Red Sox (Crochet) vs Cubs (Horton): 7/20/25, 1:20pm

[BKHoo]

6 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

Who of these guys am I supposed to be worried about again

All of them when their pitching is so good. They don’t need a ton of runs. 

[We Got The Whole 9]

Having 8 regulars in your lineup league average or better will lead to a lot of wins. Who cares if they dont have an elite hitter among them.

[NorthsideAvenger]

9 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

Having 8 regulars in your lineup league average or better will lead to a lot of wins. Who cares if they dont have an elite hitter among them.

Makes them a good regular season team. 

[Stratos]

32 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

Having 8 regulars in your lineup league average or better will lead to a lot of wins. Who cares if they dont have an elite hitter among them.

Agree.   Individual elite hitters or bad hitters etc aren't relevant at all.  What matters is the combined total output of all hitters on your team.   How you get there doesn't matter.

 

[squally1313]

18 minutes ago, Stratos said:

Agree.   Individual elite hitters or bad hitters etc aren't relevant at all.  What matters is the combined total output of all hitters on your team.   How you get there doesn't matter.

 

They are combining for a 101 wRC, 15th in baseball. 

[Stratos]

5 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

They are combining for a 101 wRC, 15th in baseball. 

They also have the best baserunning in baseball.  They're 7th in the MLB in runs scored, 4th in NL.

[squally1313]

10 minutes ago, Stratos said:

They also have the best baserunning in baseball.  They're 7th in the MLB in runs scored, 4th in NL.

I mean, that's great. They're significantly worse offensively than we are. The difference in offensive fWAR between us (22.4, 1st in baseball) and them (15.0, 10th in baseball) is the same as the difference between them and Baltimore (7.6, 23rd in baseball). 

This isn't a 'are the Brewers good in general' thing. It's a 'are they as good as us' thing. And they just aren't. Our top 8 guys by PAs this year are all above 100 in wRC, and 5 of them (Tucker, Suzuki, PCA, Busch, Kelly) are all AT LEAST 11 points better than the Brewers best hitter (Isaac Collins, 124 wRC, outperforming his xwOBA by 28 points). And yes, I know, Justin Turner and Matt Shaw. But their 368 combined PAs with wRCs of 68 and 71 are also pretty much offset by Joey Ortiz and his 327 PAs of 66 wRC. 

It's baseball, things happen, the best team always wins. But being scared of a jersey because different players in different years wearing that jersey won some games isn't a logical train of thought.

[chibears55]

I'll start worrying or caring what the Brewers are doing more after the 5 games series against them in August. 

Both teams will have 34 games left after that series, so we'll see where the Cubs are at after that.

Cubs 15 H 19 A

5 of final 11 series against current potential playoff teams that are either currently in playoff spot now or a few games out

Brewers 19 H 15 A

8 of final 11 series against current potential playoff teams that are either currently in playoff spot now or a few games out

 

 

Edited July 21, 2025 by chibears55

[NorthsideAvenger]

43 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

It's baseball, things happen, the best team always wins. But being scared of a jersey because different players in different years wearing that jersey won some games isn't a logical train of thought.

I agree.

The Brewers will go cold, at some point. You don't want to be peaking in late July/early August, It would not surprise me if Milwaukee goes into Seattle and loses 2 of 3 or get swept because baseball. 

 

 

[soccer10k]

Wasn't there a poster in 2018 who kept saying the Brewers weren't that good or am I mixing up the years? I'm just getting some major deja vu about the Brewers not being as good as us yet sticking in the race. He wrote articles for the site, I believe.

And yes, I"m well aware that just because it happened in the past doesn't mean it's going to happen again this year.

[George Hayduke]

6 hours ago, soccer10k said:

Wasn't there a poster in 2018 who kept saying the Brewers weren't that good or am I mixing up the years? I'm just getting some major deja vu about the Brewers not being as good as us yet sticking in the race. He wrote articles for the site, I believe.

And yes, I"m well aware that just because it happened in the past doesn't mean it's going to happen again this year.

Yeah that was Duke Silver. That was the year the Brewers went absolutely supernova the last month of the season and the cubs “offense broke” in Theo’s words and they lost the division the last week of the season. Duke had been saying for like 3 months there was no way the Brewers would catch the Cubs and when they finally did IMB made a sarcastic comment about it and Duke had a nuclear meltdown, lol. Led to his remark that IMB was a whiney bitch (that IMB had quoted in his signature for years after that). I think he quit the board shortly after that.

