8/22 White Sox (Lopez) vs. Cubs (Hendricks) / 7:15pm CDT / Marquee

[Sosa21MVP]

I thought Bote was going deep for a half second there.

[UMFan83]

I thought Bote was going deep for a half second there.

 

Abreu just showed him how a real man hits it out to left center

[Derwood]

I’m really annoyed that the Sox are donging the way the Cubs SHOULD be donging

[Andy]

This team sucks and Ross is making really dumb moves

There was probably nothing Ross could do to screw up the hot start, and there's definitely nothing he can do about how bad these guys suck right now

[UMFan83]

This is why it was critical to win those games the pen almost blew early in the season. We needed to build a cushion and we did. Now we try to hang on with multiple glaring holes in our rotation, still iffy pen and an offense that has barely been touched for years despite being extremely streaky (albeit pretty good overall)

[Cubswin11]

This team sucks and Ross is making really dumb moves

There was probably nothing Ross could do to screw up the hot start, and there's definitely nothing he can do about how bad these guys suck right now

Bringing in your best reliever after giving the make a wish kid an AB in a 1 run game is not smart. Either try and win or fold. Phegley has no business taking that AB and if he does you’re giving up and then you shouldn’t go to your best RP. He’s been bad. Also trying to get multiple innings out of these 1 inning RPs has been dumb too.

[UMFan83]

HRs this series:

 

White Sox - 8

Cubs - 0

 

Update:

 

White Sox - 11

Cubs - 0

 

I miss the excitement of a young emerging team. Almost makes me want the Cubs to do another gut rebuild

[soccer10k]

Underwood is bad even by mop up guy/last man in the pen standards.

[Derwood]

Underwood sucks ass

 

Cubs have lost all plate discipline

[We Got The Whole 9]

This is why it was critical to win those games the pen almost blew early in the season. We needed to build a cushion and we did. Now we try to hang on with multiple glaring holes in our rotation, still iffy pen and an offense that has barely been touched for years despite being extremely streaky (albeit pretty good overall)

We draw some walks and slug some HR but this team can't horsefeathering hit.

 

And Abreu hits the hat trick.

 

This series has been depressing.

[UMFan83]

So umm Underwood is not a major league pitcher

[Bertz]

Underwood sucks ass

 

Cubs have lost all plate discipline

 

Ummm 5 walks to only 7 strikeouts tonight? Like there's many things to criticize about this team but plate discipline is among the last.

[UMFan83]

This is why it was critical to win those games the pen almost blew early in the season. We needed to build a cushion and we did. Now we try to hang on with multiple glaring holes in our rotation, still iffy pen and an offense that has barely been touched for years despite being extremely streaky (albeit pretty good overall)

We draw some walks and slug some HR but this team can't horsefeathering hit.

 

And Abreu hits the hat trick.

 

This series has been depressing.

 

They will hit. They will go through a week stretch where they will crush the ball and everyone will think the Cubs put it together again. But it’s the same team we’ve seen the last several years. Based on wRC+ the Cubs are about the 10th best offense in baseball since 2017 but I would guess they’ve underperformed that by a bit. If you score 10 runs in 10 straight games and score 1 run in each of the next 10 games, you are averaging 5.5 runs a game but you are probably 10-10 in those games. Conversely, if you score exactly 6 runs in each of the next 20 games, you are probably something like 15-5.

 

Now no team is immune to streaks and slumps, that’s baseball. But it really seems like the Cubs peaks and valleys are larger than most teams. Wish there was a way to prove that.

[We Got The Whole 9]

He is all over the place. Don't get yourselves out.

[PackLandVA]

Rizzo with some solid contact today nothing to show for it.

[We Got The Whole 9]

Much better result than the walk we was really trying to give you, Tony

 

[17 Seconds]

at this point i think i'd prefer a season where they outright suck instead of constantly tricking us into thinking they might still be good

[Cubswin11]

Somehow they’re 16-10. But they suck.

[UMFan83]

Somehow they’re 16-10. But they suck.

 

16-10 with a run differential of +3

[17 Seconds]

their rd is over 10x higher than ours. fun times

[Cubswin11]

Somehow they’re 16-10. But they suck.

 

16-10 with a run differential of +3

Yeah, they suck. They’re the Brewers basically but have somehow sequenced some wins despite the underlying data saying they’re ass.

[Bertz]

This is why it was critical to win those games the pen almost blew early in the season. We needed to build a cushion and we did. Now we try to hang on with multiple glaring holes in our rotation, still iffy pen and an offense that has barely been touched for years despite being extremely streaky (albeit pretty good overall)

We draw some walks and slug some HR but this team can't horsefeathering hit.

 

And Abreu hits the hat trick.

 

This series has been depressing.

 

They will hit. They will go through a week stretch where they will crush the ball and everyone will think the Cubs put it together again. But it’s the same team we’ve seen the last several years. Based on wRC+ the Cubs are about the 10th best offense in baseball since 2017 but I would guess they’ve underperformed that by a bit. If you score 10 runs in 10 straight games and score 1 run in each of the next 10 games, you are averaging 5.5 runs a game but you are probably 10-10 in those games. Conversely, if you score exactly 6 runs in each of the next 20 games, you are probably something like 15-5.

 

Now no team is immune to streaks and slumps, that’s baseball. But it really seems like the Cubs peaks and valleys are larger than most teams. Wish there was a way to prove that.

 

I think, broadly, that BABIP is streakier than we tend to admit and power is WAY WAY WAY streakier than we are willing to admit. People always want to diagnose the ebbs and flows of an offense but that's the bulk of it. And when you have a low contact group like this one, you're getting fewer bites at the apple and it's going to be more pronounced.

 

Why the offense has always been a whole less than the sum of its parts is something I bet a whole thesis could be written on. My theories are A) a homegeniety in strengths/weaknesses and B) there's always been a few too many places in the lineup for pitchers to run and hide.