Cubs (Imanaga) vs Phillies (Luzardo): 4/15/26, 5:40pm

[CUBDOM4life]

What a way to bounce back after a miserable start to this series on the road in Philly 

[chibears55]

Nice W... back to 500

Need to keep it going against the Mets

[Jason Ross]

I shared this thread multiple times this off-season and I'd like to share it again. Shota at 92-93 mph is doing exactly what Langin said he'd do. Shota remains a razor thin pitcher with razor thin margins: at 91mph he isn't capable of this. But if the velo sits here in 2026, we have a guy. And this is why the Cubs offered a QO. Because this was worth that risk. 

26 swings and misses tonight. 26. 

[mk49]

Yeah, a great W.  

Aside from Buschy, the offense was way better in the last two games.  Shota pitched well again, and Rea wasn't bad at all. 

[Bertz]

2 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

I shared this thread multiple times this off-season and I'd like to share it again. Shota at 92-93 mph is doing exactly what Langin said he'd do. Shota remains a razor thin pitcher with razor thin margins: at 91mph he isn't capable of this. But if the velo sits here in 2026, we have a guy. And this is why the Cubs offered a QO. Because this was worth that risk. 

26 swings and misses tonight. 26. 

 

 

[Jason Ross]

Just now, Bertz said:

 

 

Yep. Shota is a very good pitcher at this velo. I know we are all bummed about losing Cade. Maybe no one more than me; Cade has been my dude since the draft. 

But if we get this Shota this year, that's a major upgrade. He is a very good SP when he sits here. 

[mk49]

Nobody here remembers me saying something like it would be hard to sign a better pitcher than Shota in the off season.  That was around the the time they offered him the QO.  So far, I'm right.😁

Edited yesterday at 01:30 AM by mk49

[We Got The Whole 9]

5 minutes ago, mk49 said:

Yeah, a great W.  

Aside from Buschy, the offense was way better in the last two games.  Shota pitched well again, and Rea wasn't bad at all. 

Busch got on base 4 times last night

[mk49]

4 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

Busch got on base 4 times last night

Yeah, you're right.  But, he went back to the bad version of Busch today.  Yeah, he was against lefties, but I really wanted to see him start hitting, so I was a bit disappointed. 

Oh, forgot to say that I was very happy to see Dansby hit 3 for 5 with a HR tonight.

Edited yesterday at 01:35 AM by mk49

[BKHoo]

How the h*ll do the Brewers win that game? 

[BKHoo]

Really? He goes 0-5 and gets on base four times?! 

[JHBulls]

Javier Baez could only have ever been traded for PCA. Two of the most fun Baseball players to watch.

Have a look at what the original did

 

[cl smooth]

7 minutes ago, JHBulls said:

Javier Baez could only have ever been traded for PCA. Two of the most fun Baseball players to watch.

Have a look at what the original did

 

[Bertz]

Please be more than just a simple hot streak please be more than just a simple hot streak please....

[Geographyhater8888]

How bad is the Phillies defense and or how unlucky was Luzzardo with batted ball luck last year to where his FIP was almost a run lower than his ERA? 
 

The lineup is as deep as advertised so far scoring 35 runs in 4 games without an XBH from Suzuki, Busch or Bregman.

Edited 19 hours ago by Geographyhater8888

[Geographyhater8888]

8 hours ago, mk49 said:

Yeah, you're right.  But, he went back to the bad version of Busch today.  Yeah, he was against lefties, but I really wanted to see him start hitting, so I was a bit disappointed. 

Oh, forgot to say that I was very happy to see Dansby hit 3 for 5 with a HR tonight.

He hasn’t had an extra base hit since opening day either. 

Edited 19 hours ago by Geographyhater8888

[Geographyhater8888]

9 hours ago, CUBDOM4life said:

What a way to bounce back after a miserable start to this series on the road in Philly 

And a nice bounce back from last year when they went 0-3 vs Luzzardo and Nola scoring 2 earned runs in 19 innings compared to 11 earned in 10.1 since Tuesday.

Edited 18 hours ago by Geographyhater8888

[Bull]

21 minutes ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

And a nice bounce back from last year when they went 0-3 vs Luzzardo and Nola scoring 2 earned runs in 19 innings compared to 11 earned in 10.1 since Tuesday.

Makes you wonder if he was tipping.

[Geographyhater8888]

6 minutes ago, Bull said:

Makes you wonder if he was tipping.

UPS finally delivered Bregmans pitch com hacking device and he hooked everyone up. @Banks-WilliamsI knew something was up. 

Edited 17 hours ago by Geographyhater8888

[CubUgly]

10 hours ago, Jason Ross said:

I shared this thread multiple times this off-season and I'd like to share it again. Shota at 92-93 mph is doing exactly what Langin said he'd do. Shota remains a razor thin pitcher with razor thin margins: at 91mph he isn't capable of this. But if the velo sits here in 2026, we have a guy. And this is why the Cubs offered a QO. Because this was worth that risk. 

26 swings and misses tonight. 26. 

The swing and miss was fantastic.  He made Schwarber and Harper look like minor leaguers!!!

[We Got The Whole 9]

9 hours ago, BKHoo said:

Really? He goes 0-5 and gets on base four times?! 

Tuesday night numbnuts

[gflore34]

Be it tipping his pitches or not, the Cubs laying one on Luzardo was a long time coming.  Shota with K hat trick of Schwarber was nice as well.  Little throwing 19 pitches and with only 5 balls was encouraging as well.

[chibears55]

...

 

Edited 16 hours ago by chibears55

[Andy]

He's obviously not going to keep up this level of production but if Nico actually did play like this all year he could legit be a (non-Shohei) MVP candidate

[We Got The Whole 9]

Not enough seeing eye singles