Cubs (Gausman) vs Brewers (Henderson): 09/09/26, 6:40 PM

[We Got The Whole 9]

Yeah this year erased all goodwill toward the entire pitching infrastructure and philosophy for me. I dont care, playoffs or not, my only reason for watching is PCA.

[Rcal10]

Just now, We Got The Whole 9 said:

Yeah this year erased all goodwill toward the entire pitching infrastructure and philosophy for me. I dont care, playoffs or not, my only reason for watching is PCA.

I agree with you on the disappointment with the pitching infrastructure. But I disagree that PCA is the only reason to watch the team. They are still a good team who happen to be not playing very well now. Which makes it hard to watch. But overall they are mostly fun to watch. PCA is obviously the #1 reason, but not the only reason for me. 

[mk49]

19 minutes ago, Gjfificifjdej said:

The concerning one for me is that even previously good pitchers became completely awful as soon as they show up. Zef, Cabrera, Gausman (has had half his starts go well) all went from being good to being home run pitchers instantly after becoming Cubs. 

The last 2 months with the Jays, Gausman's ERA was over 6.00.  So, we can say he improved, after the trade.  He's given up a lot more HR's as a cub, though.

[gflore34]

horsefeathers Chourio in the ear, I wouldn't take a million Jackson Chourio's over PCA.  Going to eat me some schadenfreude when the Dodgers chew up and spit out the Brewers in the PS. 

[Geographyhater8888]

2 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

horsefeathers Chourio in the ear, I wouldn't take a million Jackson Chourio's over PCA.  Going to eat me some schadenfreude when the Dodgers chew up and spit out the Brewers in the PS. 

Let’s wish Shohei a speedy and full recovery.

[Soul]

25 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

I agree with you on the disappointment with the pitching infrastructure. But I disagree that PCA is the only reason to watch the team. They are still a good team who happen to be not playing very well now. Which makes it hard to watch. But overall they are mostly fun to watch. PCA is obviously the #1 reason, but not the only reason for me. 

Bregman too, for me.

[gflore34]

2 minutes ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

Let’s wish Shohei a speedy and full recovery.

It would be on script if the Brewers managed to win the WS because Shohei was out.  Very similar to what happened with the Cubs - any effective pitcher went down with injury and of course, the Brewers feasted on replacement level pitching.  Had the Cubs maintained any semblance of pitching heath it would have been a far  different story.  

[Gjfificifjdej]

1 minute ago, gflore34 said:

It would be on script if the Brewers managed to win the WS because Shohei was out.  Very similar to what happened with the Cubs - any effective pitcher went down with injury and of course, the Brewers feasted on replacement level pitching.  Had the Cubs maintained any semblance of pitching heath it would have been a far  different story.  

Would it? Nobody has been good, regardless of expectations. 

[Rcal10]

2 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

It would be on script if the Brewers managed to win the WS because Shohei was out.  Very similar to what happened with the Cubs - any effective pitcher went down with injury and of course, the Brewers feasted on replacement level pitching.  Had the Cubs maintained any semblance of pitching heath it would have been a far  different story.  

I’m not ready to concede it will be Dodgers and Brewers in the NLCS. Sorry guys, but the playoffs are a different game. And any team in the playoffs can beat either one of those teams. I’m not even saying it will be the Cubs. I think Atlanta, the Phillies and even the Padres and Cubs can beat either the Dodgers or Brewers. IMO the only team that I would be shocked if they made the NLCS would be the Dbacks. I know right now it looks unlikely for the Cubs. I cannot even argue that. But they have shown the ability to play great ball for an extended period of time. If they do that come the playoffs, they can beat anyone. As I said, I doubt that happens(for the Cubs), but them or one of the other teams I mentioned could beat the Dodgers or the Brewers if they are playing well. 

[17 Seconds]

I stopped thinking the Brewers are lucky years ago. if they end up winning it, it will be deserved. they give themselves a chance every year

[gflore34]

2 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

I’m not ready to concede it will be Dodgers and Brewers in the NLCS. Sorry guys, but the playoffs are a different game. And any team in the playoffs can beat either one of those teams. I’m not even saying it will be the Cubs. I think Atlanta, the Phillies and even the Padres and Cubs can beat either the Dodgers or Brewers. IMO the only team that I would be shocked if they made the NLCS would be the Dbacks. I know right now it looks unlikely for the Cubs. I cannot even argue that. But they have shown the ability to play great ball for an extended period of time. If they do that come the playoffs, they can beat anyone. As I said, I doubt that happens(for the Cubs), but them or one of the other teams I mentioned could beat the Dodgers or the Brewers if they are playing well. 

2015 - the Cubs owned the Mets, 7-0 in the regular season and we all remember what happened in the PS.  This, despite the Brewers being 9-4 against the Cubs, is what gives me a little hope. As you said playoffs are a different game, regular season trends don't mean anything, struggling pitchers with the stuff to dominate find it for a couple of weeks, etc.

