4/8/24 - Cubs (Assad) @ Padre (Darvish) - 8:40 WFT MARQ

[PackLandVA]

Well, the Cubs finished their season-opening homestand in nice fashion, a convincing win against the vauntedTM Dodgers. Up next for them is a 9-game road trip out west, starting in San Diego. I know it says "San Diego" or "Padres" across the front of their uniforms.  But based on the last couple of seasons, maybe it should read:

 

Cubs will be facing another pretty darn good pitcher in Yu Darvish.  He was pretty dominant last year when he faced the Cubs.  Although that lineup featured the likes of Rios, Barnhardt, Mastrobuoni, and Mervis. This time around will be a little different. His reaction, you ask, when he saw the Cubs' recent lineup successes:

 

 

Cubs have Javier on the bump. Not the cool one from days gone by. Rather, it's the Assad version. The little known, little thought of pitcher that wears glasses better suited for a chemist.  Or an accountant.  But all he does is keeps pitching well.

 

I'm driving out to San Diego, but not for tonight's game. I'll be at the next two, but why wait until then.  Let's get this road trip (the Cubs' and mine) started out on the right foot with a win.

 

#WhyNotUS!!

 

Edited April 9, 2024 by PackLandVA

[JHBulls]

At this rate Tom Ricketts is going to need to beat free agents off with a stick from wanting to come here this winter…

Edited April 8, 2024 by JHBulls

[Bertz]

This is going to be an interesting series.  On paper it probably ought to be a bludgeoning by the Padres, but their roster is real thin.  The bottom of their batting order is very light hitting, and their bullpen has been a huge mess.

The offense has been great about grinding down starters and getting them out of the game early.  I think of they can continue that this series there's a good chance to pull out a W or two.

[CubinNY]

West coast trips have historically been tough on Ciubs teams. I'm hoping for 5-4 or 4-5 on this one. 

[Rob]

45 minutes ago, Bertz said:

This is going to be an interesting series.  On paper it probably ought to be a bludgeoning by the Padres, but their roster is real thin.  The bottom of their batting order is very light hitting, and their bullpen has been a huge mess.

The offense has been great about grinding down starters and getting them out of the game early.  I think of they can continue that this series there's a good chance to pull out a W or two.

I mean, choose your projection system, but the Fangraphs opening day power rankings had the Padres just one slot ahead of the Cubs, with a 1512 ELO compared to the Cubs 1508. Their depth charts rankings had us like 17th to the Padres 13th. And I'm sure there's plenty of other ways to look at it.

Long story short, I think we're approximately in the same tier as the Padres. Losing Steele hurt, though. But not enough that I'd say we "ought to be" bludgeoned.

[Jason Ross]

Man, west coast series are brutal for the EST folk. Game starts at 9:40pm. Ugh. I'm alssp by 10:20. I hate being old!

[Transmogrified Tiger]

9 minutes ago, Rob said:

I mean, choose your projection system, but the Fangraphs opening day power rankings had the Padres just one slot ahead of the Cubs, with a 1512 ELO compared to the Cubs 1508. Their depth charts rankings had us like 17th to the Padres 13th. And I'm sure there's plenty of other ways to look at it.

Long story short, I think we're approximately in the same tier as the Padres. Losing Steele hurt, though. But not enough that I'd say we "ought to be" bludgeoned.

I think that's mostly based on the pitching matchups, which are about as tilted to the extreme as is possible considering it's the Padres best 3 starters against the Cubs w/o Steele or Shota:

 

[Rob]

5 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

I think that's mostly based on the pitching matchups, which are about as tilted to the extreme as is possible considering it's the Padres best 3 starters against the Cubs w/o Steele or Shota:

 

Ooof. Yeah, no. I hadn't looked at those. Rough.

[We Got The Whole 9]

I think we're gonna pound their pitchers; not concerned. I'm calling a huge series from Busch and Belli. 

[Irrelevant Dude]

6 hours ago, 1908_Cubs said:

Man, west coast series are brutal for the EST folk. Game starts at 9:40pm. Ugh. I'm alssp by 10:20. I hate being old!

I'm not an EST person, but I have always loved West Coast games.  As a kid, it usually meant my parents were in bed and I could watch the game in peace.  As an adult, it usually means my wife and kids are in bed and I can relax and watch the game in peace.  Everything between 6-9pm is usually occupied with the kids in one way or another, so West Coast games are a good opportunity to sit back and watch a game when all the day's responsibilities have been finished.

[Rob]

Since I was talking about Fangraphs Power Rankings earlier, I'll mention they updated the rankings. Cubs are sitting 4th right now, behind the Braves, Dodgers, and Yankees. Padres all the way down at 21 due to their rough start.

[Jason Ross]

41 minutes ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

I'm not an EST person, but I have always loved West Coast games.  As a kid, it usually meant my parents were in bed and I could watch the game in peace.  As an adult, it usually means my wife and kids are in bed and I can relax and watch the game in peace.  Everything between 6-9pm is usually occupied with the kids in one way or another, so West Coast games are a good opportunity to sit back and watch a game when all the day's responsibilities have been finished.

