Cubs-Padres Game Two Thread: Imanaga's Opener Is A Necessary Evil

4 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Taillon is 2nd to only Shota in GB% and HR/9 this season on the Cubs and they're actually closer than you'd think

Jamo has been outstanding lately though. Shota had been trending in the wrong direction for 2 months

Edited October 1, 2025 by s2obed

That is a really good bullpen.

That has thrown a good deal of pitches the last two days.

The Cubs should get to Darvish early.

Keep the faith.

Just now, s2obed said:

Jamo has been outstanding lately though. Shota has been trending in the wrong direction for 2 months

Just saying I'd rather not have the wind blowing out when we're starting an extreme fly ball pitcher.

Didn't matter how the pitching went today, zero runs won't win you any games. 

We all knew the bats were likely going to be what makes or break them after the long struggle they had the last month plus, we'll see if they have any urgency tomorrow. 

cubs trade deadline RP acquisition takes the L, padres trade deadline RP acquisition k’s 5 in 1 2/3. 
 

cubs and padres front offices definitely operate differently. 

I'm not saying this because we won game 1 and lost game 2 but the MLB should just make all the WC rounds single elimination.  I didn't like the WC game, but I like this even less.  

Go back to 4 playoff teams per league (I know that will never happen)

I would guess that beside Kittredge, all pen arms are available. And, tbh, I wouldn’t totally eliminate Kittredge. If they win they have a day to rest. Then after one game, another day to rest. Soroka threw 5 pitches today. They might not use him so that he can start Saturday. 🤞

Setting aside that sucked for the Cubs, that was really ****ing cool to watch

If I'm counting right the Padres threw 79 fastballs:

- 15 were 100 or higher

- 40 (!!!) were 98 or 99

- 3 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) were slower than 96, with the slowest being 95.5

Insane, I assume some sort of record unless there was a Skenes+Chapman game last year that topped it

1 minute ago, abuck1220 said:

cubs trade deadline RP acquisition takes the L, padres trade deadline RP acquisition k’s 5 in 1 2/3. 
 

cubs and padres front offices definitely operate differently. 

Yeah but Soroka got 2 outs today and Willi Castro...looked good sitting on the bench?

1 minute ago, abuck1220 said:

cubs trade deadline RP acquisition takes the L, padres trade deadline RP acquisition k’s 5 in 1 2/3. 
 

cubs and padres front offices definitely operate differently. 

We did trade top prospects for bats each of the last two years (Busch & Tucker), it's not like Jed's afraid to make a deal.

1 minute ago, UMFan83 said:

I'm not saying this because we won game 1 and lost game 2 but the MLB should just make all the WC rounds single elimination.  I didn't like the WC game, but I like this even less.  

Go back to 4 playoff teams per league (I know that will never happen)

I prefer the 4 playoff teams as well but no way I want a 1 game playoff. 

Well - not the outcome we wanted, but you have to tip your cap to the Padres - particularly their bullpen. One bright spot is that Miller should be off the platoon tomorrow. 
 

A part of me wants to turn to the “negative” side of things, but I won’t. They didn’t hit today to say the least, but they faced quality pitching and our pitching was solid minus a poorly placed fastball to a HOF hitter. 
 

Like all of you in here, I want them to win this series so badly, so they can go into Milwaukee and show them who the better team really is. They are going to win this horsefeathers series tomorrow! Go Cubs Go!! 

(I hope I used the whole “horsefeathers” comment correctly) 🤷‍♂️

3 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

Didn't matter how the pitching went today, zero runs won't win you any games. 

We all knew the bats were likely going to be what makes or break them after the long struggle they had the last month plus, we'll see if they have any urgency tomorrow. 

If they struggle tomorrow it isn’t because they don’t have a sense of urgency. Blaming not hitting , or a poor pitxhknf performance on lack of interest or drive to succeed is just silly. Both teams want to win. Both teams will give their all. Whoever loses didn’t try less. I guarantee that. 

3 minutes ago, s2obed said:

I prefer the 4 playoff teams as well but no way I want a 1 game playoff. 

I just hate this entire round.  I'd rather it go 1 game and be done with it.  

6 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Setting aside that sucked for the Cubs, that was really ****ing cool to watch

If I'm counting right the Padres threw 79 fastballs:

- 15 were 100 or higher

- 40 (!!!) were 98 or 99

- 3 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) were slower than 96, with the slowest being 95.5

Insane, I assume some sort of record unless there was a Skenes+Chapman game last year that topped it

I remember the Brewers doing something similar to this earlier in the year with Miz, Uribe, and McGill.

Good news, what the Padres did today is not sustainable. Bad news, they just need to do it one more game against the Cubs.

The Padres had to win this game and taxed their bullpen.  Its still going to be tough tomorrow but the Cubs need a lead after 5 innings. 

I just want the Vaunted Brewers so bad. Beat them and I don't even care if they get smoked by the Doyers

7 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

If they struggle tomorrow it isn’t because they don’t have a sense of urgency. Blaming not hitting , or a poor pitxhknf performance on lack of interest or drive to succeed is just silly. Both teams want to win. Both teams will give their all. Whoever loses didn’t try less. I guarantee that. 

one team in this series has been operating closer to the edge of its resource potential and it ain’t the cubs 

6 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

I just hate this entire round.  I'd rather it go 1 game and be done with it.  

That would be even worse. The key going forward is put enough into the team to get a top 2 seed. Not half ass it because you assume 90 wins gets you the division.  Then again PTR gets 3 home games and with a bye you might only get 2.

2 minutes ago, Brian707 said:

That would be even worse. The key going forward is put enough into the team to get a top 2 seed. Not half ass it because you assume 90 wins gets you the division.  Then again PTR gets 3 home games and with a bye you might only get 2.

Not sure how you can assume the division will be won with 90 games. Some years it might, other years it might take 100 wins. And there’s less wiggle room if you don’t aim to win 95 games. 

I think the 6 team format is incentivizing teams to build 85ish win teams. 

7 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Not sure how you can assume the division will be won with 90 games. Some years it might, other years it might take 100 wins. And there’s less wiggle room if you don’t aim to win 95 games. 

I think the 6 team format is incentivizing teams to build 85ish win teams. 

Sure on 85ish wins. I'm not assuming 90 gets you the division but Jed and PTR probably did

I think MLB puts Cubs at 5pm Central if Red Sox win. If Yankees win probably 2pm again. Not sure though if Cincy somehow beats Dodgers. 

This was probably discussed before here

Pete might be better off bunting every AB even though he’s not really good at it

1 minute ago, Brian707 said:

I think MLB puts Cubs at 5pm Central if Red Sox win. If Yankees win probably 2pm again. Not sure though if Cincy somehow beats Dodgers. 

This was probably discussed before here

Let’s assume thee Cub win tomorrow. Do you believe they’ll get hot ? Or do you believe the next series will be a struggle to win each game? Remember many posters stated that the team that gets hot usually wins series? From what you’ve seen in what direction do thee Cub go? Struggle or get hot!

5 minutes ago, Brian707 said:

I think MLB puts Cubs at 5pm Central if Red Sox win. If Yankees win probably 2pm again. Not sure though if Cincy somehow beats Dodgers. 

This was probably discussed before here

I might have missed it too but here are thr specifics