Playoff Eve Thread (Cubs v Padres)

[Bull]

3 hours ago, Bertz said:

2nd highest WAR by a Cub's position player group since WW2, and best pure offense in that span.  And somehow large swaths of people are convinced they're bad 🙃

They were bad for large swaths of the season. They were unbelievably good early on. I think wear and tear/injuries to blame.  Thankfully signs of life lately. 

[CubUgly]

1 hour ago, I owned a Suzuki said:

I have had a kind of loathing of the Padres since 1984.....get it done Cubs!!!

Yes that we had to play 3 in San Diego even though we had the better regular season record still galls me.

[Papa Cub]

6 hours ago, Brandon Glick said:

For the first time in five years, the playoffs tomorrow will include the Cubbies.

How ya feeling? Who is starting Game 3 with no Horton (if it gets that far)? Are you attending one of the games?

Good question about a pending game 3 - my guess would be Rea - been consistent most of the year and healthy. Him or Taillon I guess, right? 
 

Not gonna lie - I’m a bit nervous about Shota. He’s been on the struggle bus to say the least these last few starts

[Rcal10]

6 minutes ago, CubUgly said:

Yes that we had to play 3 in San Diego even though we had the better regular season record still galls me.

Except at that time the rule was home field alternated between the East and West. That year whoever won the West had home field. The Cubs were never going to have home field in the playoffs that year, no matter their record. 

[Rcal10]

1 minute ago, Papa Cub said:

Good question about a pending game 3 - my guess would be Rea - been consistent most of the year and healthy. Him or Taillon I guess, right? 
 

Not gonna lie - I’m a bit nervous about Shota. He’s been on the struggle bus to say the least these last few starts

I think game 3 or game 1 of the NLDS will be Taillon. He has pitched well lately and I think Rea is a better option coming out of the pen that Taillon. If the Cubs get to the second round due to off days they can actually get away with 3 starters in that series. 

[Papa Cub]

Just now, Rcal10 said:

I think game 3 or game 1 of the NLDS will be Taillon. He has pitched well lately and I think Rea is a better option coming out of the pen that Taillon. If the Cubs get to the second round due to off days they can actually get away with 3 starters in that series. 

Fair point - Rea is significantly more confident coming out of the bullpen than Taillon, so I see your logic there for sure. Both have been much better lately

[CubUgly]

21 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Except at that time the rule was home field alternated between the East and West. That year whoever won the West had home field. The Cubs were never going to have home field in the playoffs that year, no matter their record. 

I always heard it was because Wrigley didn't have lights - so that's an urban legend?

[Gjfificifjdej]

4 minutes ago, CubUgly said:

I always heard it was because Wrigley didn't have lights - so that's an urban legend?

The “urban legend” with Wrigley and no lights at the time that I always heard was that if they had beaten SD the home games in the World Series would’ve been at the Sox park

[UMFan83]

5 minutes ago, Gjfificifjdej said:

The “urban legend” with Wrigley and no lights at the time that I always heard was that if they had beaten SD the home games in the World Series would’ve been at the Sox park

Nah, apparently NBC was perfectly fine with World Series day games as long as they were on the weekend (in fact, Game 4 of the 1984 World Series started at 1:30pm ET in Detroit).  What would have changed is instead of the Cubs having home field in the World Series, they would have instead played the middle 3 at Wrigley (Friday, Saturday, Sunday). 

There was talk that if the Cubs made the playoffs again in 1985 that they would move the home games to St. Louis

Edited September 29, 2025 by UMFan83

[Gjfificifjdej]

2 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Nah, apparently NBC was perfectly fine with World Series day games as long as they were on the weekend (in fact, Game 4 of the 1984 World Series started at 1:30pm ET in Detroit).  What would have changed is instead of the Cubs having home field in the World Series, they would have instead played the middle 3 at Wrigley (Friday, Saturday, Sunday). 

There was talk that if the Cubs made the playoffs again in 1985 that they would move the home games to St. Louis

Ah thanks for that

[Neuby]

In 1984 or 1985 the Cubs home games would have been out been played at county stadium not at Comiskey or St.Louis.

[Rcal10]

28 minutes ago, CubUgly said:

I always heard it was because Wrigley didn't have lights - so that's an urban legend?

Yes, urban legend. Cubs were not robbed of home field in that series. As for other statements about other games, I can’t speak to that. They never happened so no one really knows what would have happened. I highly doubt they would have been played in St,L, however. 

[Guest]

8 hours ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

I think Rea will be saved to bail out anybody that struggles early.

