Cubs (Boyd) vs Giants (Verlander): 8/26/25, 8:45pm

[Brandon Glick]

The West Coast road trip continues! Next up: old flame Justin Verlander.

[Bertz]

Verlander's gotten a bit better as the season has gone on, but this is still a game the Cubs should win.  Win today and split the next two.

[BKHoo]

There is zero reason why the Cubs can’t sweep. They are favored in every game. Just get the bats going and we should at least win the series.  

[Rcal10]

28 minutes ago, BKHoo said:

There is zero reason why the Cubs can’t sweep. They are favored in every game. Just get the bats going and we should at least win the series.  

They can sweep. But biggest reason they won’t is because they are playing baseball. Even the bad teams win 40% of the time while the good ones win 60% of the time. Sweeping in unusual regardless of who is playing. They definitely need to win the series and a sweep would be awesome. But expecting it is a little unrealistic. 

[squally1313]

41 minutes ago, BKHoo said:

There is zero reason why the Cubs can’t sweep. They are favored in every game. Just get the bats going and we should at least win the series.  

If the Cubs were 80% favorites to win every individual game of the series, which would be very extreme, the percentage chance of them sweeping the series is 51%. 

They 'can'. They probably won't. 

[muntjack]

I don't care. Sweep these fools and scare the horsefeathers out of Milwaukee. 

[PeanutPunch33]

I am just happy they are playing good baseball again 

[Derwood]

I'll be lucky to make it to the 4th inning

[Stratos]

Just woke up from a nap and had a dream where I read a news headline saying Steele not ruling out 2025 return.

[BigSlick]

Justin Verlander is still in the league ?

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

The Giants have the worst record in the league since they traded for Devers. Yes, worse than the Rockies.

They are also dead last against LHP with a 74 wRC+

Edited August 26, 2025 by Tangled Up in Plaid

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Derwood said:

I'll be lucky to make it to the 4th inning

yep I''ll be asleep

[Lagartijo]

When is Counsell going to sit down Seiya Suzuki for at least a game? Man, come on, give Owen Cassie a chance to at least DH in a game or two. Suzuki needs to sit for a few games. He’s the worst hitter by far now 

Edited August 27, 2025 by Lagartijo

[Caesar]

Not understanding not using Cassie. What a waste. He clearly loyal to veterans to the extreme. Give Suzuki a couple of days of rest and see what happens. Isn’t this an obvious move? Why doesn’t this overpaid manager get it? Stubborn maybe?

[chibears55]

10 minutes ago, Lagartijo said:

When is Counsell going to sit down Seiya Suzuki for at least a game? Man, come on, give Owen Cassie a chance to at least DH in a game or two. Suzuki needs to sit for a few games. He’s the worst hitter by far now 

I was hoping hed give Suzuki, Happ and PCA a couple days off on this trip to get them a breather before September. 

Im hoping now they can get on a roll these next couple weeks so they can clinch a playoff spot and positioning before the last homestead so they can get these guys a break before the playoffs 

[Soul]

You don’t wanna be the team where Verlander re-discovers the old magic or whatever else winds up in the headline when a glue horse somehow manages a good start against a top team.

[squally1313]

We had a day off yesterday 

[cubfansince77]

2 hours ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

The Giants have the worst record in the league since they traded for Devers. Yes, worse than the Rockies.

They are also dead last against LHP with a 74 wRC+

Be that as it may, they just took 2/3 from the Brewers

[Jazz]

First time seeing the boys this year I'll be at the park, let's gooooo

[We Got The Whole 9]

25 minutes ago, Caesar said:

Not understanding not using Cassie. What a waste. He clearly loyal to veterans to the extreme. Give Suzuki a couple of days of rest and see what happens. Isn’t this an obvious move? Why doesn’t this overpaid manager get it? Stubborn maybe?

Do you subscribe to expected stats? Seiya had 2 or 3 balls die at the warning track due to wind last week. So the process says keep doing what you're doing and the fortune will flip. The Cubs clearly believe hes run into some bad luck.

[Illiterate Scholar]

Nice of Kipnis to wear his best hoodie for the pre and post tonight 

[Caesar]

The point is you’re not using Cassie enough and Suzuki isn’t performing. Good reason to sit one player and use the other. I guess he hit a couple balls to warning track so he deserves to keep plugging away.

[Jason Ross]

7 minutes ago, Caesar said:

The point is you’re not using Cassie enough and Suzuki isn’t performing. Good reason to sit one player and use the other. I guess he hit a couple balls to warning track so he deserves to keep plugging away.

The point is that the Cubs need to, on a nigutly basis determine who is likely to give them the best chance to win. I understand everyone loves the shiny new toy, but Owen Caissie is a rookie. Seiya Suzuki has been an excellent hitter for 3.5 years. Yes, he is in a bit of a slump. But who do we expect to be better on a nightly basis? The guy who has been 30% (roughly) better than league average for 3.5 years or the kid who has 20 appearances ever at the MLB level? A slump is just that; a temporary issue that is likely to end at any given moment. 

It is not a waste for Caissie to be up. He provides a LHH power swing off the bench. He has 1,000 appearances in Iowa, a few weeks more will provide little. 

But on a nightly basis, Suzuki, not Caissie, provides the best chance to hit currently. There is zero reason to believe he is broken. They had an off day yesterday as a team, he doesn't need a day off, he literally just had one. 

Owen Caissie is no different than the backup QB right now. He is exciting because he is an unknown. But that unknown is also why he is a worse bet. Craig Counsell's job is to make that determination. He is a good coach. He is also correct in his assumption that Suzuki is the correct choice. 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

This whole thing where we ignore everything but the last couple weeks to decide who is the best player to start is the equivalent of driving 20 miles out of the way because you heard a rumor that gas was cheaper there.  Many times it's actually not, and sometimes if it actually is you've made yourself worse off in the pursuit anyway.

[Guest]

Should have DH'ed Caissie instead smh