Thinking of it now, IMB might lead the board in poster kills…Duke, Tom, Kyle. It’s probably him or Mojo, lol.

 

[Geographyhater8888]

10 hours ago, squally1313 said:

They are combining for a 101 wRC, 15th in baseball. 

wRC+ isn’t the end all be all win loss metric. Fielding and base running war are part of the equation. The 3 headed monster of Woodruff, Peralta and Mizroski are why they’re a problem and will be neck and neck with the Cubs for first place.

Royals won the World Series in 2015 with a 100 wRC+. It’s an anecdote but there’s multiple paths to winning games.

[Connor McConnor]

14 hours ago, JBears79 said:

The face of the matter is, the Cubs will not win the division if they do not add an ace caliber pitcher, a mid rotation pitcher, a first division 3rd baseman and a legit bench bat. 

The Brewers are a superior organization in every aspect except money. Jed and Tom piss their pants anytime they might have to use that advantage.

But we signed Counsel away from them?   He gets paid tons of money to be great......right?  Do we have a better manager?

[squally1313]

35 minutes ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

The 3 headed monster of Woodruff, Peralta and Mizroski are why they’re a problem

lol should have added woodruff to the ghosts people are still scared of. Dude has 10 innings in the last year and a half. 

[Geographyhater8888]

6 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

lol should have added woodruff to the ghosts people are still scared of. Dude has 10 innings in the last year and a half. 

Let’s hope he’s still a ghost. How’s his velocity? Can you address the rest of my post? Is wRC+ the end all be all win loss metric or not?

Edited July 21, 2025 by Geographyhater8888

[I owned a Suzuki]

Wait...there was a poster named Duke Silver? Could he play the sax?

[squally1313]

14 minutes ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

Let’s hope he’s still a ghost. How’s his velocity? Can you address the rest of my post? Is wRC+ the end all be all win loss metric or not?

I posted a picture of their top hitters by PA, posited that there was no one scary in the line up, and stratos said that individual hitters aren’t relevant at all, and that what mattered was the total output of all the hitters of the team, so I responded with the total offensive output of all the hitters on the team, which is definitionally average. At no point did I bring up the overall team, I’ve consistently tried to stick to the parameters of what I originally posted, which is that it’s not a good offense, and you guys keep bringing up other reasons why we should scared. 

[Geographyhater8888]

3 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

I posted a picture of their top hitters by PA, posited that there was no one scary in the line up, and stratos said that individual hitters aren’t relevant at all, and that what mattered was the total output of all the hitters of the team, so I responded with the total offensive output of all the hitters on the team, which is definitionally average. At no point did I bring up the overall team, I’ve consistently tried to stick to the parameters of what I originally posted, which is that it’s not a good offense, and you guys keep bringing up other reasons why we should scared. 

Cubs don’t have a pitching staff that scares anyone either, should teams not fear the Cubs? Cubs have dropped all the way to middle of the pack vs left handed pitchers in wRC+ despite pounding them in April. 
 

Their lineup doesn’t terrify anyone, their base running fielding and pitching staff is a concern, especially in f Woodruff gets going. You shouldn’t dismiss them because they’re average at one specific metric. 

[squally1313]

Like it’s insane that Matt Shaw or Dansby running cold in RISP situations is supposedly this Achilles heel and our future downfall, but this other team with a clearly and decidedly worse offense is this huge threat because they have 2015 royals vibes or whatever. They let Joey Ortiz and his .587 OPS start every day! Why isn’t that a Serious Problem That Needs To Be Addressed Before They Can Compete?

[squally1313]

2 minutes ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

Cubs don’t have a pitching staff that scares anyone either, should teams not fear the Cubs? Cubs have dropped all the way to middle of the pack vs left handed pitchers in wRC+ despite pounding them in April

Well then they must be really horsefeathers good at hitting RHP then, given their (continued) top of the league overall offensive production. Also good that this Three Headed Monster are all RHP. 
 

I mean, ultimately, do what you want. We’re a better team than they are, and we will almost assuredly widen that gap in the trading markets between now and the end of next week. It’s a 60ish game sprint at this point, so anything could happen. But we’re playing at a 96-97 win pace and we’re going to get better. Stressing in July as a fan of the team with the best RD in baseball and a half game off the best record in baseball seems silly. We’ll get there eventually. 

