Cubs (Horton) vs Blue Jays (Gausman): 8/13/25, 6:07pm

[Brandon Glick]

The Cubs will play baseball tonight.

[Jason Ross]

But...do they have to?

[Rex Buckingham]

In the most technical sense, sure... 

At least I am excited to watch Cade against a good lineup

[UMFan83]

Kind of crazy how quickly the Brewers series went from "Chance to take over 1st place" to "Chance to get back into the division race" to "Protect our WC spot with 5 games against a team that can't lose"

Reds play the Angels while that series is going on BTW.

[Wilson A2000]

 

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

1 minute ago, Wilson A2000 said:

 

[cl smooth]

we stinks?

[Wilson A2000]

Matt Spiegel from 670 played a clip from Rizzo talking about how important big trade deadline moves are when a team is in contention. They are a huge shot in the arm to a team on the field and psychologically. This team needed more. 

[squally1313]

22 minutes ago, Wilson A2000 said:

Matt Spiegel from 670 played a clip from Rizzo talking about how important big trade deadline moves are when a team is in contention. They are a huge shot in the arm to a team on the field and psychologically. This team needed more. 

Eh. He knows better than I do, obviously, but like, I can't imagine Hector Rondon felt very good about the Chapman trade. Or that Matt Shaw would have loved a Suarez deal, guys like Colin Rea or Horton loving another couple starters being added. If you've played four months with a team and you're in contention, you'd almost think you'd want to prove that you don't need anyone else.

But ultimately, I don't think there's anything to a 'shot in the arm' or whatever. Suzuki isn't a shell of himself because we didn't trade for Charlie Morton. PCA isn't flailing at LHP breaking balls because we didn't get a new closer. Just play better. 

[JBears79]

Correction: The Cubs will show up to play baseball tonight. Will they actually play though?

[Geographyhater8888]

1 hour ago, Wilson A2000 said:

Matt Spiegel from 670 played a clip from Rizzo talking about how important big trade deadline moves are when a team is in contention. They are a huge shot in the arm to a team on the field and psychologically. This team needed more. 

Brewers haven’t lost since doing little at the deadline, Mets still stink. Unless Edward Cabrera or Merrill Kelly are part time hitting coaches I don’t think it makes a difference. They were 4-6 in 10 games before the deadline and 4-6 since.

Edited August 13, 2025 by Geographyhater8888

[Geographyhater8888]

28 minutes ago, JBears79 said:

Correction: The Cubs will show up to play baseball tonight. Will they actually play though?

2032 can’t come soon enough. 

[Stratos]

Cubs are 7.5 games back and the Brewers have scored more runs this year than the Cubs.  WTF is happening?

If Cubs blow the Brewers series I hope attendance and tv ratings are zero for the rest of the season.

[Stratos]

1 hour ago, Wilson A2000 said:

Matt Spiegel from 670 played a clip from Rizzo talking about how important big trade deadline moves are when a team is in contention. They are a huge shot in the arm to a team on the field and psychologically. This team needed more. 

This team needs to sack up and win.  There's no excuses for the hitters just rolling over and dying in unison. 

[Derwood]

At this point I would be shocked if the Cubs go better than 1-4 against the Brewers in the upcoming series

[UMFan83]

1 hour ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

Brewers haven’t lost since doing little at the deadline, Mets still stink. Unless Edward Cabrera or Merrill Kelly are part time hitting coaches I don’t think it makes a difference. They were 4-6 in 10 games before the deadline and 4-6 since.

Red Sox too....they're like 8-3 since the deadline.  This is a silly excuse.  PCA has a .213 OPS in August because he's bummed out the Cubs didn't get a controllable SP at the deadline?

No they are doing what baseball players do, they slump.  Tucker is the closest thing we have to a superstar bat....not sure wtf is up with him but PCA's bat has been solid until recently but while a very good hitter much of his value is what he does away from the batters box.  We hoped Seiya might be having a breakout season but it seems like he's just a streaky guy and that mostly tracks with how he has hit in his Cubs career.  Busch had us thinking for a second we had another Rizzo but in reality he's probably more of an above average bat than a star one.  That doesn't mean the Cubs offense is terrible, but its not a relentless juggernaut either...it can pose as one for chunks of time though.

Edited August 13, 2025 by UMFan83

[Derwood]

A lot of PCA's value is speed, but when he strikes out a ton and doesn't walk, it negates a huge part of his value

[chibears55]

Taillon pitched today for Iowa so he'll likely get a game on Monday against Milwaukee. 

That series SP rotation looks to be Taillon and Horton on Monday for the Double Header, Boyd on Tuesday, Rea on Wednesday, and Imanaga on Thursday. 

So at least the Cubs will have their 5 starters going and not a bullpen game or a rookie making his first start.

3 of 5 would be the low end goal, obviously 4 or sweep will go a very long way with getting back into having a solid chance at 1st place.

Hopefully baseball will baseball and that scale starts to tip this weekend heading into that series and the cubs go on their run and the Brewers start to experience losing again. 🤷‍♂️😆

[chibears55]

1 hour ago, Stratos said:

This team needs to sack up and win.  There's no excuses for the hitters just rolling over and dying in unison. 

Right, they got the position player everyone wanted in Castro to help them in that department, so like you said theres no excuse for the hitters to all turn into Jason Heyward for the last 30 plus games. 

They added a couple bullpen arms that was needed. 

So the only let down was having the SP they got get hurt in his first start but getting Taillon back should give them a boost.

 

Bottom line though, they all just need to put their big boy jock on and go out there and start doing the little things to win baseball games again.  

[squally1313]

Going back to the trade deadline discussion, guess who has the worst wRC of anyone with at least 40 PAs (negative 20) since the deadline? 3/38 with 2 walks and 1 home run in 10 games. 

[Geographyhater8888]

20 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Red Sox too....they're like 8-3 since the deadline.  This is a silly excuse.  PCA has a .213 OPS in August because he's bummed out the Cubs didn't get a controllable SP at the deadline?

No they are doing what baseball players do, they slump.  Tucker is the closest thing we have to a superstar bat....not sure wtf is up with him but PCA's bat has been solid until recently but while a very good hitter much of his value is what he does away from the batters box.  We hoped Seiya might be having a breakout season but it seems like he's just a streaky guy and that mostly tracks with how he has hit in his Cubs career.  Busch had us thinking for a second we had another Rizzo but in reality he's probably more of an above average bat than a star one.  That doesn't mean the Cubs offense is terrible, but its not a relentless juggernaut either...it can pose as one for chunks of time though.

Maybe PCA was tight with Vidal Brujan and is bummed about him being DFAd. That’s just as plausible. 

[mul21]

6 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

Going back to the trade deadline discussion, guess who has the worst wRC of anyone with at least 40 PAs (negative 20) since the deadline? 3/38 with 2 walks and 1 home run in 10 games. 

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

Hey, the Pirates still haven't scored a run.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

Keller with meatball after meatball. Straight up batting practice. 

[Rcal10]

Woodruff pulled after 4 innings and only 65 pitches. Anyone know why?