8/28 - Brewers (Miley) vs Cubs (Taillon): 7:05pm, Marquee

[Brock Beauchamp]

Now the real fun begins!

[CubinNY]

horsefeathers the Brewers. They aren't horsefeathers. Wade Miley is just the type of pitcher to give the Cubs fits. 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

why does Miley's picture look like he hasn't slept in 3 days

[Brock Beauchamp]

5 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

why does Miley's picture look like he hasn't slept in 3 days

He probably injured himself during the photoshoot.

[Tryptamine]

Well, they basically have to take 2 of 3 if they realistically want to keep the division in play. For wild card purposes, they need to go no worse than 1-2 if they want to keep themselves in good position. 

[Soul]

Other than a respite later in September (Pirates/Rockies), the Cubs are going through the gauntlet from here 'til the end.  If they do make the playoffs, it will be because they played well against good teams. 

[squally1313]

29 minutes ago, Soul said:

Other than a respite later in September (Pirates/Rockies), the Cubs are going through the gauntlet from here 'til the end.  If they do make the playoffs, it will be because they played well against good teams. 

After this series, the Cubs have 23 consecutive games against teams with a negative run differential, before finishing up with 6 against Atlanta and Milwaukee. 

[SOFNR]

I've got absolutely no faith in Taillon in a big game. Hopefully they can steal this one.

Edited August 28, 2023 by SOFNR

[Tryptamine]

14 minutes ago, SOFNR said:

I've got absolutely no faith in Taillon in a big game. Hopefully they can steal this one.

If he can keep it to 3 or 4 runs over 6 innings, I'll be pretty thrilled.

[JBears79]

Got high hopes for this series. 

[CubinNY]

45 minutes ago, JBears79 said:

Got high hopes for this series. 

Yes, me too. Mostly because it will be a good measuring stick for the rest of the year. I think the Cubs are a better team, but I'm not sure if they will stand up due to the pitching. 

[squally1313]

There haven't been many runs more impressive than the one the Brewers are on. Having said that, they need to end eventually, and more importantly, Wade Miley sucks. Take care of this one, enjoy Steele v Burns, and then hopefully Kyle can steal one on getaway day. 

[champaignchris]

I know the Brewers have been hitting a ton during this streak they’re on, but in the aggregate, they’ve been a really bad offensive team. 
 

They only have two regulars having at least above average seasons (Yelich and Contreras).  Their third best regular in OPS+ is Adames with 89. They’re 14th in the NL in batting average, 11th in OBP, 15th in SLG and 15th in OPS. 
 

The Cubs score .67 runs more a game than they do. 
 

If the Brewers win games 3-2, 2-1, ok, whatever. Tip the cap. Their pitchers shut the Cubs down.  But if they score a bunch of runs, that will be really annoying. 

[UMFan83]

40 minutes ago, champaignchris said:

I know the Brewers have been hitting a ton during this streak they’re on, but in the aggregate, they’ve been a really bad offensive team. 
 

They only have two regulars having at least above average seasons (Yelich and Contreras).  Their third best regular in OPS+ is Adames with 89. They’re 14th in the NL in batting average, 11th in OBP, 15th in SLG and 15th in OPS. 
 

The Cubs score .67 runs more a game than they do. 
 

If the Brewers win games 3-2, 2-1, ok, whatever. Tip the cap. Their pitchers shut the Cubs down.  But if they score a bunch of runs, that will be really annoying. 

For tonight I'm really worried about Taillon.  The Brewers have several lefthanded (or SH) bats that can crush pitching and several of them are hitting well right now.  We all know Taillon's struggles against lefites.  Taillon was the one Cubs starter that missed the 4 gamer in Milwaukee in July, but pitched against them way back in the opening series of the season back in April and gave up 3 runs on 7 hits in just 4 IP.

Also, I went over to the BrewerFan site that I've been creeping on for 16 years to see what they were saying expecting to pull out some gems of disrespect but to my surprise they were largely respectful of the Cubs. 

I'm more nervous about the series in more of a "the Brewers have annoyed their way into being my 2nd least favorite team" standpoint and I'd love to quiet them down, but I'm not terribly concerned about the division.  I want to win it of course, but if we lose I'll be more worried about who we might be losing ground to in the WC race than I will be lamenting falling another game behind Milwaukee.  Others may feel different, I just see the division as cool bragging rights and an extra playoff spot to go after but not something that changes the Cubs odds of advancing much in October.

Edited August 28, 2023 by UMFan83

[squally1313]

Yeah, a bad series here for me is more problematic in the sense that we'd be struggling going into a road series against Cincinnati and potentially letting them back in the door for the wild card. 

[BearDown1223]

12 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

Yeah, a bad series here for me is more problematic in the sense that we'd be struggling going into a road series against Cincinnati and potentially letting them back in the door for the wild card. 

It's going to be a roller coaster all the way to the end.  Just 2 weeks ago, it looked like Arizona was dead and SF was going to run away with a WC spot.  In the last 10, ARI is 8-2 and SF is 3-7.  A lot is going to happen in this last month.  I'm just happy that we are enjoying competitive baseball in August / September. 

[squally1313]

1 minute ago, BearDown1223 said:

It's going to be a roller coaster all the way to the end.  Just 2 weeks ago, it looked like Arizona was dead and SF was going to run away with a WC spot.  In the last 10, ARI is 8-2 and SF is 3-7.  A lot is going to happen in this last month.  I'm just happy that we are enjoying competitive baseball in August / September. 

Yeah absolutely. A month ago everyone was trying to figure out how many playoff games we'd get out of being buyers. Which completely overlooks how fun it is to watch a competitive team in the thick of a race for weeks on end. Not saying that Jeimer and Cuas brought us here themselves, but trading Cody, Gomes, Hendricks, etc might have taken us out of getting this. 

[Irrelevant Dude]

1 hour ago, BearDown1223 said:

I'm just happy that we are enjoying competitive baseball in August / September. 

I completely agree. I'm taking one of my kids to Wrigley tonight, my dad next week, and my other kid next weekend.  I can't remember the last time I've been to 3 games in such a short timespan.  It's fun to be playing meaningful late-season games.

[CubinNY]

I’m getting hyped! Hopefully Swanson can pull himself out his funk

[Rcal10]

50 minutes ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

I completely agree. I'm taking one of my kids to Wrigley tonight, my dad next week, and my other kid next weekend.  I can't remember the last time I've been to 3 games in such a short timespan.  It's fun to be playing meaningful late-season games.

I just sat down in my seats. Hoping for an exciting game.

[CubinNY]

horsefeathers Christ

[Irrelevant Dude]

I still can't stand Taillon.

[Rex Buckingham]

lefties lighting him up already, even though the FB to Yelich wasn't terrible

[Michael Busch Light]

Left hand hitters must be hitting like a billion against Taillon

[CubinNY]

Can we start over please?