept in 4 by the horrid Reds sucks and the Cubs suck on the west coast, so it sucks. but they'll be fine

[Tim]

Another way of looking at it is that they looked like horsefeathers against the Nats and eked out that series win, and then got handily bounced out in short order by the Dodgers, and aren't really shaping up to do much better this year.

Really? Predicting playoff outcomes based on how a team is playing in June? Since we still have a better record than the Dodgers and Nationals, I suppose they will bounce out even faster this year.

[Andy]

Another way of looking at it is that they looked like horsefeathers against the Nats and eked out that series win, and then got handily bounced out in short order by the Dodgers, and aren't really shaping up to do much better this year.

Really? Predicting playoff outcomes based on how a team is playing in June? Since we still have a better record than the Dodgers and Nationals, I suppose they will bounce out even faster this year.

Yeah, the biggest reason for confidence in the Cubs at the moment is that the teams we thought we'd be competing with aren't really doing so hot either. Unlike 16 or 17, it might be one of those years where it just comes down to who gets hot.

[itisallpartoftheplan]

[Sammy Sofa]

Another way of looking at it is that they looked like horsefeathers against the Nats and eked out that series win, and then got handily bounced out in short order by the Dodgers, and aren't really shaping up to do much better this year.

Really? Predicting playoff outcomes based on how a team is playing in June? Since we still have a better record than the Dodgers and Nationals, I suppose they will bounce out even faster this year.

 

Yes, predicting playoff outcomes is literally all we can do at this point, and crazily I'm more concerned about the Cubs' current ongoing issues with their offense and their starting pitching impacting potential playoff series later this year as opposed to how many times they've won the division in seasons past. MADNESS, I KNOW.

[squally1313]

I can't really imagine being a Cubs fan for 20+ years, getting to experience the last few years, and having it seriously bother you that we might only be the second best franchise in terms of current and future success.

[Cubswin11]

Houston hit the tank button a year before we did (2011 vs 2012), hit that button much harder than we did (three straight years of < 60 wins) and then didn't push their chips to the middle like we did to make it happen in 2015 & 2016. By tanking longer and harder (and not stepping on the gas coming out), they build up a deeper set of assets than we did. They look like they may have a more robust window, but they also paid a steeper price for it.

And I don't exactly know when the core position players hit FA, but it has to be close, I think we have a little bit deeper core there with just as much 4-5+ WAR upside and the pitching is about the same with core pitchers control (and even though the Astros have tapped in to some pixie dust there I don't think the talent gap is "that" big on that front either).

[Derwood]

I can't imagine the mindset that a world championship and 3 straight NLCS appearances absolves the current team of all its sins

[BigSlick]

There's literally no way to predict in the playoffs. You could throw a 62-100 team into the playoffs and they'd have like, a decent shot at winning the World Series. It's almost a complete crapshoot.

[Sammy Sofa]

I can't really imagine being a Cubs fan for 20+ years, getting to experience the last few years, and having it seriously bother you that we might only be the second best franchise in terms of current and future success.

 

As it has been made abundantly clear time and time again, it's a matter of people wanting the Cubs to be better and thinking they should be better. Almost nobody thinks they actually suck, but the flipside of that is that almost nobody, even with baseball being baseball, has gone into the last two seasons thinking we'd see a team this talented (with basically the same roster) struggle for so long to figure out its horsefeathering offense for way too much of the season. It's frustrating.

Edited June 25, 2018 by Sammy Sofa

[Cubswin11]

I can't imagine the mindset that a world championship and 3 straight NLCS appearances absolves the current team of all its sins

Since it's basically the same team that's accomplished all those things with only Lester on the wrong side of the aging/performance curve it absolves them of a lot of doubts and sins for me.

[squally1313]

I can't really imagine being a Cubs fan for 20+ years, getting to experience the last few years, and having it seriously bother you that we might only be the second best franchise in terms of current and future success.

 

As it has been made abundantly clear time and time again, it's a matter of people wanting the Cubs to be better and thinking they should be better. Almost nobody thinks they actually suck, but the flipside of that is that almost nobody, even with baseball being baseball, has gone into the last two seasons thinking we'd see a team this talent (with basically the same roster) struggle for so long to figure out its horsefeathering offense for way too much of the season.

 

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2018&month=0&season1=2018&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=&age=&filter=&players=0

 

Third in offensive fWAR this year. Fifth last year. You're way better than most of the doomboners that show up in the game threads, but this is getting pretty close to 'maybe baseball isn't the sport for you'.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

I can't imagine the mindset that a world championship and 3 straight NLCS appearances absolves the current team of all its sins

 

They're on pace to win over 90 games again this year. They don't have many sins.

