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

[mk49]

10 minutes ago, soccer10k said:

Brewers playing at a 130 win pace for 6 weeks (or whatever it was) is going to cost us the division. If they had just played at like a 110 win pace in that stretch, we’d be tied.

And, we'd be much happier.  Despite the bad offense in the last month or two, the Cubs are top 3 in the league, now.  Only .5 game below the Phillies and 2.5 game above the Dodgers.

[Bertz]

If I'm not mistaken, with 21 left to play the magic numbers are

- 13 to make the playoffs

- 18 to host the WC round (with potential to drop this one more depending on tiebreakers)

- 26 to catch the Brewers

[UMFan83]

Win number 81 means the Cubs have finished at .500 or better 9 times in the last 11 years. And obviously the next win will make it “over .500” 9 of last 11 years

[Rcal10]

19 minutes ago, mk49 said:

And, we'd be much happier.  Despite the bad offense in the last month or two, the Cubs are top 3 in the league, now.  Only .5 game below the Phillies and 2.5 game above the Dodgers.

Yep, if the Brewers had 10 less wins, which would still be a team in the playoffs and better than most expected them to be, the Cubs would have a comfortable lead and this site would be much less anxious. Cubs have had a very good year. And yet people find all kinds of issues with the team. They are not a great team.’they are flawed. But no more that any other team in baseball. 

[Outshined_One]

37 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Win number 81 means the Cubs have finished at .500 or better 9 times in the last 11 years. And obviously the next win will make it “over .500” 9 of last 11 years

Remember when they went roughly 30 years between back to back winning seasons?

[Derwood]

1 hour ago, UMFan83 said:

Win number 81 means the Cubs have finished at .500 or better 9 times in the last 11 years. And obviously the next win will make it “over .500” 9 of last 11 years

Such a far cry from when I started following them in the early 90's

[muntjack]

I think all the consternation is 30% falling behind the Brewers and 70% the historic offense crashing back to earth, due mainly profound, prolonged struggles from the 3 big bats on the team.  

Edited September 6, 2025 by muntjack

[Wilson A2000]

Caissie scratched tonight. Guessing that Tucker is headed to the IL. Now give Caissie all the starts in RF until Tucker is back.

[Rcal10]

25 minutes ago, Wilson A2000 said:

Caissie scratched tonight. Guessing that Tucker is headed to the IL. Now give Caissie all the starts in RF until Tucker is back.

Even if the IL him I would guess Cassie doesn’t get much playing time. I would guess you would see Santana as DH or Castro play some. Maybe Cassie get a start, but he isn’t a sure start, IMO. 

[Wilson A2000]

14 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Even if the IL him I would guess Cassie doesn’t get much playing time. I would guess you would see Santana as DH or Castro play some. Maybe Cassie get a start, but he isn’t a sure start, IMO. 

Castro sucks

[Rcal10]

Just now, Wilson A2000 said:

Castro sucks

Let’s see how it plays out if Tucker does go on the IL. 

[I owned a Suzuki]

2 minutes ago, Wilson A2000 said:

Castro sucks

No he doesnt

[I owned a Suzuki]

5 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

As great a defender as PCA is, he seems to struggle on windy days. More than other outfielders. 

In my mind I hear Harry Caray saying how can a guy from Southern California loss the ball in the sun?"

[mk49]

32 minutes ago, Wilson A2000 said:

Castro sucks

I used to think so a week ago or so.  His BA with RISP is more than decent, probably, close to .300.

[Rcal10]

44 minutes ago, I owned a Suzuki said:

In my mind I hear Harry Caray saying how can a guy from Southern California loss the ball in the sun?"

I remember that coming out of Harry’s mouth. But I think the wind is tougher for PCA. I have seen him misplay more than one ball on windy days. Maybe there isn’t wind in Southern Cal.

[I owned a Suzuki]

6 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

I remember that coming out of Harry’s mouth. But I think the wind is tougher for PCA. I have seen him misplay more than one ball on windy days. Maybe there isn’t wind in Southern Cal.

Unfortunately when Harry said it, it was rather racist. 

[Papa Cub]

5 hours ago, mk49 said:

I agree.  He has the best BA in the team.  He's very consistent both offensively and defensively.  More than likely, he'll get another gold glove this year.

PCA should've been the MVP, if he didn't struggle this long, though.  

