Pirates (Skenes) vs Cubs (Horton): 6/13/25, 1:20pm

[cubfansince77]

5 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Strange to say when we hit a bit better in April (.811 OPS) overall against tougher pitching than we did in May (.772 OPS) when the schedule got a lot lighter.

Right now all you can call this is ebbs and flows of a baseball season.  If they are still hitting like this into July then you can be concerned.

I guess...played the Dodgers a lot in April and fared ok but as of now there isn't anyone swinging the bat consistently well. Shaw is a rookie so I kind of get it, but Swanson is a continual disappointment to me. PCA can't do it all every game. The next two games are against sub-par starters for PItt and they need to get re-calibrated whether the wind is blowing in or not. 

[NorthsideAvenger]

I hate stupid losses. 

[Hot Sauce]

We knew runs would be hard to come by today. The one positive is that Horton pitched well. It’s a long season. Get ‘em tomorrow.

[cubfansince77]

Just now, Hot Sauce said:

We knew runs would be hard to come by today. The one positive is that Horton pitched well. It’s a long season. Get ‘em tomorrow.

Good post and points....Horton was great really. Future is bright for him. I wonder how many innings he'll pitch this season? Makes the need for another starter at the deadline even greater obviously. 

[Derwood]

Pomeranz with that fun "took a loss despite still having a 0.00 ERA for the year"

[UMFan83]

It's kind of crazy how wildly different Wrigley plays from year to year.  I was going to say that this is the 2nd year in a row Wrigley has been death to hitters but the Park Factors says they are pretty much middle of the road this year (99 Park Factor).  Here is how we've fared in recent years:

2025: 15th (99)

2024: 29th (91)

2023: 9th (101)

2022: 16th (99)

2021: 7th (103)

2020: 24th (96)

2019: 15th (99)

2018: 11th (102)

2017: 8th (103)

2016: 26th (94)

2015: 13th (100)

[DrCub]

14 minutes ago, Hot Sauce said:

We knew runs would be hard to come by today. The one positive is that Horton pitched well. It’s a long season. Get ‘em tomorrow.

We thought that against their bullpen? 

[gflore34]

Pirates are not going score very many runs and the Cubs are not going to keep missing every rolling/hanging breaking ball or meatball fastball.  We'll be happy on Sunday night with 3/4 in the books.

[UMFan83]

Cubs have scored 3 runs or less in 11 of their last 17 games blah

[Rcal10]

2 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

Pirates are not going score very many runs and the Cubs are not going to keep missing every rolling/hanging breaking ball or meatball fastball.  We'll be happy on Sunday night with 3/4 in the books.

Fact is, the Cubs ar slumping a bit. It happens. I agree they should still win the next two, but if they end up splitting it is reason to worry. It is a slump. It happens to every team at some point of the year.

[gflore34]

1 minute ago, Rcal10 said:

Fact is, the Cubs ar slumping a bit. It happens. I agree they should still win the next two, but if they end up splitting it is reason to worry. It is a slump. It happens to every team at some point of the year.

Still waiting for it to happen to the Tigers, it hasn't, I believe their line up isn't as good as the Cubs.

[UMFan83]

4 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

Still waiting for it to happen to the Tigers, it hasn't, I believe their line up isn't as good as the Cubs.

I mentioned earlier that the Cubs had a .676 OPS in their last 16 games coming into today.  The Tigers had a 16 game stretch in April where they had a .636 OPS.  And are currently on a 23 game stretch with a .660 OPS.  Like you said their lineup isn't as good as the Cubs but those are some valleys that they've had.

Edited June 13, 2025 by UMFan83

[Transmogrified Tiger]

2 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

Still waiting for it to happen to the Tigers, it hasn't, I believe their line up isn't as good as the Cubs.

The Tigers have scored 40 runs in their last 12 games, 13 of those runs came in one game against the White Sox.  The least generous stretch I can come up with for the Cubs recent form is scoring 52 runs in the last 15 games

[We Got The Whole 9]

Who could have guessed that the interim Rockies manager would show everyone how to neutralize this offense 

[Bertz]

16 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

Who could have guessed that the interim Rockies manager would show everyone how to neutralize this offense 

A weather machine?

[Geographyhater8888]

44 minutes ago, DrCub said:

We thought that against their bullpen? 

You can’t be disappointed if you have no expectations I guess.

[We Got The Whole 9]

1 minute ago, Bertz said:

A weather machine?

This is weak. You can't possibly dig your heels in on this. The hitters need to be able to adapt to the circumstances as well. 

[Bertz]

1 minute ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

This is weak. You can't possibly dig your heels in on this. The hitters need to be able to adapt to the circumstances as well. 

Hey if you want to keep crashing out you do you, but you stomping your feet doesn't make it any less dumb.

[cubfansince77]

27 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

The Tigers have scored 40 runs in their last 12 games, 13 of those runs came in one game against the White Sox.  The least generous stretch I can come up with for the Cubs recent form is scoring 52 runs in the last 15 games

That's what I came into post...they are fattening up on a weak division (looking at you white Sox) and league in general. Cubs schedule has been much tougher than the Tigers to this point. No doubt about it. 

[Bertz]

14 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

This is weak. You can't possibly dig your heels in on this. The hitters need to be able to adapt to the circumstances as well. 

The Cubs have scored 3.5 runs a game over this stretch you're losing your mind over.  They've allowed 2.8.  How do you not see the relationship there?

[BKHoo]

1 hour ago, Hot Sauce said:

We knew runs would be hard to come by today. The one positive is that Horton pitched well. It’s a long season. Get ‘em tomorrow.

He pitched really well. Some of his spin stuff was unhittable. 

[gflore34]

Terrible send by the Tigers, Carpenter looks slower than Happ, he was huffing and puffing before he got to third.

[DrCub]

3 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

Cubs have scored 3 runs or less in 11 of their last 17 games blah

I was told the offense is fine and there’s nothing to worry about.  If you do, you’re a crazy doomsdayer.  These games mean nothing. 

[UMFan83]

8 minutes ago, DrCub said:

I was told the offense is fine and there’s nothing to worry about.  If you do, you’re a crazy doomsdayer.  These games mean nothing. 

There isn’t. They also lead the league in 10+ run games last time I checked. I swear people act like they’ve never watched baseball seasons before. 

[gflore34]

9 minutes ago, DrCub said:

I was told the offense is fine and there’s nothing to worry about.  If you do, you’re a crazy doomsdayer.  These games mean nothing. 

Completely ignore the fact they've faced a horsefeathers-ton of good to great starting pitchers.  I'll give you they're slumping a bit, missing some meatballs but, you can't ignore the fact they've faced a pitching gauntlet of late.