Nationals (Irvin) vs Cubs (Assad): 9/5/25, 1:20pm

[Brandon Glick]

I can't lie, I really enjoy watching Javier Assad pitch. I think he's the No. 4 starter on this team right now, ahead of Rea and even Taillon (when he's healthy). 

[mul21]

If my math is right, magic number to make the playoffs is 14 and to stay out of the 3rd wild card slot is 18.  If they play .500 the rest of the way, the Giants have to go 20-2 and the Mets 16-6 to catch them.

[Geographyhater8888]

Any word on Tucker yet?

[UMFan83]

Wind is expected to be blowing heavily out to RF today and the Nats have a righty on the mound.  If the Cubs can't homer today the offense really is broken.

[squally1313]

5 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Wind is expected to be blowing heavily out to RF today and the Nats have a righty on the mound.  If the Cubs can't homer today the offense really is broken.

Yeah I mean, one game sample size and all that, but this pitcher is very, very bad (among qualified starters, he's the only one with a negative fWAR, given up the second most home runs in baseball, has a 5.42 ERA and is actually overperforming his peripherals).

[mul21]

I'm going to sound like a grumpy old man here, but I cannot express how much I hate the Apple tv games.  I pay for MLBTV, just let me watch the damn game you bastards.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

This guy's statcast page makes Bryce Elder look like Paul Skenes.

[Bertz]

52 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Wind is expected to be blowing heavily out to RF today and the Nats have a righty on the mound.  If the Cubs can't homer today the offense really is broken.

First time since July 23rd, and only the 3rd time since the break

[KCCub]

 

[Max Power]

1 hour ago, mul21 said:

I'm going to sound like a grumpy old man here, but I cannot express how much I hate the Apple tv games.  I pay for MLBTV, just let me watch the damn game you bastards.

“Friday Night Baseball”

1:20 start

Nobody hates their consumers quite the way MLB does.

[I owned a Suzuki]

3 hours ago, mul21 said:

I'm going to sound like a grumpy old man here, but I cannot express how much I hate the Apple tv games.  I pay for MLBTV, just let me watch the damn game you bastards.

Several yrs ago I had a job that gave me an IPhone for work use. AppleTV was part of the deal. I dont have the job or phone anymore....but still have AppleTV

[UMFan83]

stupid streameast being raided. too lazy to look for another stream site and too cheap to reup with apple

[JHBulls]

I’ve found this

https://mlbwebcast.com/chicago-cubs-live/

Scroll down and the game is on the second clickable video. Hopefully it’s not a horsefeathers stream.

[chibears55]

PCA will hit a HR today...

Book it

[squally1313]

PCA is, per the rules above, broken, but the Cubs up 1-0 early

[JHBulls]

Wind assisted run. They all count. 

[squally1313]

'one weakness of this cubs offense is that they strikeout a lot'

the cubs have the 4th lowest K rate in baseball

[squally1313]

Cubs offense fixed!

[We Got The Whole 9]

Can we do this more often guys?

[JHBulls]

YES! 5-0

[mk49]

Just now, squally1313 said:

Cubs offense fixed!

For now.  Very happy.😀

[Rcal10]

Has Dansby started to do better with risp lately, or am I imaging it. I feel he doubled  on Monday’s comeback win and now this homer. Is that the only hits he got? 

[mk49]

1 minute ago, Rcal10 said:

Has Dansby started to do better with risp lately, or am I imaging it. I feel he doubled  on Monday’s comeback win and now this homer. Is that the only hits he got? 

He has.  Way better than earlier in the season.

[mul21]

I don't hate Zaidman the way others do, but him being in the booth during an Apple TV game is a bad beat all around.  Fortunately the early offense is making this a much more pleasant experience.

[squally1313]

101 wRC on the year for Dansby.

His xwOBA was .360 going into today, which is his career high either by that metric or his actual output, and 51 points higher than his actual output so far this year. 

I probably need a smart person to explain why league wide xwOBA is 11 points higher than wOBA, but even if you should be discounting xwOBA a little bit, he's fourth in all of baseball, per Savant, in the difference between actual and expected.