Cubs (Horton) vs Braves (Strider): 9/9/25, 6:15pm

[We Got The Whole 9]

They're gonna win 90. Exactly what Jed aimed for lol

[Stratos]

1 hour ago, squally1313 said:

I’m not watching too closely and I’m very aware they have much more advanced tracking mechanisms than just ‘how many innings has he thrown this year’…but he’s also maybe the most important player for the cubs to make a run in October so I’d prefer to lean on the cautious side with him whenever possible. 

Horton was throwing between 84-94 pitches in his starts throughout July.  They dialed that back in Aug and limited him to around 75 pitches until tonight, where he threw 87, which is the most pitches since July 9.

Completely shutting a guy down in the middle of the season and then ramping him back up later probably isn't the wisest tactic to save a healthy pitcher's arm, better to keep him throwing but limit his workload if they want to reduce the mileage.

Probably what they did in Aug, and they may be letting him throw more pitches now in prep for the playoffs.

Who knows if it's been enough of a breather but it still makes me nervous.  I wouldn't have left him out there for 90+ pitches earlier in the year.

[itisallpartoftheplan]

Giants are definitely passing the Mets.

[BKHoo]

1 hour ago, chibears55 said:

Brown the new closer 😅

W

And still haven't loss 4 in a row

Did he just win the closer role???  LOL

[Bertz]

Beyond the obvious appeal to authority of "they're an MLB team with their hands on him", should be worth noting the Cubs this past winter brought in respected pitching guru Tyler Zombro, and also much more quietly Japanese firm Next Base which is focused on reducing pitcher injury

https://asia.nikkei.com/business/startups/chicago-cubs-draft-japanese-firm-to-reduce-baseball-injuries

Cade's arm still has a good chance of exploding.  All pitchers' arms do, especially guys that throw really hard.  But there's clearly some intellectual rigor that has been applied here.  And I personally can't help but draw parallel to Garret Crochet last year, which was a smashing success.

[BKHoo]

Brewers lose.  It's not over until we say it is.  

[We Got The Whole 9]

Reds take the lead on the Padres in the 9th. Lets see if it holds up.

 

Padres lose again

 

Edited September 10, 2025 by We Got The Whole 9

[soccer10k]

1 hour ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

Reds take the lead on the Padres in the 9th. Lets see if it holds up.

 

Padres lose again

 

Not good. Would be perfect for us for LA-SD to go down to the last day since we'll likely be playing one of them.

[Bruno7481]

Yes, it will most likely be SD/LA, but the SD loss gives more cushion for the Cubs to host the WC series.  That is my preferred outcome at this point.

[CubinNY]

I'm probably squarely in the mode on Jed. He's not awful, he's just mid. But he and his team picked a winner in Horton. I've been wrong about many things, but I HATED that pick when it was made. That's probably the most wrong I've been about Jed. 

It looks like they have an Ace in the making for as long as his arms hold together. 

[Rcal10]

For all those doomsday cubs fans suggesting they will lose in the playoffs because of how poorly they are playing going into the playoffs, the Cubs and Phillies are the only 2 teams currently in the NL playoffs  that have played over 500 ball  since 8/15.                                                          

Granted, I picked a random date to show these numbers. And the Cubs can very easily lose in the first round. But if/when they do eventually lose it won’t be to a team that played great leading to the playoffs. Obviously there are almost 20 games left, so a tr could get hit. But so can the Cubs. What has happened the last 22-25 games has no bearing on playoff success. 

 

Edited September 10, 2025 by Rcal10

[gflore34]

8 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

I'm probably squarely in the mode on Jed. He's not awful, he's just mid. But he and his team picked a winner in Horton. I've been wrong about many things, but I HATED that pick when it was made. That's probably the most wrong I've been about Jed. 

It looks like they have an Ace in the making for as long as his arms hold together. 

I was down on him as well, his pick was very underwhelming coupled with his slow start but, I'm glad to be wrong.  Don't know if he's going to win ROY however, mentioning Chad Patrick and Cade Horton in the same sentence as contenders for ROY is a joke.  Horton' been far better than Patrick and it's not even close.

[mul21]

12 hours ago, squally1313 said:

I’m not watching too closely and I’m very aware they have much more advanced tracking mechanisms than just ‘how many innings has he thrown this year’…but he’s also maybe the most important player for the cubs to make a run in October so I’d prefer to lean on the cautious side with him whenever possible. 

I think a big factor is that last start was on standard 4 days rest and this one was on 5.  That extra day of rest really seems to be a key to how the Cubs are handling pitchers these days.