[We Got The Whole 9]

5 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

Like it’s insane that Matt Shaw or Dansby running cold in RISP situations is supposedly this Achilles heel and our future downfall, but this other team with a clearly and decidedly worse offense is this huge threat because they have 2015 royals vibes or whatever. They let Joey Ortiz and his .587 OPS start every day! Why isn’t that a Serious Problem That Needs To Be Addressed Before They Can Compete?

Maybe it is. Maybe the FO will do something about it. Who is arguing they have a perfect team with no issues to address? What the horsefeathers are you even talking about anymore? The team just won 30/40 games and closed a 6 game gap in 3 weeks or whatever. Fans are annoyed. 

 

Shut the hell up.

 

 

[Geographyhater8888]

6 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

Well then they must be really horsefeathers good at hitting RHP then, given their (continued) top of the league overall offensive production. Also good that this Three Headed Monster are all RHP. 
 

I mean, ultimately, do what you want. We’re a better team than they are, and we will almost assuredly widen that gap in the trading markets between now and the end of next week. It’s a 60ish game sprint at this point, so anything could happen. But we’re playing at a 96-97 win pace and we’re going to get better. Stressing in July as a fan of the team with the best RD in baseball and a half game off the best record in baseball seems silly. We’ll get there eventually. 

And another platoon bat. Because the team has flaws, like just about every team besides maybe the Dodgers at full health. I’m not stressing over them but I’m not dismissing them either. They’ve been pulling 90 win seasons out of their asses for almost a decade. 

Edited July 21, 2025 by Geographyhater8888

[Stratos]

11 hours ago, squally1313 said:

I mean, that's great. They're significantly worse offensively than we are. The difference in offensive fWAR between us (22.4, 1st in baseball) and them (15.0, 10th in baseball) is the same as the difference between them and Baltimore (7.6, 23rd in baseball). 

This isn't a 'are the Brewers good in general' thing. It's a 'are they as good as us' thing. And they just aren't. Our top 8 guys by PAs this year are all above 100 in wRC, and 5 of them (Tucker, Suzuki, PCA, Busch, Kelly) are all AT LEAST 11 points better than the Brewers best hitter (Isaac Collins, 124 wRC, outperforming his xwOBA by 28 points). And yes, I know, Justin Turner and Matt Shaw. But their 368 combined PAs with wRCs of 68 and 71 are also pretty much offset by Joey Ortiz and his 327 PAs of 66 wRC. 

It's baseball, things happen, the best team always wins. But being scared of a jersey because different players in different years wearing that jersey won some games isn't a logical train of thought.

I don't think they're as good as us.  I'm not even scoreboard watching.

[squally1313]

25 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

Maybe it is. Maybe the FO will do something about it. Who is arguing they have a perfect team with no issues to address? What the horsefeathers are you even talking about anymore? The team just won 30/40 games and closed a 6 game gap in 3 weeks or whatever. Fans are annoyed. 

 

Shut the hell up.

 

 

I'm annoyed too because having less games increases the odds that a lesser team is going to come out on top. We're very good and in any other division we'd have a 3 game (or more) lead. But it's annoying, here wise, to watch the conversation about the (59-40) Cubs be almost entirely negative, what they have to fix, what all their problems are, etc, and then people turn their attention to the (59-40) Brewers and are like 'oh man, these guys are going to be a problem, baserunning, monsters, remember that team from 6 years ago who won more games than we thought'. 

[17 Seconds]

3 hours ago, George Hayduke said:

Yeah that was Duke Silver. That was the year the Brewers went absolutely supernova the last month of the season and the cubs “offense broke” in Theo’s words and they lost the division the last week of the season. Duke had been saying for like 3 months there was no way the Brewers would catch the Cubs and when they finally did IMB made a sarcastic comment about it and Duke had a nuclear meltdown, lol. Led to his remark that IMB was a whiney bitch (that IMB had quoted in his signature for years after that). I think he quit the board shortly after that.

Thinking of it now, IMB might lead the board in poster kills…Duke, Tom, Kyle. It’s probably him or Mojo, lol.

 

wait, what happened to Kyle? I just realized he hasn't been here