Cubs @ TB. June 11. 5:50 Central.

[Wilson A2000]

13 hours ago, Wilson A2000 said:

 

 

Edited June 12, 2024 by Wilson A2000

[17 Seconds]

7 hours ago, NorthsideAvenger said:

Cubs have not won 2 in a row against a non White Sox team since beating the Brewers are May 4-5. The Cubs have not won more than 3 games in a row since April 23-26 (Houston sweep plus first game of the Boston series). Cubs longest winning streak of the season happened between March 31 and April 5. 

With this crap bull[pen doing it's best to keep the Cubs from going on a run, I don't see how this team can go on said run. The Cubs are caught in baseball's form of quicksand. I don't see an end anytime soon. 

as others have posted, the ranger and dbacks both had similar stretches last year. the cubs are 0.5 games out of a playoff spot, and the teams they're competing with suck too.

i don't expect them to go on a run, but it would not be weird at all if they did. and even if they don't, they could literally player .500 baseball the rest of the way and still be in the WC hunt until the very end.

[NorthsideAvenger]

Just now, 17 Seconds said:

as others have posted, the ranger and dbacks both had similar stretches last year. the cubs are 0.5 games out of a playoff spot, and the teams they're competing with suck too.

 

I don't have any confidence they can do something similar. 

[17 Seconds]

3 minutes ago, NorthsideAvenger said:

I don't have any confidence they can do something similar. 

neither do i

[UMFan83]

1 hour ago, 17 Seconds said:

as others have posted, the ranger and dbacks both had similar stretches last year. the cubs are 0.5 games out of a playoff spot, and the teams they're competing with suck too.

i don't expect them to go on a run, but it would not be weird at all if they did. and even if they don't, they could literally player .500 baseball the rest of the way and still be in the WC hunt until the very end.

I'm not sure they can play .500 baseball and still be in the WC hunt until the very end.  Lets say "in it until the end" means within 3 games of a playoff spot at the end of the season.  Over the 2 years the current postseason format has been around, the average record of a team that finishes 3 games out of a WC spot is 84-78.  While the Dbacks and Marlins made it with 84 wins last year, every other WC team has had at least 87 wins.  To hit 84-78 and "stay in the race", they'd need to go 52-43 the rest of the season.  To actually hit the mark that the average WC3 team is at, they'll need to go 55-40.  

Now I know the NL only had 4 teams that are more than 1 game above .500 this year, so its possible the 3rd WC team is actually around 82-84 wins.  But there are 8 different teams that are between 1 game over .500 and 4 games under .500.  Basically a bunch of teams are bunched together playing for 2 playoff spots right now (WC2 and WC3).  I think its pretty safe to assume a couple will drop off the map (maybe Washington and Pittsburgh), but I would also assume a couple of them get hot as well.  The Cubs might be one of those teams, but if they aren't, playing .500 ball for the rest of the year is likely going to have them out of the race by mid-September.

Edited June 12, 2024 by UMFan83

[731.4life]

4 hours ago, CubinNY said:

Doesn't he work in Boston now?

Referring to Counsell, not Breslow.

[squally1313]

6 hours ago, 731.4life said:

Part of the blame does still go on the offense for only scoring two runs last night. I'll also say this, and I'll use Mason Miller's name as an example since he is on the trading block from Oakland. If Craig wants Mason to be his closer for years to come (I believe Mason is a free agent after 2029 season), then the deal is going to get done whether if the team is in the race or not. I have a good feeling Craig is going to demand a great bullpen for next year because I have a feeling he's tired of seeing this.

So Counsell's super power is that he....can just demand the front office use serious resources to find him a new Devin Williams? Why did we need to pay him all that money for that?