9/21 - Pirates (Oviedo) vs Cubs (Hendricks): 6:40pm, Marquee

[Brock Beauchamp]

Okay, it's must-win time. The Cubs need to decisively win three of the next four against the Pirates and Rockies. After that, it's three with the Braves (who won't be trying but a half-assed Atlanta team is still potent) and then the Brewers, which is interesting because it's looking more and more like if the Cubs make the postseason, they'll be heading to Milwaukee for the opening series.

[Derwood]

I would bet large sums of money that Dansby will be hitting higher than Seiya again

[s2obed]

14 minutes ago, Derwood said:

I would bet large sums of money that Dansby will be hitting higher than Seiya again

You'd win easily. Unfortunately, Ross is pretty set on his player usage and daily lineups. There is no reason Seiya shouldn't be hitting 4th behind Belli.

[BearDown1223]

Any updates on Fulmer or Alzolay?

[Rex Buckingham]

26 minutes ago, BearDown1223 said:

Any updates on Fulmer or Alzolay?

haven't seen any updates... Fulmer having the same issue and going back on the IL after only 1 appearance after his previous IL stint sure doesn't seem like good news.

[UMFan83]

34 minutes ago, BearDown1223 said:

Any updates on Fulmer or Alzolay?

Don't think you'll see Fulmer unless we make the playoffs.  Alzolay the last thing I heard was they were hoping it was similar short stint like Fulmer which....yeah.  I don't think he's eligible to come off the IL until like Monday anyways.

[squally1313]

For mostly nostalgia reasons, I was hoping the next competitive Cubs team would happen before Hendricks was totally done. I envisioned him playing like the Maddux role for those early 2000s teams...back end starter, providing tutelage behind the scenes, etc. But here we are with like 10 games left, with a playoff spot and he's at least our second best starter these days. Wild. 

[UMFan83]

Last night game of the year at Wrigley unless by some miracle the Cubs get WC1 or advance to the NLDS

[UMFan83]

Worth noting that every single WC competitor except the Phillies are off today.  Considering that a long shot, here are the best and worst case scenarios after tonight:

Best:

WC2 - Arizona 1 GA

WC3 - Cubs --

-------------------

Out 1 - Marlins 1 GB

Out 2 - Reds 1.5 GB

 

Worst:

WC2 - Arizona 2 GA

WC3 - Marlins Tied/ahead with tiebreaker

----------------------

Out 1 - Cubs Tied/Lose tiebreaker

Out 2 - Reds 0.5 GB

[WhyCantWeWin]

Good to see Tauchman and Mastroboner back in there. :)) 

[s2obed]

1 minute ago, WhyCantWeWin said:

Good to see Tauchman and Mastroboner back in there. :)) 

Cubs scored 7 and they contributed last night 🤷‍♂️

[UMFan83]

Swanson has a .614 OPS over his last 40 games, Seiya 1.106.  Makes perfect sense to hit them 5th and 6th 

[UMFan83]

Also for those that asked about Adbert - don't expect him to come back.  Doubtful on Fulmer too

 

[Irrelevant Dude]

5 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Swanson has a .614 OPS over his last 40 games, Seiya 1.106.  Makes perfect sense to hit them 5th and 6th 

Don't worry. I'm sure Swanson won't come up to bat in the middle of a big rally.

[UMFan83]

2 minutes ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

Don't worry. I'm sure Swanson won't come up to bat in the middle of a big rally.

When we were counting all the times a rally/game ended with Bellinger on deck we should have been doing that with Seiya.

[UMFan83]

What are the odds we're in a playoff spot by Sunday evening? (btw, I realize that this had to be the rotation going into the series, just sucks to see it all laid out like that.  The Rockies pitchers mostly suck but that didn't matter last week)

Edited September 21, 2023 by UMFan83

[CubinNY]

I still think they will find a way to get a playoff spot. They are better than Miami and at least as good as the Reds (maybe right now).  They are probably better than Arizona, but they are playing better right now. Winners of 5 in a row.

[squally1313]

11 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

What are the odds we're in a playoff spot by Sunday evening? (btw, I realize that this had to be the rotation going into the series, just sucks to see it all laid out like that.  The Rockies pitchers mostly suck but that didn't matter last week)

Rockies are OPSing .650 on the road this year, worst in baseball. If we can't avoid the walks against that lineup for a weekend, we don't really deserve to play past next week. 

(We still might, obviously, because baseball is weird and not too long ago we kinda made 'beating good teams' our identity. But I'm pretty pessimistic on the overall pitching at this point. horsefeathers it, go see if Horton can give you a couple innings every few days.)

[Irrelevant Dude]

I just realized that, with his status for next year being unknown, this could very well be Hendricks' last Wrigley start as a Cub.  I hope that isn't the case, but I have really come to appreciate him more over the years. Looking back at the 2016 team, he may end up being my favorite player out of everyone.

[UMFan83]

1 hour ago, TomtheBombadil said:

More fun with arbitrary endpoints: .307/.349/.516 with 8 XBHs (2 HRs) in the 15 games prior to last night 

More fun with arbitrary endpoints:  .000/.000/.000 with 4 Ks in his last 5 ABs 😉

[UMFan83]

Since were doing SSS shenanigans, Tauchman is 0-6 with 4 K's against the Pirates starter tonight.

[Derwood]

2 hours ago, TomtheBombadil said:

More fun with arbitrary endpoints: .307/.349/.516 with 8 XBHs (2 HRs) in the 15 games prior to last night 

What his slash line with runners in scoring position over that time?

[squally1313]

I wasn’t super kidding about Horton by the way. Would have much more confidence in him than Cuas

[UMFan83]

Weak perfectly placed grounder for a single, that doesn’t feel ominous or anything 

[chibears55]

3 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

Swanson has a .614 OPS over his last 40 games, Seiya 1.106.  Makes perfect sense to hit them 5th and 6th 

Someone gotta hit there, they all can't bat 1-3 🤷‍♂️