[Rcal10]

4 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

2015 - the Cubs owned the Mets, 7-0 in the regular season and we all remember what happened in the PS.  This, despite the Brewers being 9-4 against the Cubs, is what gives me a little hope. As you said playoffs are a different game, regular season trends don't mean anything, struggling pitchers with the stuff to dominate find it for a couple of weeks, etc.

I agree. But right now I didn’t feel like making that argument. Too many people “know” the Cubs can’t possibly win.😬 Which is why I said any number of teams can beat the Brewers and/or Dodgers. 
BTW, I was at game 3 of that Mets/Cubs series. It wasn’t fun. 

Edited 9 hours ago by Rcal10

[gflore34]

4 minutes ago, 17 Seconds said:

I stopped thinking the Brewers are lucky years ago. if they end up winning it, it will be deserved. they give themselves a chance every year

It's not luck.  Though their MO is largely predicated on capitalizing or forcing teams into mistakes.  Regular season against predominately bad teams their MO works.  Against teams who are in the PS because they don't make many mistakes their MO falls on it face.

[UMFan83]

Yikes

[gflore34]

Just now, UMFan83 said:

Yikes

How much evidence do the Cubs need is he cooked for 2026?  He's not at 100%, shut him the horsefeathers down.

[17 Seconds]

5 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

It's not luck.  Though their MO is largely predicated on capitalizing or forcing teams into mistakes.  Regular season against predominately bad teams their MO works.  Against teams who are in the PS because they don't make many mistakes their MO falls on it face.

I agree, but they keep giving themselves chances in October, and it just takes one good month there to have a ring forever. it could easily happen, even if I would pick the dodgers (and maybe atl/phi) over them this year

[mul21]

17 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Yikes

I mean, we knew this already.  Someone here (Jason maybe? I don't recall) documented that his arm slot is down a couple degrees from last year and he's not getting the same arm side run on his FB that he did last year and it's making everything less effective.

[We Got The Whole 9]

1 hour ago, Gjfificifjdej said:

The concerning one for me is that even previously good pitchers became completely awful as soon as they show up. Zef, Cabrera, Gausman (has had half his starts go well) all went from being good to being home run pitchers instantly after becoming Cubs. 

Not having great stuff makes them predictable and gives hitters more opportunity to beat them. I think some blame needs to fall on the pitch-calling and sequencing too. Hottovy will probably be the first to get the 🪓. 

[mk49]

1 hour ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

Not having great stuff makes them predictable and gives hitters more opportunity to beat them. I think some blame needs to fall on the pitch-calling and sequencing too. Hottovy will probably be the first to get the 🪓. 

I think the pitch calling is underrated.  That makes them very predictable, sometimes, and make them easy to hit.  My guess is that the coach (Hottovy), the pitcher and the catcher discuss about the strategy for the next game together.  Buy, during the game, the catcher is the most important, because they call most pitches.  Of course, the pitcher has to pitch the way it's called, but no pitcher can do that 100% of the time.

[Gjfificifjdej]

2 hours ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

Not having great stuff makes them predictable and gives hitters more opportunity to beat them. I think some blame needs to fall on the pitch-calling and sequencing too. Hottovy will probably be the first to get the 🪓. 

I tend to fall on the side of coaching not really being all that important in pro sports, most of the players are who they are, but if veterans with track records all instantly become turbo asscheeks, and importantly for the Cubs, in the same manner (ie they all are just getting completely crushed for a comical amount of homers, not sucking in different ways), I have to question what the coach is doing. Like Hottovy can’t come up with a tweak that prevents even a single arm on the team from giving up massive power like its the home run derby?

[UMFan83]

Thanks to old friend Cam Smith's HR, the Astros beat the Phillies today, meaning the Cubs will be 1 GB Philly with 15 to play while holding the tiebreaker over the Phillies.

If you are an optimistic fan, still a chance to have WC Round hosted at Wrigely

If you are a pessimistic fan, one more potential "out" the Cubs have to avoid missing the playoffs as the Phillies would just have to play 1 game worse than the Cubs the rest of the season for the Cubs to finish ahead of them.

 

Edit: Though for whatever reason the results of the day have caused the Cubs playoff odds to go down 0.2%.  I wonder if its because the Braves won over a strong Rays team, making their upcoming 3 game series seem more difficult for the Cubs.

Edited 3 hours ago by UMFan83

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

Are we lined up to face Sale or miss him?

[BigSlick]

team bad

[mk49]

16 minutes ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

Are we lined up to face Sale or miss him?

Probably, miss.

[NorthsideAvenger]

9 hours ago, 17 Seconds said:

I stopped thinking the Brewers are lucky years ago. if they end up winning it, it will be deserved. they give themselves a chance every year

I rather see the Dodgers win a third in a row over the whole is greater than the sum of its parts Brewers team.