Brewers (Misiorowski) vs Cubs (Brown): 5/19/26, 6:40pm

[Derwood]

1 minute ago, JHBulls said:

horsefeathers hell Maton lol. Where was that at any other time? 

Brewers trying to make their dinner reservation at Gibson's

[mk49]

Maton was great!😁

[chibears55]

1 minute ago, mk49 said:

What I don't like is that he takes too many easy middle middle.  Just swing at them.

 

 

Im not liking they have 4 more years of him and 3 with Swanson, eating up about 50 mil of payroll on that left side 🙄🙄🙄

 

[chibears55]

Do we get another fake rally or do they just check it in

[JHBulls]

On the way out the stadium, PCA is going to punch a Brewers fan. 

Edited 18 hours ago by JHBulls

[Gjfificifjdej]

Super hard not to be a doomer about the team right now, they are truly atrocious at everything a baseball team does. If its not the starter getting crushed, the lineup doesn’t do anything. If the lineup manages to scrape anything across, the bullpen gets completely nuked by randoms. Can’t win regularly when you are abysmal in all facets of the game. 

[mk49]

Counsell should make some adjustment in the batting order.  I thought he was gonna do that today, but he didn't.  I mean with RISP, Bregman, Happ and Seiya haven't done much at all.

[17 Seconds]

just another season being worse than the brewers

[abuck1220]

my goodness what kind of battered spouse syndrome are you “eh it’s hard to say whether the brewers are conclusively better than the cubs” people on??

the reds have finished ahead of the cubs more times in the last five seasons than the cubs have finished ahead of the brewers. 

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

obviously they've been better than the cubs, they've been better than everyone except the dodgers

[UMFan83]

1 hour ago, PeanutPunch33 said:

"Not like it was a sweep that conclusively showed who was better" wtf 😂😂.  Buddy they WON the series.  There is no prize for 2nd place.  Are you suggesting that the Dodgers (2x world champs) are "not conclusively better" than the Phillies because the Phillies won 1 game in that series last year 😂 😂 

It's okay to admit that the Brewers are better.  It's also okay to be livid that they are better despite a fraction of the payroll and expectations.  And I'm not overreacting, feel free to go back and look at my comments in basically every game thread.  Good team, but missing that prototypical superstar talent which will hold them back.  I agree that they will bounce out of this slump soon and play good baseball.  What concerns me is what happens in October.  

 

Well to be fair any 5 game sample, heck even the 20 game sample between the Cubs and Brewers with each team going 10-10 isn't enough to tell who is conclusively the better team.  So yeah in that respect it doesn't tell us much.  But those are the only datapoints we had.  The Cubs played 170 baseball games last year and went 96-76.  The Brewers played 171 baseball games last year and went 100-71.  The teams went 10-10 against each other and the Brewers won a playoff series 3 games to 2 with the home team winning all 5 games.

I don't think the Brewers are significantly better than the Cubs.  As an organization they have been better the last decade, absolutely.  It's extremely impressive what they have done and continue to do.  But I don't believe the Brewers and Cubs of 2025 and 2026 are separated by much on the field, especially at full strength which the Cubs have never been and never will be.

Edited 17 hours ago by UMFan83

[UMFan83]

18 minutes ago, abuck1220 said:

my goodness what kind of battered spouse syndrome are you “eh it’s hard to say whether the brewers are conclusively better than the cubs” people on??

the reds have finished ahead of the cubs more times in the last five seasons than the cubs have finished ahead of the brewers. 

As I said above, there is no doubt they have been the better organization over the past decade, and the past 5 years.  The Cubs do a lot well as an organization, but obviously have issues as well and their spending advantage thus far hasn't been enough to erase those issues.  Right now?  I think the Cubs are very close to the Brewers.  It's probably a difficult time to have that discussion when the Brewers are on a 10-2 run while the Cubs are on a 2-8 run and the Brewers just beat the Cubs at Wrigley twice in a row.  It's a long season with many more peaks and valleys, we'll see how it plays out.

[Rcal10]

41 minutes ago, 17 Seconds said:

just another season being worse than the brewers

Yep, seasons over. No chance to catch the brewers. They are clearly  better and we might as well cancel the rest of the season. Can’t possibly make up 1/2 a game in the next 110 or so games. 

[UMFan83]

Just now, Rcal10 said:

Yep, seasons over. No chance to catch the brewers. They are clearly  better and we might as well cancel the rest of the season. Can’t possibly make up 1/2 a game in the next 110 or so games. 

I've been guilty of this many times in the past, but its crazy to me how many times we can experience the peaks and valleys of a baseball season and still not be able to ride out the bat stretches without being irrational.  Maybe this is an 85 Cubs situation and the Cubs just fall apart.  But based on the 35+ baseball seasons I've watched, I can tell you its more likely a bad stretch than a team that started 27-12 suddenly turning into a bad team overnight.

