Marlins (Junk) vs Cubs (TBD): 09/22/26, 6:40 PM

[gflore34]

 Cubs will nail these f**ks one of the next two games.

[Irrelevant Dude]

As nice as it would be to play the Wild Card games at Wrigley, the Cubs just need to get a win, get 40/40 for PCA, and start resting guys.  Redlining it all the way through the weekend is probably not wise.  It's more important to have everyone ready for Tuesday.

[17 Seconds]

i don't care about seeding, just clinch the playoffs and don't make it interesting please

[dfnowak]

23 minutes ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

Jed and the FO targeted Cabrera for like 2 years. Jesus Christ.

Jed fired all of their pro scouts so the video scouting would say to trade for Cabrera.

[Rex Buckingham]

This one is definitely on the offense. Got 6 shutout innings from the bullpen. Too many guys not coming through when it mattered. 

[Illiterate Scholar]

16 minutes ago, Soul said:

Marlins announcer on Cabrera: some things don’t change.

Everyone knew Cabrera was a shiny object except Jed.

He was pretty good for them last year. This season is most certainly a change, unfortunately 

[Irrelevant Dude]

It took all of 1 day for the Cubs to lose a game they would have won with Bregman.

[UMFan83]

Not super important in the grand scheme of things but that game is still pissing me off.  Just needed one hit to clinch the playoffs aghhhh

[Irrelevant Dude]

Just now, UMFan83 said:

Not super important in the grand scheme of things but that game is still pissing me off.  Just needed one hit to clinch the playoffs aghhhh

And Pedro missed one by an inch.

[dfnowak]

20 minutes ago, Soul said:

Marlins announcer on Cabrera: some things don’t change.

Everyone knew Cabrera was a shiny object except Jed.

Maybe Jed shouldn’t have fired all of those pro scouts

[Soul]

21 minutes ago, Illiterate Scholar said:

He was pretty good for them last year. This season is most certainly a change, unfortunately 

I think they were referring to his control issues.  And he does have control issues.

[UMFan83]

13 minutes ago, dfnowak said:

Maybe Jed shouldn’t have fired all of those pro scouts

Jed convinced PTR to spend approximately $45m more in payroll this season, pushing them into a range he's never allowed before and he's going to get back a team that wins less games than the year before, with postseason TBD.  Really bad look for Jed to trot out a roster with a bottom 5 pitching staff, injuries or not.   The fact that he can't find one reliable reliever on this team and avoids velocity like the plague is jarring especially considering there's a team spending a fraction of what the Cubs do that's able to build a dominant bullpen, trade away half of them, and then build another one the next year.

Something has to change with their approach to pitching.  Even if they somehow get hot and make a postseason run, the current approach is just not working well enough.

[NorthsideAvenger]

A month ago, 3 months ago, and even at the beginning of the year, this loss would have pissed me off like the rest of you but tonight I am just numb to any Cubs games.

I know the Cubs season ends next week and that's why tonight does not bother me at all. I have more confidence in the Padres and Phillies getting their stuff together than I do the Cubs.

PCA has made 2026 fun but the season is pretty much over for the Cubs. My only hope is the Brewers fail to make the World Series, YET again. 

 

 

 

[Soul]

This is definitely on the offense.

[UMFan83]

2 minutes ago, NorthsideAvenger said:

A month ago, 3 months ago, and even at the beginning of the year, this loss would have pissed me off like the rest of you but tonight I am just numb to any Cubs games.

I know the Cubs season ends next week and that's why tonight does not bother me at all. I have more confidence in the Padres and Phillies getting their stuff together than I do the Cubs.

PCA has made 2026 fun but the season is pretty much over for the Cubs. My only hope is the Brewers fail to make the World Series, YET again. 

 

 

 

See I'm pretty down on the team in general but I wouldn't just assume the season ends next week.  The playoffs are played completely differently than the regular season.  I'm not sure if the Cubs are built for playoff baseball, but all it takes is an offensive hot streak and decent pitching to make a run.  It could absolutely be over on Wednesday, and they are very unlikely to win the World Series, but I wouldn't write off an NLCS appearance just yet.  Much crazier things have happened.

[Soul]

3 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Jed convinced PTR to spend approximately $45m more in payroll this season, pushing them into a range he's never allowed before and he's going to get back a team that wins less games than the year before, with postseason TBD.  Really bad look for Jed to trot out a roster with a bottom 5 pitching staff, injuries or not.   The fact that he can't find one reliable reliever on this team and avoids velocity like the plague is jarring especially considering there's a team spending a fraction of what the Cubs do that's able to build a dominant bullpen, trade away half of them, and then build another one the next year.

