Cubs (Imanaga) vs White Sox (Houser): 7/25/25, 6:40pm

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

Couldn't watch, was Shota tipping or something? Holy horsefeathers.

Edited July 26, 2025 by Tangled Up in Plaid
Words

[gflore34]

11 minutes ago, Stratos said:

I don't see them doing this.

Then what to do with Happ?  As I've mentioned outside of two weeks in April and May he's been awful.  Beyond this I'd like to see Nico moved into the leadoff, Busch to 5th, put Happ in the 8th slot.

[gflore34]

7 minutes ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

Couldn't watch, was Shota tipping or something? Holy horsefeathers.

I watched, except for, quite literally, one or two splitters, he hung every other one he tried to throw tonight.  Spun everyone of them middle middle and they were crushed.

[JHBulls]

So this just happened

 

[gflore34]

14 minutes ago, JHBulls said:

So this just happened

 

So your saying tonight could have worse?  Thankfully, there's no one on the White Sox remotely capable of doing what Kurtz did.  Nor is there a potential rookie in their system or the Cubs, for that matter, as good as Kurtz.

Edited July 26, 2025 by gflore34

[cubfansince77]

Had a family get together tonight and missed the whole game luckily. Well, at least the Brewers lost but starting to seriously doubt that our Cubs are serious contenders guys. Too many holes and inconsistencies. Kinda hope they don't trade our talented kids in Iowa. Tucker isn't gonna sign here IMO and we can potentially plug Caissie in to share RF with Suzuki.

[Irrelevant Dude]

15 minutes ago, cubfansince77 said:

starting to seriously doubt that our Cubs are serious contenders guys.

They are 1 game back of the division lead with less than a week to go in July, and still in great position for a Wild Card spot if they don't win the division.  Of course they are serious contenders.  You can say maybe they aren't the favorite to win the division anymore, but that doesn't make them a non-contender.

[Rcal10]

15 minutes ago, cubfansince77 said:

Had a family get together tonight and missed the whole game luckily. Well, at least the Brewers lost but starting to seriously doubt that our Cubs are serious contenders guys. Too many holes and inconsistencies. Kinda hope they don't trade our talented kids in Iowa. Tucker isn't gonna sign here IMO and we can potentially plug Caissie in to share RF with Suzuki.

Yep. They are a team with a top 5 record in the league and they have absolutely no chance of winning the WS. They should probably sell. But then again, every team in baseball has gone through tough 20 game stretches. So I guess no team is going to win the WS this year. 

[gflore34]

27 minutes ago, cubfansince77 said:

Had a family get together tonight and missed the whole game luckily. Well, at least the Brewers lost but starting to seriously doubt that our Cubs are serious contenders guys. Too many holes and inconsistencies. Kinda hope they don't trade our talented kids in Iowa. Tucker isn't gonna sign here IMO and we can potentially plug Caissie in to share RF with Suzuki.

The Brewers looked just as pathetic tonight, hell, they could only manage 1 run off the mighty Cal Quantrill.  Marlins coasted to 5 - 1 win and wasn't even that close guess, the Brewers aren't serious contenders either.

[chibears55]

4 hours ago, gflore34 said:

Then what to do with Happ?  As I've mentioned outside of two weeks in April and May he's been awful.  Beyond this I'd like to see Nico moved into the leadoff, Busch to 5th, put Happ in the 8th slot.

 

Put him on IL and bring up Caissie. 

I doubt Hoyer planning on using him in any deal that worth giving him up

[BigbadB]

First time I turned the game off early this year. I was so mad they didn't pull Shota earlier. Not sure how many whiffs there were last night, but my over/under is 3. Nothing he threw up there missed a bat. It was very clear he didn't have anything in the first inning. While I wouldn't have pulled him in the first, I would have pulled him after the 4th hit in the 2nd, which if I recall correctly, was before he recorded a single out in the 2nd. I believe that was 9 hits and except for a K, even the outs were loud. I think he had about 5 warning track flyouts in the first 2/3 innings.

[JD94]

I think everybody needs to take a deep breath and relax. The Cubs are in a bit of a rut right now. It’s part of the ebbs and flows of a baseball season. The Sox have been playing well lately. The Brewers have been scorching hot, but have now lost 2/3 and scored a total of 1 run in those 2 losses. I mean the Blue Jays have the best record in baseball and only have 2 more wins than the Cubs. The sky is not falling. We are fine. It’s a good team that’s about to get better in the next few days. The Cubs have as good of a chance as anybody of winning the World Series. There is no dominant team in baseball this year. There’s about 9 teams who are all pretty similar. I think it’s going to be a super fun sprint to the end of the season and playoffs. 

[Brian707]

8 hours ago, cubfansince77 said:

Had a family get together tonight and missed the whole game luckily. Well, at least the Brewers lost but starting to seriously doubt that our Cubs are serious contenders guys. Too many holes and inconsistencies. Kinda hope they don't trade our talented kids in Iowa. Tucker isn't gonna sign here IMO and we can potentially plug Caissie in to share RF with Suzuki.

