Cubs (Imanaga) vs Brewers (Peralta): 5/4/25, 1:10pm

[DrCub]

Swing the bat Busch

[Eeyore]

7 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

Be cool to bat around and put up 6 runs here 😅

TheZuki was trying to do his part by trying to hit a 5 run homer. 

[JHBulls]

Eh, series win!

One bad bullpen outing was the difference. Shota getting injured sucks. Tucker is fine, so that’s a positive. 

[Eeyore]

What happens if the closer is caught with a foreign substance after the game?

[BKHoo]

Peralta seems to own the Cubs. 

[Derwood]

The loss is annoying, but losing Shota for a chunk of the season means this team is screwed if/when the bats cool down (which they will)

[Soul]

They won the series in MKE.  Successful weekend in terms of the game outcomes.  I’ll just stick with that for now.

[17 Seconds]

5 minutes ago, Derwood said:

The loss is annoying, but losing Shota for a chunk of the season means this team is screwed if/when the bats cool down (which they will)

how many wins do you have shota being worth this season?

[Jason Ross]

4 minutes ago, Derwood said:

The loss is annoying, but losing Shota for a chunk of the season means this team is screwed if/when the bats cool down (which they will)

 

If there's a small light at the end of the tunnel, this is the best time for it to happen:

1. It's early enough in the season that Cade Horton hasn't hit innings limits

2. The Cubs are beyond their roughest part of the schedule based on opponents. It's never good to be down Imanaga, but its a lot easier to find a SP to pitch against the Nats, Marlins and White Sox than the Diamondbacks, Dodgers and Phillies.

[WhyCantWeWin]

Merryweather really blew it for them today. Do they lead the league in bullpen blown games?

[Derwood]

9 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

If there's a small light at the end of the tunnel, this is the best time for it to happen:

1. It's early enough in the season that Cade Horton hasn't hit innings limits

2. The Cubs are beyond their roughest part of the schedule based on opponents. It's never good to be down Imanaga, but its a lot easier to find a SP to pitch against the Nats, Marlins and White Sox than the Diamondbacks, Dodgers and Phillies.

 

My point is that there will inevitably be an annoying stretch where the bats die and we struggle to score runs against bad teams. If/when that happens, you'd like an ace in there so you can (hopefully) win 2-1 rather than keep staring at 6-2 losses

Edited May 4, 2025 by Derwood

[UMFan83]

In case anyone was worried about Tucker being hurt stealing 2B in the 9th:

 

 

[DrCub]

1 hour ago, BKHoo said:

Peralta seems to own the Cubs. 

With a .198 BAA this year; he owns every team. 

[Rcal10]

20 minutes ago, DrCub said:

With a .198 BAA this year; he owns every team. 

With the 3rd lowest batting average against for a career, he owns everyone. 

[Rcal10]

1 hour ago, WhyCantWeWin said:

Merryweather really blew it for them today. Do they lead the league in bullpen blown games?

Cubs didn’t score a run. Kind of hard to suggest the bullpen blew the game. Merryweather was bad today, but he also came into a tough spot. I think not scoring had a much greater impact on them losing. 

[UMFan83]

1 hour ago, BKHoo said:

Peralta seems to own the Cubs. 

Here is every career start against the Cubs:

2020:

3 IP, 4 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 3 K

2021:

5 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 4 BB, 8 K

6 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 10 K

4 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 7 K

6 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 4 BB, 8 K

5.1 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 8 K

2022:

4 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 4 BB, 6 K

6 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 5 K

6 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 5 K

2023:

5.1 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 10 K

2024: 

5 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 6 BB, 5 K

5.2 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 11 K

7 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 8 K

2025:

6 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 7 K

 

Overall: 14 starts, 2.91 ERA, 4.9 H/9, 1.05 WHIP, 12.2 K/9

-10 of 14 starts allowing 2 ER or less

-13 of 14 starts allowing 3 ER or less

The one he allowed more than 3 ER was early in his career and an emergency start as he was mostly a reliever that year.

Cubs are actually "only" 5-9 when Peralta starts which seems decent considering his overall numbers against him.

Edited May 4, 2025 by UMFan83

[gflore34]

The hamstring horsefeathers is terrible, flashbacks to '85 when Sutcliffe pulled his while tiring to beat out a GB.  Ended being out for nearly a month, Cubs were over .500 prior to injury, finished 7 games under.  Maybe it time to kick the tires on Alcantara?  Sell high on Ballesteros?

[Rcal10]

7 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

The hamstring horsefeathers is terrible, flashbacks to '85 when Sutcliffe pulled his while tiring to beat out a GB.  Ended being out for nearly a month, Cubs were over .500 prior to injury, finished 7 games under.  Maybe it time to kick the tires on Alcantara?  Sell high on Ballesteros?

