Cubs-Padres Game Three Thread: Sudden Death Baseball

1 minute ago, squally1313 said:

Busch seems so locked in right now. Going to get another heavy dose of RHPs, as I expect every starter we see will be righty. Koenig and Ashby are good LHPs, they're a step down from Morejon but there's two of them. Need Happ to get it together and this lineup has some real length to it. 

Took a quick glance, didn't realize the Padres' pen had a WAR of 7.2!  Brewers pen had a WAR of 1.3, a slight step down from that of Padres.  It's a little different with the Brewers, Padres you better get them early and have a lead after 5, that's not the case with the Brewers.

I actually like Rea as the game one starter. Milwaukee will be going with their best (Peralta)  in game one. Rea has been pretty good lately. Then maybe the advantage moves to the Cubs for the rest of the series with Boyd going ab against Milwaukee's 2nd best. I'd like to think Taillon gets a start before Imanaga at this point, too. 

So Rea, Boyd, Taillon, Imanaga and Boyd again if needed.

They probably will carry an extra pitcher? Is Ballesteros the odd man out? I hope not, as Shaw still hot garbage with the bat at least. Need Ballesteros to PH for Shaw if a tough righty is in late, trailing.

 

*Edited, already being discussed in the other thread

Edited October 3, 2025 by Brian707

6 minutes ago, KCCub said:

They did lose their best hitter (This season) the week prior to the playoffs. Laureano, who historically is a lefty masher, was a huge loss for them. 

You're correct, thought Miller was overkill and way too expensive.  I'm certain if you gave the Padres the choice of Miller or Laureano being out for the WC they'd chosen Miller.

I take it every pen arm Wil be available tomorrow? 

Edited October 3, 2025 by Geographyhater8888

Guess the controversial strike call makes up for Durham' boot on a routine GB.  The Padres' reaction to the umpires was certainly childish maybe, the Cubs in that situation react the same way.  Don't think the umpires leaving the field with the Padres was a good idea.  Did they hang around waiting for the umpires?  If so, that's on Shildt, I believe it's his job to get the asses out of the dugout.

13 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

Took a quick glance, didn't realize the Padres' pen had a WAR of 7.2!  Brewers pen had a WAR of 1.3, a slight step down from that of Padres.  It's a little different with the Brewers, Padres you better get them early and have a lead after 5, that's not the case with the Brewers.

Yeah, I didn't realize Megill was back, which is unfortunate. Between those two lefties and Uribe and Megill, they basically run the same way in that they have four guys and then there's a clear decrease in quality, but I think the Brewers group is a definite step back. But....the hitting is better, their pitching is fresh, and we won't have the luxury of being at Wrigley the whole time. 

20 minutes ago, Bertz said:

I'm curious how close we are to Tucker being able to play the OF, especially with all the off days coming up.  Because once he can play the OF i think getting Ballesteros into the mix gets a lot easier.

Maybe I'm thinking about it wrong, but I don't really see a situation where we don't want Happ/PCA/Tucker/Suzuki all in the game. 

7 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

 we won't have the luxury of being at Wrigley the whole time. 

There should be less Cubs fans then the regular season but I think the Cubs will have a lot of help

28 minutes ago, Bertz said:

I'm curious how close we are to Tucker being able to play the OF, especially with all the off days coming up.  Because once he can play the OF i think getting Ballesteros into the mix gets a lot easier.

There is a 0% chance Seiya is sitting for Ballesteros

Is there a chance we'll see more from Shaw this series?  Think first PS, etc. may have gotten to him, definitely swinging at pitches he was, for the most part, not swinging at during the regular season.

35 minutes ago, Bertz said:

I'm curious how close we are to Tucker being able to play the OF, especially with all the off days coming up.  Because once he can play the OF i think getting Ballesteros into the mix gets a lot easier.

In favor of who exactly?  Certainly not the guy who recently hit 6 HRs in 5 games and had 3 XBH in the WC round.

 

1 minute ago, gflore34 said:

Is there a chance we'll see more from Shaw this series?  Think first PS, etc. may have gotten to him, definitely swinging at pitches he was, for the most part, not swinging at during the regular season.

Can't see much less from him, at least at the plate.  Only one way to go.