[PeanutPunch33]

27 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Well to be fair any 5 game sample, heck even the 20 game sample between the Cubs and Brewers with each team going 10-10 isn't enough to tell who is conclusively the better team.  So yeah in that respect it doesn't tell us much.  But those are the only datapoints we had.  The Cubs played 170 baseball games last year and went 96-76.  The Brewers played 171 baseball games last year and went 100-71.  The teams went 10-10 against each other and the Brewers won a playoff series 3 games to 2 with the home team winning all 5 games.

I don't think the Brewers are significantly better than the Cubs.  As an organization they have been better the last decade, absolutely.  It's extremely impressive what they have done and continue to do.  But I don't believe the Brewers and Cubs of 2025 and 2026 are separated by much on the field, especially at full strength which the Cubs have never been and never will be.

I hear you on that.  But ask yourself this - what makes this lineup different today than the one that ended the 24 season?  Only change is Bregman over Morel/Peredes and a better DH.  Otherwise it’s the same exact lineup.  (I’m going to exclude Tucker from this analysis because it was obvious they were never serious about extending him).

So it’s basically 3 seasons in a row with the same lineup.  Why aren’t they trying to find their Olson or Jose Ramirez or whoever that can change the game with one swing?  

Like I can’t be the only one here that thinks it’s weird they don’t have that face of the franchise guy and haven’t made a serious enough effort to find him.  On most nights, the Cubs don’t have the best player on the field or the more talented pitcher on the mound.  It’s not a viable path to a WS trip.  

I just want to get to the point where the conversation shifts from “anything can happen in october” to “we expect to win in october because we have a dominant f***ing team”.  Like it was in ‘15 and ‘16.  

 

Edited 17 hours ago by PeanutPunch33

[Irrelevant Dude]

1 hour ago, Derwood said:

Bregman is officially Jason Heyward 2.0

At least when the Cubs signed Heyward, he was 26 years old.  They gambled that they could unlock something in his hitting and it just didn't work out.  I still don't fault the move though. 

Alex Bregman is horsefeathers 32 and giving him a 5 year deal at that age seems to go against everything the Cubs have preached.  I'm certainly not writing him off yet, but the arrow is pointing down.

[Gjfificifjdej]

33 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

I've been guilty of this many times in the past, but its crazy to me how many times we can experience the peaks and valleys of a baseball season and still not be able to ride out the bat stretches without being irrational.  Maybe this is an 85 Cubs situation and the Cubs just fall apart.  But based on the 35+ baseball seasons I've watched, I can tell you its more likely a bad stretch than a team that started 27-12 suddenly turning into a bad team overnight.

Hard to get a read on them, white hot for a stretch consisting of almost half the games so far, book ended by multi week long runs of looking like a 95-100 loss team. Weird stuff. 

[Rcal10]

23 minutes ago, PeanutPunch33 said:

I hear you on that.  But ask yourself this - what makes this lineup different today than the one that ended the 24 season?  Only change is Bregman over Morel/Peredes and a better DH.  Otherwise it’s the same exact lineup.  (I’m going to exclude Tucker from this analysis because it was obvious they were never serious about extending him).

So it’s basically 3 seasons in a row with the same lineup.  Why aren’t they trying to find their Olson or Jose Ramirez or whoever that can change the game with one swing?  

Like I can’t be the only one here that thinks it’s weird they don’t have that face of the franchise guy and haven’t made a serious enough effort to find him.  On most nights, the Cubs don’t have the best player on the field or the more talented pitcher on the mound.  It’s not a viable path to a WS trip.  

I just want to get to the point where the conversation shifts from “anything can happen in october” to “we expect to win in october because we have a dominant f***ing team”.  Like it was in ‘15 and ‘16.  

 

Personally I think you but way too much stock in getting a star bat. How many more hits in 600 AB does someone like Ramirez get over someone like Bregman, as an example. Let’s go with a 300 hitter over a 270 hitter. 180 hits versus 162? This isn’t basketball where one guy can make a huge difference because only 5 guys are on the court. This isn’t football where a star quarterback can make the entire team better. This is baseball, where one player comes up every 9 times. He can’t do anything about the other AB. Angels had prime Trout and Ohtani and didn’t win a thing. Didn’t even make the playoffs. Give me a line up 9 deep with quality. Cubs are 5th in offense over the next 2 years. They don’t need a superstar bat. They need a better rotation. 

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

24 minutes ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

At least when the Cubs signed Heyward, he was 26 years old.  They gambled that they could unlock something in his hitting and it just didn't work out.

It looked like the Cardinals had already unlocked him anyway. He was coming off a 6 WAR year. There was zero reason to believe he'd turn into a pumpkin like he did

[We Got The Whole 9]

I hate the Brewers so horsefeathers much. They just rain on our parade all the time. For a while there it looked like Nico was going to have a Turang-like breakout and now they're separated by 160 pts of OPS. The Miz has a .8 WHIP and 5.0 KBB with an unhittable fastball. All the while they have the number 1 prospect and a top 3 farm. It's so aggravating. 