 

PCA is a special talent for sure - he really just needs some more plate discipline I feel and get his confidence and swag back. His fielding is superior and base running ability too. Busch is capable and Horton has been exceptional, so I’m excited like many fans here about the youth this team has. 
 

Like many, I tend to be overly critical because when you follow a team closely it’s easy to get wrapped up in the negative side of things. A guy in here called me on that and it makes sense for sure. This team has been inconsistent at times, but what they have done this year as a whole is a job well done. Hopefully some of those others can catch their groove again and get a streak in late September early October! 👍💪

[Papa Cub]

3 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

Yep, if the Brewers had 10 less wins, which would still be a team in the playoffs and better than most expected them to be, the Cubs would have a comfortable lead and this site would be much less anxious. Cubs have had a very good year. And yet people find all kinds of issues with the team. They are not a great team.’they are flawed. But no more that any other team in baseball. 

Good post - You were the one that reminded me to stop and look at it from a different perspective and it is so true. When we follow a team so closely we tend to see their warts/flaws more than other teams. The truth is that this team has done extremely well - especially with losing Steele early on, and other injuries here and there. 
 

Thanks for the thought provoking reminder about that - hopefully they can put it all together and make a run deep into October 

[mk49]

Yeah, if the Brewers didn't win like crazy or the Brewers were in a different division, all the Cubs fans should be very happy now.  That's what I've been kept saying.  We already won almost as many games as the last year, and it's still early Sept.  I guess because of the Brewers, super good offense earlier and bad offense lately frustrated many of us.  Yes, I understand what I just said, but I was frustrated lately, too.  But, look at the bright side, the Dodgers and the Padres are both struggling right now.  I think the Dodgers are like four games under 500 after the break, and they got all the SPs back from the IL.  The Cubs are a few games over 500, and we should feel happier than the Dodgers fans.  They must be super frustrated now.

Edited September 6, 2025 by mk49

[mk49]

Wow.  The Padres lost again, I think 5 straight games.  And, their ace pitched tonight in Colorado.  I'd rather face the Mets in the postseason, so that's good.

[Stratos]

6 hours ago, muntjack said:

I think all the consternation is 30% falling behind the Brewers and 70% the historic offense crashing back to earth, due mainly profound, prolonged struggles from the 3 big bats on the team.  

Agree.   The Brewers being god-like for a month doesn't even bug me that much since the Cubs can't control that.  Watching key hitters and a whole offense struggle for a month+ does get frustrating to watch every day.

We should be grateful the pitching stepped up during that stretch or things would have been much uglier.  We could easily be 10 games back.

[Stratos]

3 hours ago, mk49 said:

Wow.  The Padres lost again, I think 5 straight games.  And, their ace pitched tonight in Colorado.  I'd rather face the Mets in the postseason, so that's good.

Which team's SP do our hitters match up better against?  Hopefully we can avoid SP that neutralize LHB.

[Stratos]

4 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

I remember that coming out of Harry’s mouth. But I think the wind is tougher for PCA. I have seen him misplay more than one ball on windy days. Maybe there isn’t wind in Southern Cal.

Wind sure, but there's nothing a player can really do if the ball is directly in the sun.  Being from SoCal wouldn't change that, you can't catch what you can't see.

[17 Seconds]

7 hours ago, mk49 said:

Wow.  The Padres lost again, I think 5 straight games.  And, their ace pitched tonight in Colorado.  I'd rather face the Mets in the postseason, so that's good.

the tiebreaker between the cubs and padres would be record within their division, so them losing to the rockies is extra good for us

[Rcal10]

9 hours ago, Papa Cub said:

Good post - You were the one that reminded me to stop and look at it from a different perspective and it is so true. When we follow a team so closely we tend to see their warts/flaws more than other teams. The truth is that this team has done extremely well - especially with losing Steele early on, and other injuries here and there. 
 

Thanks for the thought provoking reminder about that - hopefully they can put it all together and make a run deep into October 

Yes, that was me. It is natural to only focus on flaws the team you watch has. But they all do. The Cubs probably have a 50/50 in any series they are in. No team is clearly better, but there is also no team the Cubs should obviously beat. All the money the Dodger and Mets spent didn’t make them any more likely to win a ahort series tha. The Cubs are. Hopefully good fortune is on the Cubs side this playoffs.