I remember that year. Sutcliffe went down as did Ruthven and Sanderson, I think. All within a few days. They went from 34-19 to 34-32 because of a 13 game losing streak. I might not have this exact. But I think I am pretty close. The biggest problem with the Sutcliffe injuries came back too fast. I think it was only 3 weeks. So when he came back he ended up hurting his arm because he was pitching differently to favor his hamstring. 

[BKHoo]

If the Nats can hold on and beat the Reds the weekend is a nice success. Reds go to Braves for 4 this week. Let’s keep padding the lead. 

[gflore34]

15 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

I remember that year. Sutcliffe went down as did Ruthven and Sanderson, I think. All within a few days. They went from 34-19 to 34-32 because of a 13 game losing streak. I might not have this exact. But I think I am pretty close. The biggest problem with the Sutcliffe injuries came back too fast. I think it was only 3 weeks. So when he came back he ended up hurting his arm because he was pitching differently to favor his hamstring. 

Forgot about Ruthven and Sanderson, they were rolling, then injuries galore and, in looking at the his game logs I see Sutcliffe missed nearly a month later in the season.  That must be the later injury you're referencing, basically 1985 started out well, then injuries completely derailed the season.

Edited May 4, 2025 by gflore34

[Rcal10]

2 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

Forgot about Ruthven and Sanderson, they were rolling, then injuries galore and, in looking at the his game logs I see he missed nearly a month later in the season.  That must be the later injury you're referencing, basically 1985 started out well, then injuries completely derailed the season.

Cardinals also had a great year. Won over 100 games. I think the long losing streak put pressure on the Cubs to bring back Sutcliffe too soon. But I don’t think it would have mattered. The Cardinals were the better team that year. I think the Cubs can survive Imanaga missing 6-7 starts. I think they are clear favorites in the division and even without Imanaga for 4-6 weeks they should be fine. Especially considering the schedule they will finally be getting into. This is not the 85 team and the Reds are not the 85 Cardinals. 
I wouldn’t panic and overpay for a starting pitcher. Either go with Flexin, or a much better option, bring up Horton. 

[gflore34]

2 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Cardinals also had a great year. Won over 100 games. I think the long losing streak put pressure on the Cubs to bring back Sutcliffe too soon. But I don’t think it would have mattered. The Cardinals were the better team that year. I think the Cubs can survive Imanaga missing 6-7 starts. I think they are clear favorites in the division and even without Imanaga for 4-6 weeks they should be fine. Especially considering the schedule they will finally be getting into. This is not the 85 team and the Reds are not the 85 Cardinals. 
I wouldn’t panic and overpay for a starting pitcher. Either go with Flexin, or a much better option, bring up Horton. 

Correct on the Reds and Cubs not being the 85 Cardinals or Cubs, I'd rather not give Flexin a start.  Be it against a not so good lineup or not, he's just plain bad, maybe, go with a bullpen game for Shota' next start?  Afterwards, look to Horton?

[Rcal10]

3 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

Correct on the Reds and Cubs not being the 85 Cardinals or Cubs, I'd rather not give Flexin a start.  Be it against a not so good lineup or not, he's just plain bad, maybe, go with a bullpen game for Shota' next start?  Afterwards, look to Horton?

I don’t wa t to see Flexin either. But it seems they might go that way. I agree it should be Horton. 

[gflore34]

53 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

I don’t wa t to see Flexin either. But it seems they might go that way. I agree it should be Horton. 

Although it's highly unlikely there's no rule against Flexen getting "hot" for a starts but, I'd sure feel better about some option other than hoping Flexen to temporarily catch fire.

[Jason Ross]

4 hours ago, Derwood said:

 

My point is that there will inevitably be an annoying stretch where the bats die and we struggle to score runs against bad teams. If/when that happens, you'd like an ace in there so you can (hopefully) win 2-1 rather than keep staring at 6-2 losses

No, I understand the point. My counter point to that is that if that time happens in the next, say, 5-6 weeks than the Cubs are in a good time for that.  They will be better capable of stealing wins against, say, the Marlins than the Dodgers. It's more likely that Jameson Taillon and bullpen will shut them down and allow for that 2-1 win.

As well, having Cade Horton as the fall back gives the Cubs a high upside arm and the competition is a safer landing spot as well. 

All I'm saying is that even if the Cubs have a slump offensively, if it happens when Shota is on the shelf, it's happening at the best time for it. You never want to lose him, but its better to lose him in May and have him back in June than lose him in October when the competition might be higher, without time to get him back on the mound and right and with Horton's innings done. If it had to happen, the next like five weeks is the time you'd circle on the schedule for it to happen, essentially.