[squally1313]

35 minutes ago, mul21 said:

I think a big factor is that last start was on standard 4 days rest and this one was on 5.  That extra day of rest really seems to be a key to how the Cubs are handling pitchers these days.

Another day off tomorrow too, so this makes sense to me (in addition to what Bertz threw out last night).

I don't know. I think the difference between Horton and Taillon starting a playoff game is so vast that you want to do everything you can to make sure he's healthy in 3 weeks. But I also think playing 3 games in Wrigley is much preferrable to playing 3 games in San Diego, so I understand some effort to keep pushing for wins. And obviously we can win with Taillon or lose with Horton or push Horton and have him stay healthy or Horton can blow his arm out in the first inning next week. Ultimately just trust the 'keep Boyd/Horton healthy' process because it's worked so far. 

[chibears55]

2 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

For all those doomsday cubs fans suggesting they will lose in the playoffs because of how poorly they are playing going into the playoffs, the Cubs and Phillies are the only 2 teams currently in the NL playoffs  that have played over 500 ball  since 8/15.                                                          

Granted, I picked a random date to show these numbers. And the Cubs can very easily lose in the first round. But if/when they do eventually lose it won’t be to a team that played great leading to the playoffs. Obviously there are almost 20 games left, so a tr could get hit. But so can the Cubs. What has happened the last 22-25 games has no bearing on playoff success. 

 

IMO..

Record wise no not really meaningful, although you'd like to see some positive momentum going into the playoffs the final 10 games or so...

Players wise, having key guys struggle for the most part their final 30-60 games isnt exactly comforting heading into the post season.  

So, these last 2 weeks it would be really good to start seeing guys playing better and pick up some positive momentum heading into the playoffs. 

 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

1 hour ago, chibears55 said:

IMO..

Record wise no not really meaningful, although you'd like to see some positive momentum going into the playoffs the final 10 games or so...

Players wise, having key guys struggle for the most part their final 30-60 games isnt exactly comforting heading into the post season.  

So, these last 2 weeks it would be really good to start seeing guys playing better and pick up some positive momentum heading into the playoffs. 

 

Do you think all the other contenders with similar or worse records in that span are getting encouraging performance from their key players

[Rcal10]

16 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Do you think all the other contenders with similar or worse records in that span are getting encouraging performance from their key players

Exactly what I was going to say. Everyone focusing on the Cubs, obviously. But with SD, the likely opponent in round 1, 10-13 in their last 23 games, they must have people lacking in their production. Same with the Brewers or all the other teams except for the Phillies. I understand chibears point, but it goes for every team.  There handling to be a struggling team win a playoff series. It is just going to happen. 

[chibears55]

1 hour ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Do you think all the other contenders with similar or worse records in that span are getting encouraging performance from their key players

Doesn't matter, only care about our guys and how theyre playing heading into the playoffs. 

We're seeing them lose games against bad teams now with less talented players, so yea I'd feel better if our guys were playing better going into the playoffs against better teams and players then the ones they've been losing to.

[Rcal10]

1 hour ago, chibears55 said:

Doesn't matter, only care about our guys and how theyre playing heading into the playoffs. 

We're seeing them lose games against bad teams now with less talented players, so yea I'd feel better if our guys were playing better going into the playoffs against better teams and players then the ones they've been losing to.

Honestly, it isn’t the job of Cubs players to make there fans feel good about their chances. As was pointed out to you before, there is a good chance whoever they are playing will also be playing just as poorly as they are going into the playoffs. For the record, 14-10 in their last 24 isn’t playing poorly. It is around a 94 win pace. I think Cubs fans are very unrealistic in their expectations of what good is. And, honestly it doesn’t matter anyway. Cubs can go 8-2 and play a Padres team that goes 5-5 their last 10 and lose. Would that make you feel better than the Cubs going 5-5 their last 10 while the Padres went 8-2, but the Cubs beat them? Playoffs are pretty close to a flip of the coin. Period. 

[gflore34]

2 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Honestly, it isn’t the job of Cubs players to make there fans feel good about their chances. As was pointed out to you before, there is a good chance whoever they are playing will also be playing just as poorly as they are going into the playoffs. For the record, 14-10 in their last 24 isn’t playing poorly. It is around a 94 win pace. I think Cubs fans are very unrealistic in their expectations of what good is. And, honestly it doesn’t matter anyway. Cubs can go 8-2 and play a Padres team that goes 5-5 their last 10 and lose. Would that make you feel better than the Cubs going 5-5 their last 10 while the Padres went 8-2, but the Cubs beat them? Playoffs are pretty close to a flip of the coin. Period. 

Amen.  You never know what's going to happen, some of the Cubs' hitters who have been in coma the last three months could come to life.  These kinds of things occur every year in the playoffs.