[PeanutPunch33]

1 hour ago, Rcal10 said:

Personally I think you but way too much stock in getting a star bat. How many more hits in 600 AB does someone like Ramirez get over someone like Bregman, as an example. Let’s go with a 300 hitter over a 270 hitter. 180 hits versus 162? This isn’t basketball where one guy can make a huge difference because only 5 guys are on the court. This isn’t football where a star quarterback can make the entire team better. This is baseball, where one player comes up every 9 times. He can’t do anything about the other AB. Angels had prime Trout and Ohtani and didn’t win a thing. Didn’t even make the playoffs. Give me a line up 9 deep with quality. Cubs are 5th in offense over the next 2 years. They don’t need a superstar bat. They need a better rotation. 

Regardless of the sport, it's the elite players that carry you to a championship.  There are very few instances in any sport where a team wins "by committee" and doesn't have a superstar.  That's just the truth, even in baseball. Let's look at the last 10 or 11 WS winners:

2025 Dodgers:  Ohtani, Freeman, Mookie + 
2024 Dodgers:  Ohtani, Freeman, Mookie + 
2023 Rangers:  This team had 4 all stars + Seager runner up MVP 
2022 Astros:  Alvarez, Verlander + 
2021 Braves:  Freeman, Riley +
2020 Dodgers:  Betts, Seager, Kershaw +
2019 Nats:  Soto, Strasburg, Scherzer
2018 Red Sox:  Betts, JD Martinez +
2017 Astros:  Altuve, Springer, Correa +
2016 Cubs:  Bryant, Rizzo, Arrieta, ++ 

Even the small market 2015 Royals had 5 all stars + even better pitching and defense.  

It's worth mentioning that every team that lost in the WS to these teams above also had 1 or 2 superstars.  

It is a big deal that the Cubs don't have one and IMO more people should be criticizing them for it.  Especially at the massive payroll they got and year 6 of the current GM.  There are no excuses for it.  

 

[Geographyhater8888]

Back to sucking in May again. 

Edited 10 hours ago by Geographyhater8888

[17 Seconds]

7 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

I've been guilty of this many times in the past, but its crazy to me how many times we can experience the peaks and valleys of a baseball season and still not be able to ride out the bat stretches without being irrational.  Maybe this is an 85 Cubs situation and the Cubs just fall apart.  But based on the 35+ baseball seasons I've watched, I can tell you its more likely a bad stretch than a team that started 27-12 suddenly turning into a bad team overnight.

 

7 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

Yep, seasons over. No chance to catch the brewers. They are clearly  better and we might as well cancel the rest of the season. Can’t possibly make up 1/2 a game in the next 110 or so games. 

i just think the brewers have a better team.... again.  it's gotten really old

[Geographyhater8888]

6 hours ago, PeanutPunch33 said:

Regardless of the sport, it's the elite players that carry you to a championship.  There are very few instances in any sport where a team wins "by committee" and doesn't have a superstar.  That's just the truth, even in baseball. Let's look at the last 10 or 11 WS winners:

2025 Dodgers:  Ohtani, Freeman, Mookie + 
2024 Dodgers:  Ohtani, Freeman, Mookie + 
2023 Rangers:  This team had 4 all stars + Seager runner up MVP 
2022 Astros:  Alvarez, Verlander + 
2021 Braves:  Freeman, Riley +
2020 Dodgers:  Betts, Seager, Kershaw +
2019 Nats:  Soto, Strasburg, Scherzer
2018 Red Sox:  Betts, JD Martinez +
2017 Astros:  Altuve, Springer, Correa +
2016 Cubs:  Bryant, Rizzo, Arrieta, ++ 

Even the small market 2015 Royals had 5 all stars + even better pitching and defense.  

It's worth mentioning that every team that lost in the WS to these teams above also had 1 or 2 superstars.  

It is a big deal that the Cubs don't have one and IMO more people should be criticizing them for it.  Especially at the massive payroll they got and year 6 of the current GM.  There are no excuses for it.  

 

The only slump proof part of the roster is defense, which is what got Swanson, PCA and Nico $100+ million deals, and the value they provide has limitations when you have a pitching staff that’s allowed more home runs than all but 2 teams.

We don’t have any arms who can pick up slumping offense either. If Shota was that guy then that 9-3 loss on Monday becomes a 3-2 win.

Edited 9 hours ago by Geographyhater8888

[Geographyhater8888]

8 hours ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

At least when the Cubs signed Heyward, he was 26 years old.  They gambled that they could unlock something in his hitting and it just didn't work out.  I still don't fault the move though. 

 

It wasn’t even a gamble. He had a career 118 wRC+ at the time of the signing as a multiple time gold glove winner with over 25 fWAR. No one saw his suck coming.