The only thing that is accurate here is not signing Tucker.  The Cubs are in a rut yes, but they have a good a shot as the Dodgers, Phillies,  Brewers etc. 

[BKHoo]

He many reliable starters do we have now? I’d count 1 and I suppose another if you assume last nights start was an aberration. 

[Derwood]

38 minutes ago, BKHoo said:

He many reliable starters do we have now? I’d count 1 and I suppose another if you assume last nights start was an aberration. 

everything about his numbers leading up to yesterday suggest that yes, it was an aberration

[Ding Dong Johnson]

9 hours ago, JHBulls said:

So this just happened

 

Boy you gotta be awfully careful when you say this guy’s name.

[Bobson Dugnutt]

40 minutes ago, BKHoo said:

He many reliable starters do we have now? I’d count 1 and I suppose another if you assume last nights start was an aberration. 

Shota’s previous three starts were lights out. I didn’t get to see last night’s game so I can’t speak to just how bad he looked, but seems fair to not write him off after one blowup outing.

[Rcal10]

49 minutes ago, Bobson Dugnutt said:

Shota’s previous three starts were lights out. I didn’t get to see last night’s game so I can’t speak to just how bad he looked, but seems fair to not write him off after one blowup outing.

Especially since we have seen this from him a few times.  He has probably had 4 disastrous starts in the two years with the team. For some reason it happens to him. But for the most part his other starts are either good or great. He is fine. Just had a bad start. It happens. 

[Rcal10]

6 hours ago, chibears55 said:

Put him on IL and bring up Caissie. 

I doubt Hoyer planning on using him in any deal that worth giving him up

They are not doing this. There is a far greater chance Cassie gets traded than there is him playing left field for the Cubs this year while they fake an injury to Happ.

[Andy]

1 hour ago, Ding Dong Johnson said:

Boy you gotta be awfully careful when you say this guy’s name.

The king of this is an Eastern Michigan football player named, no joke, Noah Knigga. Since I just looked it up, apparently he told RG3 on some podcast that it's pronounced kuh-NAY-ga, but man, that is rough.

[Stratos]

12 hours ago, gflore34 said:

Then what to do with Happ?  As I've mentioned outside of two weeks in April and May he's been awful.  Beyond this I'd like to see Nico moved into the leadoff, Busch to 5th, put Happ in the 8th slot.

They're gonna keep playing him and hoping he breaks out of it

[Rcal10]

13 hours ago, gflore34 said:

Then what to do with Happ?  As I've mentioned outside of two weeks in April and May he's been awful.  Beyond this I'd like to see Nico moved into the leadoff, Busch to 5th, put Happ in the 8th slot.

Serious question. Is this the first season you are following the Cubs? Have you not seen Happ EVERY YEAR? First, you are exaggerating his season. He has not been good for a good portion of it, but he hasn’t been awful with the exception of 2 weeks. He has had one stretch where he was very good, but that didn’t last too long. As he does every season, I would guess he will have another good streak. I don’t know when. But in the end he will probably finish at that OPS+ between 111 and 120, as he has done for several years. That, with his defense in left make him a fine player. Sure, I would rather he go all season between 111 and 120 OPS, but that is not who he is. 

[Derwood]

Happ by month:

- April: OPS .722

- May: OPS .684

- June: OPS .779

- July: OPS .502

He's been a turd for almost a calendar month after being exceedingly "meh" for the first 3

He's at a 101 OPS+ for the year, so as statistically "average" as you're going to get. It would take a remarkable hot streak in August/September to get him anywhere close to a 120

Edited July 26, 2025 by Derwood

[JHBulls]

2 hours ago, Andy said:

The king of this is an Eastern Michigan football player named, no joke, Noah Knigga. Since I just looked it up, apparently he told RG3 on some podcast that it's pronounced kuh-NAY-ga, but man, that is rough.

It’s a good thing he’s literally built like a linebacker to get himself out of tricky situations.

[chibears55]

9 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Serious question. Is this the first season you are following the Cubs? Have you not seen Happ EVERY YEAR? First, you are exaggerating his season. He has not been good for a good portion of it, but he hasn’t been awful with the exception of 2 weeks. He has had one stretch where he was very good, but that didn’t last too long. As he does every season, I would guess he will have another good streak. I don’t know when. But in the end he will probably finish at that OPS+ between 111 and 120, as he has done for several years. That, with his defense in left make him a fine player. Sure, I would rather he go all season between 111 and 120 OPS, but that is not who he is. 

Happ isnt having his typical streaky season, if you look at his month to month his numbers go down each month and not just a little, compared to last season each month numbers were close to the same and his OPS stayed over 800 each month.

For whatever reason he is off this year, i dont even think he played well against the Reds .  I know i said IL him and bring up Caissie but in all seriousness if this team going to make a strong push not just for the Division but also for the WS, they really need Happ to get it together.