Cubs (Steele) vs Reds (Lodolo): 6/7/24, 6:10pm

[Cubfanintheknow]

Baseball is supposed to be fun. This is not fun.

[UMFan83]

Seiya about to miss extended time with his 4th oblique injury in 3 years. Maybe they’ll bring up Brennen Davis and inject some life into the clubhouse but they’ll probably just call up Madrigal

 

edit: forgot madrigal got hurt, Mastrobuoni then

Edited June 8, 2024 by UMFan83

[Outshined_One]

Just now, UMFan83 said:

Seiya about to miss extended time with his 4th oblique injury in 3 years. Maybe they’ll bring up Brennen Davis and inject some life into the clubhouse but they’ll probably just call up Madrigal

Nicky No Dingers broke his hand a day or two ago.

[Derwood]

I could see him reacting to it a game or two ago

[Tryptamine]

Teams that are supposedly good, do not go through stretches like this for this long. The only thing stopping the last few weeks from being a completely and total meltdown is a  historically bad White Sox team and that required two come backs.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

13 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

Teams that are supposedly good, do not go through stretches like this for this long. The only thing stopping the last few weeks from being a completely and total meltdown is a  historically bad White Sox team and that required two come backs.

Both World Series teams last year had similar or worse stretches, after the all-star break.

[UMFan83]

24 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

Teams that are supposedly good, do not go through stretches like this for this long. The only thing stopping the last few weeks from being a completely and total meltdown is a  historically bad White Sox team and that required two come backs.

The Diamondbacks had a 3-17 stretch in July/August last year that put them 2 games under .500 on August 11th.  The Marlins had a 9-18 stretch in August that put them 1 game under .500 on August 30th.  There is still time and precedent for this Cubs team to turn it around.  That said, there are a number of things that concern me:

-Not a good defensive team, not sure how you fix the issues at 3B, 1B, C

-Has maybe 1 reliable bullpen arm, and even that guy is more of a solid setup man than a shutdown reliever.  Maybe Merryweather and Almonte plus pushing Brown to the pen helps it improve.

-Has a massive black hole at a position that's difficult to fix midseason

-Is now dealing with more injury issues with Seiya and Nico plus still missing Merryweather, Alzolay and Almonte for at least another month or so

On the plus side, despite the regression the starting pitching is still very good, the schedule is lighter for awhile and the hitters as a whole have started to hit better.  It does feel like we're getting some bad luck mixed in with our crappy play.

Edited June 8, 2024 by UMFan83

[UMFan83]

7 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Both World Series teams last year had similar or worse stretches, after the all-star break.

Ahh yes forgot about the Rangers.  4-16 stretch in August/September right as they were playing Milwaukee and Arizona.  Great stuff.  Maybe Jed has figured out the new undervalued attribute is teams with massive slumps midseason.

[JHBulls]

Jed and the FO in June 2025 after they promise a good team this winter:

 

Edited June 8, 2024 by JHBulls

[Stratos]

4 hours ago, chibears55 said:

Maybe, that where he was holding 

I saw Suzuki rubbing his oblique a game or 2 ago, more like the lat muscle under the armpit.  I was concerned then.  Thought hopefully it was just a habit from during the injury beforehand.

He got hit in the ribs today, I think it's the other side (left), I imagine that can hurt when it hits bone, hopefully nothing serious.

[Stratos]

Several guys on this team including Counsell are getting visibly frustrated.  Hard to blame them.  But pressing isn't going to do any good either, so that's worrisome.

Amaya is underwhelming, Gomes has been horrible, Busch has major swing and miss issues and holes in his plate coverage, and pitchers are mostly staying away on Morel with breaking and offspeed stuff where he hasn't adjusted which has been the story on him every season after a hot start, while his defense is terrible.  That's 3 positions where we have issues that may not be fixed on their own, though Bellinger can always play 1B if needed.

Hoping the other more established guys can turn it around offensively like Happ has.

[Stratos]

Interesting that the only one team not in 1st place right now is over .500, the Braves.  Wildcard could be interesting.  Only 4 teams in NL over .500 so far this season.

[NorthsideAvenger]

Keep digging that hole Cubs. 

[Derwood]

6 hours ago, Stratos said:

Several guys on this team including Counsell are getting visibly frustrated.  Hard to blame them.  But pressing isn't going to do any good either, so that's worrisome.

Amaya is underwhelming, Gomes has been horrible, Busch has major swing and miss issues and holes in his plate coverage, and pitchers are mostly staying away on Morel with breaking and offspeed stuff where he hasn't adjusted which has been the story on him every season after a hot start, while his defense is terrible.  That's 3 positions where we have issues that may not be fixed on their own, though Bellinger can always play 1B if needed.

Hoping the other more established guys can turn it around offensively like Happ has.

And Bellinger is trying to hit everything to the moon and has a cold zone center/center

 

And Dansby looks like he doesn’t care anymore

And Hoerner is built like a tank but has Madrigal power

[Bertz]

10 hours ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Both World Series teams last year had similar or worse stretches, after the all-star break.

I think 98% of statements that start with "good teams don't" are wrong, and not just a little wrong but like wildly wrong.

[Max Power]

How do you say “made of glass” in Japanese?

[UMFan83]

1 hour ago, Max Power said:

How do you say “made of glass” in Japanese?

ガラスでできている