7/25(Not Really) Willson.

[itisallpartoftheplan]

WILLSON.

[Tim]

WILLSON.

[Rex Buckingham]

WILLSON.

[mul21]

GEOVANY SOTO.

[squally1313]

It would be really funny if he didn't get traded at this point.

[CubinNY]

The lady doing color in the booth is on point. I love her baseball analysis.

[Bertz]

I like seeing Thompson dominate the Pirates, not because that's especially impressive but because they're now the first team he's faced twice since he added the slider. It's a nice little data point in favor of this being more breakout than hot streak.

[CubinNY]

Great play by Morel

[Bertz]

Assuming he's done after 7, Keegan Thompson since implementing his slider:

 

7 starts, 39.1 IP, 34 H, 2 HR, 11 BB, 43 K, 31.5% GB, 2.52 ERA, 2.58 FIP, 3.68 xFIP

 

He's been lucky to only give up 2 dongs with how few groundballs he's getting, but he's been legitimately fantastic. Only 25 qualified pitchers this year have a 3.68 or better xFIP.

[Tim]

:flythew: :flythew: :flythew: :flythew: :flythew: :flythew:

[bukie]

Who knew that all it would take for the Cubs to look decent was to have any sort of starting pitching at all show up at some point?

[bukie]

Pulling a reverse-UMFan here, but the Cubs have had a 3-14 stretch, a 10 game losing streak, and a 9 game losing streak, in total encompassing a 3-33 stretch in which they were outscored by 134 runs. For the rest of the season, they've been 37-24 with a +69 differential (yes, 21 of that was in one game).

[mias_tisg]

The Cubs are going to just beat up on the Reds and Pirates all 2nd half and people are going to think they have some sort of momentum into next year, aren't they?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

The Cubs are going to just beat up on the Reds and Pirates all 2nd half and people are going to think they have some sort of momentum into next year, aren't they?

 

I'm not sure that's any less representative of their future than playing all the best teams on their schedule for 2 months with 1.5 healthy starting pitchers

[champaignchris]

The Cubs are going to just beat up on the Reds and Pirates all 2nd half and people are going to think they have some sort of momentum into next year, aren't they?

 

I'm not sure that's any less representative of their future than playing all the best teams on their schedule for 2 months with 1.5 healthy starting pitchers

 

Right. This was a team that was supposed to hover just under .500 this year, which is basically what they’ve done when they’ve had at least 3 of the starting pitchers available they were supposed to have heading into the season.

 

ETA: Hendricks, Stroman, Miley and Smyly have only started 44 of 97 games this year.

[Andy]

It felt awesome to be in the stadium to give Willy 2 standing ovations. Just love the dude. Hate to lose him.