A's (Basso) vs Cubs (Steele): 9/18/24, 1:20pm

[We Got The Whole 9]

Playing out the string and potentially losing series to the Rockies and A's back to back lol

[UMFan83]

Meh.  Id rather them do this than win like 85 games and have Jed thinking this team just needs a small tweak

[JHBulls]

Not sure if I agree with JD and Boog that if Swanson got his “A” throw off the runner probably would have been safe. The baseball was literally bouncing along the ground and Bethancourt fielded it a few moments after the running crossed the plate. 

I think it’s at this very moment that I have caught myself still being invested in what is happening…. like, wow.

Edited September 18, 2024 by JHBulls

[We Got The Whole 9]

5 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Meh.  Id rather them do this than win like 85 games and have Jed thinking this team just needs a small tweak

But they do. They have a group of position players well in the top-half of fwar, they have 2 well above-average SP, a couple MORP, and more on the way, with a stable of power arms. They don't need a major overhaul. I'd like for them to finish as far above 500 as possible. 

[Derwood]

Just lose 2 of 3 to Washington next to keep rubbing the salt in

[WhyCantWeWin]

This team is so mediocre, cant even beat the crappiest teams in garbage time. Really looking forward to watching this exact same uninspiring squad next year. Hoyer and ownership can get away with it because it seems like the majority of fans are stupid enough to pay the increased prices and seemed to have bought in that this exact same team can somehow be more competitive next year. 
 

This is literally year 2 of the exact same team failing to reach the horsefeathers playoffs. 

[Stratos]

1 hour ago, gflore34 said:

Another example of the strike zone changing from inning to inning, that 2-1 pitch called a strike against Suzuki was a ball in the top of the inning.

So ready for these clowns to be removed from the strike determining equation.

What do you think is more annoying?:  bad calls, or having to read fans complaining about every bad call game after game after game followed by the inevitable petition for the automatic strikezone?

I have my answer.  It's worse than the inevitable complaining any time Sutcliffe is on the air.

WE GET IT!!!!!

[Chicago Al]

Brewers clinch the NL Central, disgusted to say this…

[gflore34]

6 minutes ago, Chicago Al said:

Brewers clinch the NL Central, disgusted to say this…

I know anything is possible in the playoffs still, they shouldn't go too far, quite probably will lose to Arizona in the first round.

[sweetpeteman]

And whatever team beats them will make the World Series

[Donzo]

49 minutes ago, Stratos said:

What do you think is more annoying?:  bad calls, or having to read fans complaining about every bad call game after game after game?

New to message boards?

One has consequences the other doesn't.

[chibears55]

1 hour ago, UMFan83 said:

Meh.  Id rather them do this than win like 85 games and have Jed thinking this team just needs a small tweak

But I bet the over 84.5 

😆

I also bet over Bellinger hitting 24 HRs and Cubs making playoffs.

So, they were doomed from the start..lol

[chibears55]

Tigers are making a run for a WC spot

AL central can have 3 teams in postseason, and have 4 of top 7 in AL best record. 

Fun to be able to beat up on the Whitesox 😅

Edited September 18, 2024 by chibears55

[Rcal10]

2 hours ago, Derwood said:

Just lose 2 of 3 to Washington next to keep rubbing the salt in

What do you want them to do in the 4th game of the series? 

[Rcal10]

3 hours ago, gflore34 said:

The main issue is consistency, I believe pitchers and batters can live with any strike zone as long as what's a strike in the first inning is a strike in the ninth inning.  As we've seen on many occasions home plate umpires are not consistent.

I disagree. There is a strike zone for a reason. The ball needs to be in the zone for it to be a strike. A hitter shouldn’t have to adjust to an umpire consistently calling a ball 2 inches off the plate a strike. Same with 2 inches wrong anywhere around the plate. Pitches need to be called correctly. 

[Derwood]

1 hour ago, Rcal10 said:

What do you want them to do in the 4th game of the series? 

forfeit

[UMFan83]

3 hours ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

But they do. They have a group of position players well in the top-half of fwar, they have 2 well above-average SP, a couple MORP, and more on the way, with a stable of power arms. They don't need a major overhaul. I'd like for them to finish as far above 500 as possible. 

They don’t need a major overhaul but they need more than a small tweak. We shouldn’t be trying to build 86 win teams.   You need a legitimate middle of the order 6+ win bat and a TOR starter at the very least. That is no small tweak

[LBiittner]

6 hours ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

Playing out the string and potentially losing series to the Rockies and A's back to back lol

I'm glad we're not playing the whitesox anymore. I'd hate to see how they'd fare.

[CubsLeaf]

This team was designed to be mediocre so we shouldn't be surprised by the results.  They'll run back the same team next year and maybe they'll get lucky that time.

[thawv]

14 hours ago, gflore34 said:

The main issue is consistency, I believe pitchers and batters can live with any strike zone as long as what's a strike in the first inning is a strike in the ninth inning.  As we've seen on many occasions home plate umpires are not consistent.

I think the main reason is that they are bad.  Being consistently wrong is bad.  They should not have their own strike zone.  A hitter or pitcher should never be thinking that there's an extra couple of inches off the plate.  Even if it's consistent.  The calls need to be correct, and not consistent.  Being correct all the time is the consistency we're looking for.  Not giving the a bigger strike zone consistently. 

[thawv]

14 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

Meh.  Id rather them do this than win like 85 games and have Jed thinking this team just needs a small tweak

Not to mention a chance for a higher draft pick.

[Backtobanks]

55 minutes ago, thawv said:

I think the main reason is that they are bad.  Being consistently wrong is bad.  They should not have their own strike zone.  A hitter or pitcher should never be thinking that there's an extra couple of inches off the plate.  Even if it's consistent.  The calls need to be correct, and not consistent.  Being correct all the time is the consistency we're looking for.  Not giving the a bigger strike zone consistently. 

We would love for accurate and consistent strike calling but using that as an excuse is the sign of a mediocre team looking for excuses.  Every team is using the same umps and quality teams somehow manage to play through it and win games.

[thawv]

4 minutes ago, Backtobanks said:

We would love for accurate and consistent strike calling but using that as an excuse is the sign of a mediocre team looking for excuses.  Every team is using the same umps and quality teams somehow manage to play through it and win games.

Of course this is true.  I'm not making excuses for the Cubs.  I'm saying that the umps are bad for all 30 teams, for all 162 games.  I'd prefer that the call is correct opposed to being wrong. 

[mul21]

Has everyone bitching about losing to the A's looked at their record since the beginning of July?  They're far from a bad team right now in spite of their overall record.

[We Got The Whole 9]

15 minutes ago, mul21 said:

Has everyone bitching about losing to the A's looked at their record since the beginning of July?  They're far from a bad team right now in spite of their overall record.

We're people really bitching? It was inconsequential, we laughed about it and moved on.