[Sammy Sofa]

I can't really imagine being a Cubs fan for 20+ years, getting to experience the last few years, and having it seriously bother you that we might only be the second best franchise in terms of current and future success.

 

As it has been made abundantly clear time and time again, it's a matter of people wanting the Cubs to be better and thinking they should be better. Almost nobody thinks they actually suck, but the flipside of that is that almost nobody, even with baseball being baseball, has gone into the last two seasons thinking we'd see a team this talent (with basically the same roster) struggle for so long to figure out its horsefeathering offense for way too much of the season.

 

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2018&month=0&season1=2018&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=&age=&filter=&players=0

 

Third in offensive fWAR this year. Fifth last year. You're way better than most of the doomboners that show up in the game threads, but this is getting pretty close to 'maybe baseball isn't the sport for you'.

 

Again, "THEY SHOULD BE BETTER" IS NOT "THESE GUYS SUCK." The pearl-clutching that gets unleashed over the pearl-clutching every time this team goes through a prolonged period of suck ass offense (which is a lot) is just a human centipede of wankery.

[squally1313]

To be fair, that includes the defensive aspect of fWAR, in which we are essentially blowing everyone out of the water (that's a good thing!). Including just hitting/baserunning (part of offense), we're 8th this year. Considering that outside of Heyward/Almora, pretty much everyone is hitting at or below their career norms/expectations, and we're still on pace to win 90 games, sorry...not going to get too concerned.

[squally1313]

 

As it has been made abundantly clear time and time again, it's a matter of people wanting the Cubs to be better and thinking they should be better. Almost nobody thinks they actually suck, but the flipside of that is that almost nobody, even with baseball being baseball, has gone into the last two seasons thinking we'd see a team this talent (with basically the same roster) struggle for so long to figure out its horsefeathering offense for way too much of the season.

 

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2018&month=0&season1=2018&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=&age=&filter=&players=0

 

Third in offensive fWAR this year. Fifth last year. You're way better than most of the doomboners that show up in the game threads, but this is getting pretty close to 'maybe baseball isn't the sport for you'.

 

Again, "THEY SHOULD BE BETTER" IS NOT "THESE GUYS SUCK." The pearl-clutching that gets unleashed over the pearl-clutching every time this team goes through a prolonged period of suck ass offense (which is a lot) is just a human centipede of wankery.

 

They're on pace to win 90 games. If they were hitting like the Astros or Yankees, they'd probably be on pace to win 100+. If that's your baseline for regular season success, go for it...there have been 126 seasons in history, and 102 100+ win seasons.

[Sammy Sofa]

Yes, great, we're THAT much closer to being on same page on the bafflingly controversial opinion of, "I really wish this good team I like was more consistently playing as good as we know they can be." We're ultimately realistically talking, what, 5-6 more wins at the very most than where they're at right now?

[squally1313]

Can they be better than the last four games? Obviously, that's every team in baseball history. Should they be better than how they've played this year as a whole? Ummm..maybe a little? 5 more wins is 47-28, which is a 101 win pace. Are they capable of playing that baseball for stretches of the year? Sure, see the second half of 2015, all of 2016, and the second half of 2017. Are they one of the 30 best teams in baseball history? Probably not, statistically.

 

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=3&season=2018&month=0&season1=2018&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=11,d

 

We've been the least clutch offensive team in baseball so far this year (9th most clutch for pitching, if anyone cares). According to pretty much everyone, that's not a real thing. Frustrating? Yes. Concerning? No.

[Sammy Sofa]

BR's pythag has them 4 games up on where they are right now, so I don't think me largely spitballing 5-6 games better is some kind of crazy, unrealistic fantasy.

 

And there has to be a middle ground between "clutch means nothing" and "this team is now bizarrely consistently terrible at relatively gimme situations to score a run for 3 of the last 4 seasons, while somehow also being one of the best offensive teams in baseball." That's hardly expecting them to become historically great; it's wishing they could just be realistically a bit better instead of having such prolonged stretches of dreck where it's absurd that a team this good looks so hapless for way too many innings over multiple games.

[Derwood]

Am I not allowed to complain about Kris Bryant’s funk because he won the MVP? That’s the logic we are working with here

[JudasIscariotTheBird]

I think anyone can complain about most anything, but depending on the circumstances you are either being very very silly or slightly silly, since this is baseball (which is a sport.)