Cubs (Holmes) vs Royals (Lugo): 8/8/26, 6:10pm

[Brandon Glick]

Gausy's debut set a high bar. Let's see what Holmes has in his bag tonight.

[Brandon Glick]

	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	TOT
Trent Thornton	22	0	0	12	14	48
Ryan Zeferjahn	0	9	14	0	0	23
Ryan Rolison	0	14	0	14	0	28
Jacob Webb	0	12	11	0	13	36
Caleb Thielbar	0	0	19	12	13	44
Aaron Civale	0	0	0	45	0	45

[Bertz]

Bullpen is pretty shredded.  Plan IMO should be to piggyback Rea or Garrett with Holmes

[Dfan25]

14 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Bullpen is pretty shredded.  Plan IMO should be to piggyback Rea or Garrett with Holmes

Hopefully they can score enough that they don’t have to use Zeferjahn . He has had a couple of days off , but had been used a lot like 3 of 4 o believe before that .With that said he probably closes tonight if there is a chance

[Dfan25]

Holmes should be able to give them 85 pitches or so tonight . Hopefully he makes good use of them and gives the Cubs at least 5 . Just attack with the sinker and let them pound the ball into the ground 

[bukie]

18 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Bullpen is pretty shredded.  Plan IMO should be to piggyback Rea or Garrett with Holmes

I expect to see one of Rea or Garrett, with Rolison finishing if necessary. 

[Rcal10]

I expect Milner to be recalled so that adds a pen arm. Then if they need to piggyback it will be Rea or Garrett. If there is a close situation I would guess Zeferjahn. Webb has to be down for today. 

[Illiterate Scholar]

Holmes was still on the 60 day IL as of yesterday, so I'd imagine Garrett will get sent down to accommodate him. 

Also is it a hot take to say I'd keep Thielbar over Milner?

[Bull]

1 hour ago, Bertz said:

Bullpen is pretty shredded.  Plan IMO should be to piggyback Rea or Garrett with Holmes

Remember Assad is there too. Last pitched the 4th.

Edited 2 hours ago by Bull

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

you guys might want to fix that

[NorthsideAvenger]

1 hour ago, Illiterate Scholar said:

Holmes was still on the 60 day IL as of yesterday, so I'd imagine Garrett will get sent down to accommodate him. 

Also is it a hot take to say I'd keep Thielbar over Milner?

I still like Thielbar but Caleb needs to get his stuff in order or he will get the boot.

[Rcal10]

2 hours ago, Illiterate Scholar said:

Holmes was still on the 60 day IL as of yesterday, so I'd imagine Garrett will get sent down to accommodate him. 

Also is it a hot take to say I'd keep Thielbar over Milner?

Hard for me to figure out who gets sent down or dfa. I honestly can’t keep track of who they even have down there. But Theilbar pitching 3 days in a row would appear to be someone they won’t use for the next several days, so IMO he runs the risk of being dfa. They might also send Assad down if they want Milner up. Sucks for Javy because he has been good. But he has options. Maybe they send Thornton down or dfa him, instead. Tough decisions ahead for CC. They also have Palencia soon. And that doesn’t even count if they get lucky enough for any or all of Steele, Brown and Harvey coming back. 

[Bertz]

Fun thought experiment: would you freeze the NL standings right here if it was offered?

On the one hand, you are giving up any chance of catching the Brewers and earing a bye, which is obviously a bummer and feels defeatist.

On the other hand, it's set up so that we'd get the Dbacks in the Wildcard Round, which feels by far the most favorable matchup available?  You also force the Dodgers into a Wildcard matchup with the Phillies.  Sanchez/Wheeler/Luzardo in a 3 game set is as good, maybe better,  than the Dodgers' top 3.  I think the "invincible Dodgers" talk is way overstated but this might be the scariest matchup you could possibly force them into.

I'd personally hammer the "freeze standings button", but curious if I'm on an island there.

[Dfan25]

13 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Fun thought experiment: would you freeze the NL standings right here if it was offered?

On the one hand, you are giving up any chance of catching the Brewers and earing a bye, which is obviously a bummer and feels defeatist.

On the other hand, it's set up so that we'd get the Dbacks in the Wildcard Round, which feels by far the most favorable matchup available?  You also force the Dodgers into a Wildcard matchup with the Phillies.  Sanchez/Wheeler/Luzardo in a 3 game set is as good, maybe better,  than the Dodgers' top 3.  I think the "invincible Dodgers" talk is way overstated but this might be the scariest matchup you could possibly force them into.

I'd personally hammer the "freeze standings button", but curious if I'm on an island there.

Absolutely , I was going to post something similar to this . I dont think the Cubs are catching Mil and I much rather play AZ in the WC . I want absolutely no part of the Sanchez / Wheeler / Luzardo gauntlet . Let the Dodgers deal with that 

[Illiterate Scholar]

It's a good question. I hadn't spent much time at all recently thinking about catching the Brewers, but with the quality of the pitchers added for 2026, getting through the Dodgers series 3-0, and 7 games left with the Brewers, I'm back to thinking it's an actual possibility. The Dbacks would be an ideal matchup, but I think I'm a 'let it play out' vote.

 

[PeanutPunch33]

34 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Fun thought experiment: would you freeze the NL standings right here if it was offered?

On the one hand, you are giving up any chance of catching the Brewers and earing a bye, which is obviously a bummer and feels defeatist.

On the other hand, it's set up so that we'd get the Dbacks in the Wildcard Round, which feels by far the most favorable matchup available?  You also force the Dodgers into a Wildcard matchup with the Phillies.  Sanchez/Wheeler/Luzardo in a 3 game set is as good, maybe better,  than the Dodgers' top 3.  I think the "invincible Dodgers" talk is way overstated but this might be the scariest matchup you could possibly force them into.

I'd personally hammer the "freeze standings button", but curious if I'm on an island there.

100%.  This would be the best case scenario if the Cubs can't win the division.