Cubs (Holmes) vs Reds (Burns): 9/18/26, 5:40pm

[Old Style]

That is the dumbest horsefeathers play I’ve seen since Javy Baez fooled that idiot first baseman. 

[abuck1220]

there has never been a smart charlie kirk fan and that remains true 

[NorthsideAvenger]

2 minutes ago, ILMindState said:

This is why you don't go out and watch horses when you're in a playoff race

No. 

[Papa Cub]

Will they reach 90 wins is the question. Phillies will most likely lose, but the Padres are world beaters all of a sudden. Home field is looking more and more bleak 

[Geographyhater8888]

9 minutes ago, ILMindState said:

This is why you don't go out and watch horses when you're in a playoff race

They’d be doing bunting drills if they had a real manager like Pat Murphy instead.

Edited 14 hours ago by Geographyhater8888

[NorthsideAvenger]

1 minute ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

They’d be doing bunting drills instead if they had a real manager like Pat Murphy.  

And I will still laugh so hard when the Brewers fall short again.

[Derwood]

9 minutes ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

This game came down to Pete stranding 7 base runners. Pete is above this. Nothing is beneath is the pitching staff, so allowing 6 runs is par for the course.

Oh, you're one of the "PCA is soley responsible for them losing" types. Noted.

[BKHoo]

Why did we attempt the steal?

[chibears55]

13 minutes ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

This game came down to Pete stranding 7 base runners. Pete is above this. Nothing is beneath is the pitching staff, so allowing 6 runs is par for the course.

Yea, normally 4 runs should be enough to win games but with this team you need 6+ on most nights, and if PCA,and Bregman aren't knocking in runs, getting 6+ will be hard with the rest of them

Edited 14 hours ago by chibears55

[chibears55]

2 minutes ago, BKHoo said:

Why did we attempt the steal?

Low baseball IQ in that moment 

[chibears55]

15 minutes ago, JHBulls said:

Honestly, the crew chief review a such a stupid concept. Clubs have reviews. If they burn through them, then bad luck.

Right, if theyre out of reviews then they shouldn't even get the time to look at a replay to ask for one

[Geographyhater8888]

7 hours ago, Derwood said:

Oh, you're one of the "PCA is soley responsible for them losing" types. Noted.

For sure, that’s the spirit of my post and not that the pitching staff blows. 

Edited 7 hours ago by Geographyhater8888

[ILMindState]

At least the Phillies went to an OTB in NY

[UMFan83]

Holmes has given up 16 ER in his last 3 starts. Finally becoming a Cub

[Andy]

3 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Holmes has given up 16 ER in his last 3 starts. Finally becoming a Cub

No home runs, he's not a Cub yet

[chibears55]

9 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Holmes has given up 16 ER in his last 3 starts. Finally becoming a Cub

Yea, seriously who are we even trusting to get through 5 innings in the WC round ?

Then we need to trust the bullpen to get through the other 4 and hope the offense can put up enough runs to cover them.

 

[mk49]

13 minutes ago, Andy said:

No home runs, he's not a Cub yet

He's given up 3 HR's as a cub, so he is.😁

[Gjfificifjdej]

I am the most negative fan alive and even i can’t be mad about tonight. horsefeathers happens. Phillies lost, Padres losing, Diamondbacks losing. Ive seen teams win on the road in the WC, ive seen them lose on the road. Making the playoffs is all I care about. 

[mk49]

7 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

Yea, seriously who are we even trusting to get through 5 innings in the WC round ?

Then we need to trust the bullpen to get through the other 4 and hope the offense can put up enough runs to cover them.

 

Trust no 1.  Looking at the stats in the 2nd half of the season, unfortunately, Shota and Peterson are the better bets.  I'm not blaming Shota and Peterson.  They've been actually good, since the AS break.  The other guys should pitch better.  I hope Boyd will pitch well tomorrow.

In the 2nd half

Shota: 3.13 ERA, 3.76 xFIP
Peterson: 3.19 ERA, 3.50 xFIP
Boyd: 3.93 ERA, 4.72 xFIP
Holmes: 4.26 ERA, 4.01 xFIP
Gausman: 5.04 ERA, 3.15 xFIP

Like somebody suggested, they might need to piggyback these guys with Assad, Civale and Rea (why isn't he pitching lately?).

[mk49]

More SP stats that I looked at this morning.

For the whole season (for Peterson, Gausman and Holmes, only after they joined the Cubs),

2 or less ER

Shota: 20 out of 30 starts (14 QS)
Boyd: 10 out of 20 starts (8 QS)
Peterson: 11 out of 14 starts (4 QS)
Holmes: 5 out of 8 starts (3 QS)
Gausman: 5 out of 8 starts (3 QS)

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

The fact is their only chance is outslugging everyone. No amount of piggyback or other BS is going to amount to anything 

[UMFan83]

Looks like we’re going to wake up in a 3 team tie for the 3 WC spots (and Arizona 5 back). Since the Phillies own the tiebreaker over the Padres the order will stay the same

Cubs - 

Phillies -

Padres -

 

[UMFan83]

Meanwhile the AL is bonkers. White Sox blew an 8-2 lead to lose, Guardians won meaning they are now a game ahead of the Sox in the Central. In the AL West the Astros and Rangers are tied for 1st (at .500). The Astros won the tiebreaker so the Rangers sit 1 game behind the Sox for the 3rd WC spot.  
 

White Sox win the tiebreaker over the Guardians and Rangers

Astros win the tiebreaker over the Rangers, Guardians and White Sox

Rangers win the tiebreaker over the Guardians

Guardians lose all tiebreakers 

 

[Geographyhater8888]

11 hours ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

The fact is their only chance is outslugging everyone. No amount of piggyback or other BS is going to amount to anything 

They’ve allowed 4+ runs in 55% of games, with only 9 games of allowing 10+ runs. Not sure where that ranks but the run distribution is why they’re tied for the 3rd will card with a run differential almost 80 runs higher than the others combined.

Edited 1 hour ago by Geographyhater8888

[Rcal10]

Simple truth is the Cubs are a good, but flawed team. As is probably 8-10 teams who will be in the playoffs. For everyone who suggest the Cubs can’t win because of their flaw, I would recommend reading the ESPN article pointing out the flaws of every team in the playoffs. That will be the excuse given when any of them loses. Interesting enough, they mention the 2023 Rangers when discussing the Cubs. Their pen was bad, but caught fire in the playoffs. Sounds like that will be what the Cubs need. This last 8 games really doesn’t matter much. They are in the playoffs. Sure, I would like the games at Wrigley, but not at the expense of using a top pitcher in game 162 and then not use him for the WC round. For the Cubs, I’m really not sure who that pitcher they held back would be. But if Phillie or SD needs a win the last game of the year to get home field does Phillie pitch either Wheeler or Sanchez? Does SD pitch King? 
Based on the pitching schedules it looks like Holmes will be the #1 guy. He probably pitches Thursday and then starts game 1. Whoever they want to go game 2 will probably start Friday and game 3’s guy, probably Saturday. All probably a little shorter starts. 

Of course, this is assuming they keep the rotation as is. Holmes could always go Wednesday and the whoever goes Thursday or Friday can pitch game 2. I just doubt you see them run the rotation normally and have Gausman pitch game 162. But, maybe he does. Maybe he isn’t used in the WC round. Maybe they hope they get through it without him and have him for game 1 of the NLDS? Kind of my point above. Unlike the Phillies or Padres, the Cubs don’t really have a pitcher they absolutely have to save for a playoff series. 

Edited 1 hour ago by Rcal10