Cubs (Rea) vs Pirates (Skenes): 5/28/26, 5:40pm

[SpongeWorthy]

that’s two thus far shooter 

[Bull]

20 minutes ago, BKHoo said:

I thought it was the opposite?  Aren’t they good friends?! 

Could be. Might be that they both have that super-serious, no fun allowed personality and it looks like they’re angry with each other rather than just sharing a vibe.

 

[NorthsideAvenger]

Lose 10 in a row. Break the streak. Beat Paul Skenes.

Just as you draw it up.

[Butch Gernant]

Thank you Pirates defense!

[Geographyhater8888]

This was a makeup for the Sunday loss vs Houston where the Cubs lost 8-5 with an xWOBA of 398 vs Houston’s 276. Seemed like the Cubs were on the receiving end of batted ball luck last night. 
 

I’ll take a 7-2 win in a Rea vs Skenes matchup either way.

[BigbadB]

11 hours ago, PeanutPunch33 said:

Counsell always leaves Rea in 1 inning too long and the outcome is always predictable 

Some folks should just go to bed instead of making comments like this. But, I suppose there is one in every crowd that thinks rewarding a SP with a spot at the end of the bench while sporting a low pitch count and a shut out. 

[gflore34]

2 hours ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

This was a makeup for the Sunday loss vs Houston where the Cubs lost 8-5 with an xWOBA of 398 vs Houston’s 276. Seemed like the Cubs were on the receiving end of batted ball luck last night. 
 

I’ll take a 7-2 win in a Rea vs Skenes matchup either way.

First game of this series as well, Cubs smoked several balls with nothing to show.  It's baseball, we all knew the Cubs being on bad end of batted ball luck was going to stop at some point.

[We Got The Whole 9]

1 hour ago, BigbadB said:

Some folks should just go to bed instead of making comments like this. But, I suppose there is one in every crowd that thinks rewarding a SP with a spot at the end of the bench while sporting a low pitch count and a shut out. 

Hes not wrong about the 3rd time through penalty being more likely for Rea. You get 5 shutout from him, I think a team with a lockdown pen, would take it and run. But we dont have that; the chances that either he or the pen starts leaking are probably close to equal.

[squally1313]

51 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

Hes not wrong about the 3rd time through penalty being more likely for Rea. You get 5 shutout from him, I think a team with a lockdown pen, would take it and run. But we dont have that; the chances that either he or the pen starts leaking are probably close to equal.

It's not just that we don't have a lockdown pen though, it's that the rest of our starters have the same problems Rea does. Shota is fine when he's on, Brown isn't someone you want to stretch, and Taillon and Wicks are worse than Rea. You can't limit 4 or 5 starters to 18 PAs over any sort of extended period, especially when whatever length we had in the bullpen is now in the rotation (or working up to be).

We need 2 starters, maybe more. The ones available are available for a reason, the good ones aren't out there yet, and there's going to need to be a decision made on whether you want to overpay for them (my vote), or hope you get really, really lucky with Boyd/Wiggins/Steele somehow hitting full strength and staying there down the stretch. 

[Rcal10]

47 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

Hes not wrong about the 3rd time through penalty being more likely for Rea. You get 5 shutout from him, I think a team with a lockdown pen, would take it and run. But we dont have that; the chances that either he or the pen starts leaking are probably close to equal.

True. I am sure Counsell realized he was on borrowed time with Rea. But he has to try saving the pen arms so hoping he can get thru 6 is not a bad idea. With this pen, the 6th would have probably been Thornton. Then if the game is tight yiu have to burn through 3 others at an inning a piece. Without the advantage of hindsight, does brining Thornton in when the starter has a reasonable pitch count and a shutout going really any better than leaving Rea in. Problem was Reynolds owns Rea. So even that homer doesn’t get Counsell moving in the direction that Rea is done. And I don’t blame him for that. Once he gave up a hit he got him out. Which is exactly the time I would have as well. He was now over 90 pitches and in the middle of the line up seeing him a 3rd time. And, tbh, the hit he gave up sucked. Peanut may have overreacted a bit. But he clearly doesn’t like Counsell and was frustrated, so I get it. Maybe guys should sometimes take a breath and think things out before posting, but that isn’t going to happen. Not on an in game thread. Counsell absolutely played that right. And in the end things worked out well, too. 

[Rcal10]

8 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

It's not just that we don't have a lockdown pen though, it's that the rest of our starters have the same problems Rea does. Shota is fine when he's on, Brown isn't someone you want to stretch, and Taillon and Wicks are worse than Rea. You can't limit 4 or 5 starters to 18 PAs over any sort of extended period, especially when whatever length we had in the bullpen is now in the rotation (or working up to be).

We need 2 starters, maybe more. The ones available are available for a reason, the good ones aren't out there yet, and there's going to need to be a decision made on whether you want to overpay for them (my vote), or hope you get really, really lucky with Boyd/Wiggins/Steele somehow hitting full strength and staying there down the stretch. 

I agree, except I don’t feel they need to get real, real lucky with Boyd. I think he will be fine. The other two I am not counting on at all. IMO they will have Boyd, Cabrera, Imanaga and Brown in the rotation (healthy, hopefully) from mid June on. I have no idea what they do with 5. Unless they dfa Tailon, I think it will be him. I think with Tailon, Rea goes to the pen. Of/when they trade for a pitcher Tailon has to be let go. 
Also, for all the complaining about the pen, the Cubs pen is 12th in era and 8th in whip. The Cubs are 25-0 when leading after 7. Considering all the injuries the staff has had and all the juggling what has been needed to put together a pen, that isn’t bad. Especially when you consider the guy they gave the most money to is doing poorly. It is definitely not lock down. But it also isn’t nearly as bad as some make it out to be. 

Edited 36 minutes ago by Rcal10

[squally1313]

3 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

I agree, except I don’t feel they need to get real, real lucky with Boyd. I think he will be fine. The other two I am not counting on at all. IMO they will have Boyd, Cabrera, Imanaga and Brown in the rotation (healthy, hopefully) from mid June on. I have no idea what they do with 5. Unless they dfa Tailon, I think it will be him. I think with Tailon, Rea goes to the pen. Of/when they trade for a pitcher Tailon has to be let go. 

I think they need a body now, basically figure out a way to clone Colin Rea. But I still want an upgrade in talent. Edward Cabrera throws real fast, but he's also 88th in FIP for pitchers with over 40 innings this year. That's a bad third pitcher by league average metrics. Yes, Boyd, Imanaga, and Brown are all better (though Shota has his own problems)....but are we really going to look in the mirror in July and say we're good with, best case scenario, our postseason rotation being Boyd and Shota (again) and then the guy who will almost assuredly be way past his career innings?

My general philosophy towards things is actually probably that we should do that. That this team is good enough to make the playoffs, and it's a crapshoot from there, and the best pitcher in the world probably doesn't move our chances enough to justify the wins down the road. Statistically, make the playoffs every year with this high floor approach, play as many hands as you can. But also, I'm impatient and I like rooting for awesome players and winning now is cooler than winning down the road (and we should find/pay for/produce good replacement players later anyways). Go do something stupid.