8/19 Cubs (Quintana) at Pirates (Taillon): 12:35 PM on ABC7

[Bryants Disco Ball]

I ride with Duker.

[badger]

Dukes a good person to ride or die with.

[Laura]

Score some horsefeathers runs for a change.

 

That said, I’d rather my team be the Cubs right now than any other NL team. It’s still a rare and glorious thought in my lifetime. I fully expect them to win the division & I’ll be in for the ride from there.

[soccer10k]

If we were the Nationals, I can assure you I would have long since lost it.

 

This is an excellent point that shouldn't be overlooked. Anytime you feel bad about this team, look at the Nats and that should make you feel a little bit better.

 

We are a flawed team. Our starters are weak and our offense can be inconsistent at times. But the fact that we still have the best record in the NL shows you that every NL team has significant flaws. We're obviously not a lock to make the playoffs but we're looking pretty good. 538 has us at 93%, Fangraphs has us at 97% and BP has us at 95%ish (it was 96% but that's before today's game). So lets say 95%, which means there's a 1 in 20 shot of the Cubs going something like 17-22 or 16-23 (87 or 88 wins might not be enough). For the division, there's about a 1 in 4 or 1 in 5 shot we don't win it. That's certainly not nothing. But it also means we're probably 75% to win the division.

 

As for the playoffs, if we make it, we only need four starters. Hamels and Hendricks appear to be a relatively solid 1-2. If you can get either Lester or Quintana going at all, that's 3. Then the 4th you just have a quick hook. In the Division Series, we'd have a day off after Game 4 so you can ride the pen if needed. Hopefully in the NLCS or WS (if we advance) you'd only need the 4th starter once (maybe twice in one of the series). We do have a pretty solid pen. And as bad as the offense has looked recently, they're still pretty good and capable of getting hot for a couple weeks at a time. It wouldn't be crazy for this team to go on a run.

[Bryants Disco Ball]

I realize every baseball team does this, so I realize this post means nothing, but I really feel like the Cubs have way too much offensive talent to go through so many frequent stretches of absolute crap.

 

That run after the meeting in LA was glorious. All the at-bats were glorious and resembled 2016. Weren't chasing pitches. Weren't just trying to pull everything. We'd get down a couple runs and we'd easily come back.

 

I've already given up on Russell and ready to unload him for anything -- Machado would have been just fine as a return -- but I don't like seeing Willy suck so much and I don't like seeing Happ striking out 40 percent of the time and missing pitches right down the middle. I don't like scoring one run in four straight games.

 

So let's just start dominating, please.

[imb]

Duke is absolutely a Pollyanna

[JudasIscariotTheBird]

Duke is absolutely a Pollyanna

I mean, maybe, but you were the guy on an epic freak out bender that I was trying to make bets against during your doom boner sessions back in late 2016.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

[imb]

Duke is absolutely a Pollyanna

I mean, maybe, but you were the guy on an epic freak out bender that I was trying to make bets against during your doom boner sessions back in late 2016.

 

And it worked didn’t it

[JudasIscariotTheBird]

Duke is absolutely a Pollyanna

I mean, maybe, but you were the guy on an epic freak out bender that I was trying to make bets against during your doom boner sessions back in late 2016.

 

And it worked didn’t it

http://s3.amazonaws.com/images.hitfix.com/assets/7054/sigh.gif

[soccer10k]

I'll have to wait until tomorrow to confirm but I think the Cubs just became the first team in MLB history to score exactly one run in 4 straight games with each of those runs coming by a homer!

 

Searched for streaks on B-R of games with 1 R and 1 HR and the longest was 3, done 12 times.

 

I think someone asked about the fewest runs in a 4 game set earlier also.

 

[tweet]

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[Aaron_Kennelly]

Duke is absolutely a Pollyanna

 

This means a lot coming from the guy who had a complete meltdown in the 2016 playoffs... in the NLCS... in Game 2.

[Bryants Disco Ball]

I'll have to wait until tomorrow to confirm but I think the Cubs just became the first team in MLB history to score exactly one run in 4 straight games with each of those runs coming by a homer!

 

Searched for streaks on B-R of games with 1 R and 1 HR and the longest was 3, done 12 times.

 

I think someone asked about the fewest runs in a 4 game set earlier also.

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

 

They did become the first in history.

 

Thanks for asking.

[imb]

Duke is absolutely a Pollyanna

 

This means a lot coming from the guy who had a complete meltdown in the 2016 playoffs... in the NLCS... in Game 2.

 

ummmmm actually it was game 3 thanks