I think this is the correct answer here

[chibears55]

3 hours ago, Gjfificifjdej said:

The “urban legend” with Wrigley and no lights at the time that I always heard was that if they had beaten SD the home games in the World Series would’ve been at the Sox park

Nope..

RCal was correct about the West getting home field in 1984 because they alternated back then. 

If the Cubs had made the WS, the commissioner Bowie Kuhn had said that the Cubs would be able to play their games at WF during the day.

[squally1313]

Between that PCA Players Tribune Article and Boyd breaking down in his press conference today....I know some of us have some reasonable criticisms regarding the corners of the infields, but man....what a generally likeable team. PCA rocks, Nico is so fun, you can tell how much this means to Happ, Shota is extremely cool, Palencia is sweet, Horton is amazing. Can be frustrating that there's maybe only one elite talent here, and he has the personality of a block of a wood, but the team put up 92. Sucks that it could be over in a couple days. 

[Connor McConnor]

5 hours ago, CubUgly said:

Yes that we had to play 3 in San Diego even though we had the better regular season record still galls me.

But we only had to win 1.   We blew it.   Would love to beat them. 

[I owned a Suzuki]

13 minutes ago, Connor McConnor said:

But we only had to win 1.   We blew it.   Would love to beat them. 

Padres bullpen was lights out. Steve effing Garvey and Leon Fricking Durham

[mk49]

I just hope the Cubs win the game 1 with Boyd.  When he's good, he's good.  I worry about Boyd more than Shota.  The Horton's injury definitely sucks, but at least, Jamo and Rea pitched well lately.  I think Jamo will pitch in the game 3.

[Rcal10]

34 minutes ago, mk49 said:

I just hope the Cubs win the game 1 with Boyd.  When he's good, he's good.  I worry about Boyd more than Shota.  The Horton's injury definitely sucks, but at least, Jamo and Rea pitched well lately.  I think Jamo will pitch in the game 3.

I think Jamo goes game one of the NLDS

[Stratos]

31 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

I think Jamo goes game one of the NLDS

I wonder how much rust affects the teams that get a bye, compared to the rest they get.

I assume the hitters and pitchers do sim ABs or even sim games.

[Geographyhater8888]

5 innings give or take vs that padres bullpen in an elimination series is worrying.

We need Tucker to be that superstar we traded for. The Horton and Steele injuries are lethal enough. 

 

Edited September 30, 2025 by Geographyhater8888

[Brian707]

8 hours ago, I owned a Suzuki said:

Padres bullpen was lights out. Steve effing Garvey and Leon Fricking Durham

Jim horsefeathers Frey too. He waited until game 5 to pitch Sutcliffe because he wanted to save him for the WS

[CubUgly]

4 hours ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

5 innings give or take vs that padres bullpen in an elimination series is worrying.

We need Tucker to be that superstar we traded for. The Horton and Steele injuries are lethal enough. 

 

Agreed, think we're going to have to get to them early and hope Boyd can survive the first and make it two times through without much damage.  His first inning the several games before his last outing were pretty brutal.

I think our pen can hold their own - and I think the shadows later in the day will make it tough for hitters on both sides in addition to the pitching. 

[mul21]

16 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

It can't be Taillon unless its on short rest so it would have to either be Shota with or without an opener, or a game patched together with some combo of Soroka, Assad, Rea and Civale.  It might also depend on how game 1 plays out with regards to the result and how the staff is used in that one.

Shota has been pretty bad lately but if we win game 1, I'd be willing to give him the start (or start post opener).  He still has the best shot of giving us 5-6 shutdown innings.

Definitely isn't going to be Assad.  He threw like 80 pitches Sunday and I'll be a little surprised if he's even on the roster considering he's a maybe to be available on Thursday.

[Jason Ross]

The Padres starting pitching is not particularly great. Cease has had a weird year; under the hood numbers look good, top line looks bad. Pivetta is a good pitcher, but has probably gotten some positive variance against LHP (sub 3.00 FIP, near 4.00 xFIP). Beyond those two, game three will be a pitcher who's recently returned from injury in King or Darvish. They're a team you can get to in the first 5 innings - they're a bottom 10 SP in almost any category. 

Yes, their bullpen is very good, but the Cubs are going to enter every game with an advantage at the first half of the game likely, and especially whenever they have a lefty on the mound. And it isn't like they can't put together a strong BP effort after that. 

Given that it's at Wrigley, I like the Cubs here. Nothing guaranteed but I do think they have the edge entering. 

Game 1 is very important. Since the playoff expansion the team who won Game 1 went on to win all 12 sets.