I'm a teacher, so the West Coast swing between late May - early August is a good time; I can stay up late without worry; the partner goes to bed and I can sip a bourbon and watch the game downstairs. But man, a 9:40, or even worse, a 10:10pm start...for a week straight? I just can't go to bed at 12am+ and then wake up at 5:30am and deal with 120 teenagers at my age any more. They're brutal. I can pull a SNF/MNF or something during the fall/winter knowing I'll go to bed at 11:45pm 2-4 times a season when the Eagles are on, but I end up missing, basically, a full week of Cub games because it's just impossible.

[KCCub]

Wow Framber Valdez scratched due to an elbow injury…. 

[Jason Ross]

14 minutes ago, KCCub said:

Wow Framber Valdez scratched due to an elbow injury…. 

Framber Valdez is another pitcher (along with Bieber and Strider) who have a history of elbow injuries Doing some research, many teams refused to sign Framber as an IFA because they thought he needed TJS and already had a UCL injury. 

[chibears55]

In case you were wondering about PCA yesterday. 

 

[chibears55]

7 hours ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

I think that's mostly based on the pitching matchups, which are about as tilted to the extreme as is possible considering it's the Padres best 3 starters against the Cubs w/o Steele or Shota:

 

With these matchups,  just gotta hope they can get 1 of 3, and then who knows maybe a little luck falls theirvway and they can nab 2 games.

9 game west coast trip without Steele, just hoping they can get 4 or 5 at least.  

[Stratos]

1 hour ago, Rob said:

Since I was talking about Fangraphs Power Rankings earlier, I'll mention they updated the rankings. Cubs are sitting 4th right now, behind the Braves, Dodgers, and Yankees. Padres all the way down at 21 due to their rough start.

So we went from a .500 team to the 4th best team in the MLB because of 6 games, 3 against the Rockies at home?  That seems odd.  They still have our playoff odds at 51% haha.

Edited April 8, 2024 by Stratos

[Stratos]

7 hours ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

I think we're gonna pound their pitchers; not concerned. I'm calling a huge series from Busch and Belli. 

We'll have to see how we hit (and pitch...and field) on the road.

Edited April 8, 2024 by Stratos

[Stratos]

25 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

In case you were wondering about PCA yesterday. 

 

Tommy John LOL

[Rcal10]

48 minutes ago, 1908_Cubs said:

I'm a teacher, so the West Coast swing between late May - early August is a good time; I can stay up late without worry; the partner goes to bed and I can sip a bourbon and watch the game downstairs. But man, a 9:40, or even worse, a 10:10pm start...for a week straight? I just can't go to bed at 12am+ and then wake up at 5:30am and deal with 120 teenagers at my age any more. They're brutal. I can pull a SNF/MNF or something during the fall/winter knowing I'll go to bed at 11:45pm 2-4 times a season when the Eagles are on, but I end up missing, basically, a full week of Cub games because it's just impossible.

Might sound strange, but when I moved a criteria I had when deciding where to move was time zone. I would have never moved from Chicago to the east coast. Wanted a warm climate so we chose  Arizona over Florida or Carolina with one of the biggest reasons being I like the time zone. All baseball season Az is 2 hours earlier. I am someone who gets up early and probably is sleeping by 10. Not an issue here. In the east coast I would miss a lot of live sports. 

[Jason Ross]

21 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Might sound strange, but when I moved a criteria I had when deciding where to move was time zone. I would have never moved from Chicago to the east coast. Wanted a warm climate so we chose  Arizona over Florida or Carolina with one of the biggest reasons being I like the time zone. All baseball season Az is 2 hours earlier. I am someone who gets up early and probably is sleeping by 10. Not an issue here. In the east coast I would miss a lot of live sports. 

No, makes perfect sense! Even just growing up in Chicago, it was easier to watch games. For example, game starts at 8:40pm tonight...I could stay up until...11pm and be fine. This extra hour, all week, is a killer. What's annoying is that last week was my Spring Break! I could have stayed up!

[Stratos]

27 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Might sound strange, but when I moved a criteria I had when deciding where to move was time zone. I would have never moved from Chicago to the east coast. Wanted a warm climate so we chose  Arizona over Florida or Carolina with one of the biggest reasons being I like the time zone. All baseball season Az is 2 hours earlier. I am someone who gets up early and probably is sleeping by 10. Not an issue here. In the east coast I would miss a lot of live sports. 

You're a hero for making major life decisions based around baseball.  ST in AZ is another bonus.  You could moved to Myrtle Beach haha.  The Carolinas sound nice, never been though.  Been to Tennessee, it was beautiful.  Not into the desert vibe, though not a fan of the humidity in the south/Florida either haha.

Edited April 8, 2024 by Stratos

[Jason Ross]

Lineup tonight:

Happ - LF
Suzuki - DH
Bellinger - CF
Morel - 3b
Swanson - SS
Busch - 1b
Hoerner - 2b
Tauchman - RF
Amaya - C

[Jason Ross]

This is awesome. 

[chibears55]

1 hour ago, Stratos said:

So we went from a .500 team to the 4th best team in the MLB because of 6 games, 3 against the Rockies at home?  That seems odd.  They still have our playoff odds at 51% haha.

Probably more so because they took 2 of 3 from Dodgers and pounded them yesterday..lol