Spring Training games thread

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

I think Clement broke the record for hits in one playoffs.

[We Got The Whole 9]

The Leiter Jr trade sunk the Cubs today

 

Cowles error led to 4 "unearned" runs by Neely as he allowed 2 2-out 2-run dongs to our very own, Ayers, and Kyle Teel. Lol

Edited March 3 by We Got The Whole 9

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

Nice to see Owen Ayers rip one.

[Bertz]

Pretty fun lineup considering none of the regulars are in place

[chibears55]

Lol, now we get the Brewers announcers on marquee,  so JD and Boog just sitting the spring out

[Gjfificifjdej]

Brewers feed? Someone should be shot. 

[Bertz]

24 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

Lol, now we get the Brewers announcers on marquee,  so JD and Boog just sitting the spring out

So Boog is doing WBC stuff, he did the USA/Giants game yesterday for instance.  I think he does a good bit of CBB this time of year as well.

Can't/won't really excuse anyone else involved.

[Bertz]

If Mo wants to keep winning ABS challenges at such a high clip he can more than make up for any physical deficiencies he has behind the plate.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

3 minutes ago, Bertz said:

If Mo wants to keep winning ABS challenges at such a high clip he can more than make up for any physical deficiencies he has behind the plate.

This is gonna become a big new metric for catchers 

[mk49]

Mo was good in the 2nd inning.  3 for 3.

[chibears55]

Wonder if we see strikeouts or walks records broken this season with the ABS

[mul21]

22 minutes ago, Bertz said:

So Boog is doing WBC stuff, he did the USA/Giants game yesterday for instance.  I think he does a good bit of CBB this time of year as well.

Can't/won't really excuse anyone else involved.

He's been doing a ton of west coast CBB games recently and it caught me by surprise how frequently I've turned a game on and he's doing it.  Lot of Big 12 too.

[chibears55]

23 minutes ago, Bertz said:

So Boog is doing WBC stuff, he did the USA/Giants game yesterday for instance.  I think he does a good bit of CBB this time of year as well.

Can't/won't really excuse anyone else involved.

Nothing against boog personally,  but I'd prefer they dont give him another extension if he cant solely commit to the Cubs.

Call me an old timer but I enjoy and prefer having the same 2 guys committed to the booth all 162.

Harry and Steve probably wouldn't be as loved as much if they only did half the games back in the 80s.

[squally1313]

ESPN Top 100 MLB players came out for us to get mad at:

• 22. PCA
• 55. Hoerner
• 61. Bregman
• 82. Swanson
• 86. Busch
• 92. Suzuki

Can quibble with the numbers (and the fact that Suzuki made it over Happ), but otherwise I'll take having 6 guys on there. 

 

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

Wiggins and Rojas 👍

Hartshorn is now playing RF

[Gjfificifjdej]

Wiggins looked awesome. 

[Bertz]

Every time James Triantos hits a hard fly ball an angel gets its wings

[Jason Ross]

14 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Every time James Triantos hits a hard fly ball an angel gets its wings

He read my article today and got mad. 

[JBears79]

Rojas has been very impressive this spring. Really beginning to wonder if ive been too low on him going into the year. Yeah, I get it, its spring training but he looks really good.

[Jason Ross]

56 minutes ago, JBears79 said:

Rojas has been very impressive this spring. Really beginning to wonder if ive been too low on him going into the year. Yeah, I get it, its spring training but he looks really good.

New mechanics. I really like them. 

[Bertz]

 

 

[Bertz]

On 3/3/2026 at 8:56 AM, Bertz said:

So I'm not buying in on it yet, but I just noticed that Dylan Carlson is making a ton of contact this spring.  His contact rate is 92.9%, which for comparison last year would have been the #2 mark in the league afger Luis Arraez.  Nico Hoerner's an elite contact guy and has never crossed the 90% line.  Carlson for his career has hovered around 80%

Like it doesn't matter much yet, but contact rates are a spring stat that do have some signal to them.  So if he keeps this up the whole spring it's something that's probably pretty meaningful.

Three more at bats today, three line drives (two of those over 100 MPH).  Six swings, zero misses.

[Jason Ross]

Dylan Carlson becoming a good MLB player would be big for the Cubs. And could give the Cubs another, slightly cheaper resign option over their other 30+ year old OF'ers which they then could reinvest elsewhere. 

We're well early for that talk, but something I've considered deep in the recesses of my brain. 

[Stratos]

Mo got tested on a stolen base attempt to second base today. His throw was fairly accurate but was so slow that it barely made it to the bag.  Hopefully just a bad throw in an early ST catching start for him.

[Stratos]

6 hours ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

This is gonna become a big new metric for catchers 

If a catcher can be accurate with ABS and rack up many successful challenges per game that could fundamentally change game outcomes in this sport.

You wonder if catchers become so good that teams will start to not allow hitters to challenge unless it's very high leverage like runners on late in a close game.  Sounds like teams already don't want pitchers challenging.

Edited March 5 by Stratos