Something has to change with their approach to pitching.  Even if they somehow get hot and make a postseason run, the current approach is just not working well enough.

Separating the fact that tonight was an offense failure first, I’m just sick of seeing everyone else with pitching that prioritizes velocity and we don’t. There’s a reason we give up homers: lack of velocity. It’s beyond disappointing. Yeah I’m frustrated tonight like everyone else but I can’t figure out why our FO is behind on this.

[Soul]

5 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

See I'm pretty down on the team in general but I wouldn't just assume the season ends next week.  The playoffs are played completely differently than the regular season.  I'm not sure if the Cubs are built for playoff baseball, but all it takes is an offensive hot streak and decent pitching to make a run.  It could absolutely be over on Wednesday, and they are very unlikely to win the World Series, but I wouldn't write off an NLCS appearance just yet.  Much crazier things have happened.

On that topic, I agree crazier things have happened. I also don’t buy the “Brewers can’t win in the postseason” narrative. They absolutely can get hot and win it all.

[UMFan83]

2 minutes ago, Soul said:

On that topic, I agree crazier things have happened. I also don’t buy the “Brewers can’t win in the postseason” narrative. They absolutely can get hot and win it all.

I don’t either. How many years in a row did the Dodgers make the playoffs before they finally won a World Series? Now they are going for their 4th this decade.  Obviously some differences between the teams but no one has been able to tell me a good enough reason why the Brewers crap doesn’t work in the playoffs 

[soccer10k]

1 hour ago, UMFan83 said:

decent pitching to make a run. 

And therein lies the problem.

[Irrelevant Dude]

I can't get over how much I really don't like Matt Shaw, both on and off the field. 

He needs to be gone in the offseason.  Pedro Ramirez fills a very similar role on the roster and has made Shaw redundant.  Get whatever you can for him and move on.

[NorthsideAvenger]

1 hour ago, UMFan83 said:

See I'm pretty down on the team in general but I wouldn't just assume the season ends next week.  The playoffs are played completely differently than the regular season.  I'm not sure if the Cubs are built for playoff baseball, but all it takes is an offensive hot streak and decent pitching to make a run.  It could absolutely be over on Wednesday, and they are very unlikely to win the World Series, but I wouldn't write off an NLCS appearance just yet.  Much crazier things have happened.

I get that and I hope you are right, I just have not seen anything to suggest the Cubs can flip the switch. I want to be wrong.

I've come this far, so I will finished watching the Cubs season. 

[gflore34]

6 hours ago, Soul said:

Separating the fact that tonight was an offense failure first, I’m just sick of seeing everyone else with pitching that prioritizes velocity and we don’t. There’s a reason we give up homers: lack of velocity. It’s beyond disappointing. Yeah I’m frustrated tonight like everyone else but I can’t figure out why our FO is behind on this.

From what I understand this draft was different in they did put on emphasis on velocity.  Now we may or may not see results, and, it won't be until 2030 (that's weird to type) or so, nevertheless, appears they taken a step in the right direction.

Edited Wednesday at 11:40 AM by gflore34

[gflore34]

On a good note, I finally buried one in my old man, well really it's I'm the old man, lacrosse Monday night.  About time, I've had a plethora of chances.  Can't believe I'm literally twice the average age of any other player, horsefeathers I'm old.

Edited Wednesday at 11:45 AM by gflore34

[Geographyhater8888]

Take it however you want, but this model really likes the Cubs World Series odds.

Their positional war and offensive+defensive metrics with a lowish strikeout rate correlates with postseason success independently of pitching, especially since 2016. Mediocre offenses and defenses don’t win the World Series but the opposite is true with even below average pitching staffs. 

They’re third run differential,

third in team fWAR,

third in third order win percentage, 

53-36 since June 11th in a +148 run differential, thanks to PCA’s superstar ascension and Bregman remembering that he’s Alex Bregman, even with Nico, Busch and Happ having down years. 

There’s no real regression candidates either going off the body of work from our 1-9.
 

Bregman’s health is obviously the key here. If he doesn’t play or isn’t effective then their odds will plummet. 

Edited Wednesday at 12:08 PM by Geographyhater8888

[Jason Ross]