This is random but I find it funny how much more Brewers fans hate the Cubs than vice versa.  Don't get me wrong, they've done a nice job of being a competitive thorn in our side and there is definite hate coming from our side.  But just from reading a few reactions, this is like everything to them.  They can't fathom the thought of the Cubs beating them.  I definitely don't want to lose to them for reasons beyond our season ending if we lose, but it isn't, at least for me, like the Cardinals series in 2015.  I was so desperate for the Cubs to beat St. Louis for so many reasons.  

Catcher defense be damned. Put Mo behind the plate against Peralta. 

3 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Can't see much less from him, at least at the plate.  Only one way to go.

Putting the ball in play is the next step, checked, didn't realize 0-7, 7 K's in the series.  I'd seriously consider going with Castro, looking at his splits he's hit well vs. the Brewers and hit really well at American Family Field.

4 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

This is random but I find it funny how much more Brewers fans hate the Cubs than vice versa.  Don't get me wrong, they've done a nice job of being a competitive thorn in our side and there is definite hate coming from our side.  But just from reading a few reactions, this is like everything to them.  They can't fathom the thought of the Cubs beating them.  I definitely don't want to lose to them for reasons beyond our season ending if we lose, but it isn't, at least for me, like the Cardinals series in 2015.  I was so desperate for the Cubs to beat St. Louis for so many reasons.  

Little brother syndrome, inferiority complex, being tired of their park turning into Wrigley North, their playoff failures. Most are Packer fans so they have that additional hatred too.

I love hearing these stories about random Cubs fans:

 

16 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

This is random but I find it funny how much more Brewers fans hate the Cubs than vice versa.  Don't get me wrong, they've done a nice job of being a competitive thorn in our side and there is definite hate coming from our side.  But just from reading a few reactions, this is like everything to them.  They can't fathom the thought of the Cubs beating them.  I definitely don't want to lose to them for reasons beyond our season ending if we lose, but it isn't, at least for me, like the Cardinals series in 2015.  I was so desperate for the Cubs to beat St. Louis for so many reasons.  

Beating the Cubs is their best chance to move on, don't think they'll get past the Phillies or Dodgers.

If they do beat the Cubs, they better pray the Phillies and Dodgers beat up on each other extracting a toll on the series winner.  If I were a Brewers fan, I'd be really worried about facing the Dodgers.  Dodgers are not the same team they went 7-0 against in the regular season.

Edited October 3, 2025 by gflore34

11 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

In favor of who exactly?  Certainly not the guy who recently hit 6 HRs in 5 games and had 3 XBH in the WC round.

 

I mean Happ was a complete mess this past series, so having at least the option of going Seiya in LF and Mo at DH would be nice, no?  Or if Seiya goes back to being ice cold.

My point is mainly about options.  Tucker's the one hitter in the lineup complete enough that he'll never ever ever come out, so it sucks that he's currently locked into DH.

Are the Cubs the first NL Central team to win a playoff series since 2017?

1 minute ago, gflore34 said:

Are the Cubs the first NL Central team to win a playoff series since 2017?

The 2018 Brewers and 2019 Cardinals won the NLDS, but that appears to be it

2 minutes ago, Bertz said:

I mean Happ was a complete mess this past series, so having at least the option of going Seiya in LF and Mo at DH would be nice, no?  Or if Seiya goes back to being ice cold.

My point is mainly about options.  Tucker's the one hitter in the lineup complete enough that he'll never ever ever come out, so it sucks that he's currently locked into DH.

I think the flexibility is nice because it lets you add a pitcher for Alcantara without worrying too much about contingency plans. Happ looked bad, but can't see them going away from him, especially when you factor in that Ian Happ against the NL Central is a borderline HOF player (if we want to stay in the neighborhood of sample sizes that probably don't matter). 

2 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

Are the Cubs the first NL Central team to win a playoff series since 2017?

The Cardinals won one since then...don't remember the year but it was against the Braves and they scored like 10 runs in one of the early innings of Game 5 to make it a laugher

Just now, Transmogrified Tiger said:

The 2018 Brewers and 2019 Cardinals won the NLDS, but that appears to be it

Yes, I just checked, it's been a minute since an NL Central team had some PS success.