Padres-Cubs Wild Card Game One Thread, By The Numbers

30 minutes ago, Connor McConnor said:

Hey Cesar....Your boy Dansby had a good game today!  Where ya at?

Yes he did. Needs to hit to make the difference. His D is going to be there but what will make the difference is if he hits. After all that’s why he got the big contract! It’s Caesar not Cesar but I forgive you 

So crazy to me that Seiya had 2 HRs from mid-July to late September and then all the sudden has 6 in his last 5 games. I’m down with it!

28 minutes ago, Caesar said:

Yes he did. Needs to hit to make the difference. His D is going to be there but what will make the difference is if he hits. After all that’s why he got the big contract! It’s Caesar not Cesar but I forgive you 

He did hit. Lead off the 9th with a single and came around to score. And he didn’t get a big contract for his hitting. He has always been an average hitter. He got the contract, which was the lowest of the given to the top FA SS that year, because of his all around play. 

Edited September 30, 2025 by Rcal10

12 minutes ago, Caesar said:

Yes he did. Needs to hit to make the difference. His D is going to be there but what will make the difference is if he hits. After all that’s why he got the big contract! It’s Caesar not Cesar but I forgive you 

I thought we can count on Dansby to make errors late in the season and playoffs. Isn’t that what you said previously? So now you are saying his D will be there. So which is it? 

Caeser taking some heat!

1 hour ago, UMFan83 said:

It had been 1,259 days since the last "Big 5" Chicago playoff victory

Was it when the Bulls won one game against the Bucks in an otherwise horsefeathers pumping?  Real awful stretch for us, going to enjoy this.  

That insurance run was the Brewiest Brewer run you’ll see from the Cubs.

Solid win today!  Pitching is gonna be tough just about every game so making an adjustment to get those HRs, then scratching the insurance run across was just great.  Pitching was obviously top shelf too.

Let’s put it away.  No need for a game 3.

14 minutes ago, The_Achiever said:

Was it when the Bulls won one game against the Bucks in an otherwise horsefeathers pumping?  Real awful stretch for us, going to enjoy this.  

Yep.  Our last few playoff wins as a city:

-Bulls win Game 2 against Bucks, get blown out the next 3 games to end season

-Sox won 2 games in series they lost

-Blackhawks won while down 0-3 in a playoff series they never would have played in if it wasn't for a global pandemic

-Cubs scratched across a win against the Dodgers while being down 0-3 and then got blown out the next night to end the season

Edited September 30, 2025 by UMFan83

I little unconventional going with Kittredge to start the game. I wonder if the plan is Kittredge for 1 inning, Shoto for 4 and maybe Rea, Civale or Soroka for a couple. Then you have lefties and Keller to close it out. They are going to have to get innings from someone other than Keller, Pomeranz and Theilbar tomorrow. Palencia is probably not available. Honestly I wouldn’t mind if the plan was Rea after Shoto and he take it as far as he can. 

1 hour ago, Brian707 said:

Thursday the Cubs will be on a Greyhound up to Milwaukee 

PTR……

1 hour ago, Rcal10 said:

I think bunting with Merrill was a dumb move by Shildt. That is so 70’s baseball and proven not to be the right move. 
 

Meh.  Merrill also isn't a good hitter vs LHP, OPS in the 600's i believe, both this year and last. The wind blowing in, good pitcher on the mound, and very good infield D that can turn 2.

I think he figured it was going to be a more scoring game and at least was right about that.

.

Edited September 30, 2025 by NorthsideAvenger

2 minutes ago, Stratos said:

Meh.  Merrill also isn't a good hitter vs LHP, OPS in the 600's i believe, both this year and last. The wind blowing in, good pitcher on the mound, and very good infield D that can turn 2.

I think he figured it was going to be a more scoring game and at least was right about that.

Maybe.  But if he is that bad against a lefty then maybe Schidt made a bad decision hitting him clean up. He runs well, so double play isn’t that likely. Also, what is more likely, scoring a run with a man on first with no outs or a man on second with one out? I seem to remember most if the modern day metrics suggest bunting in that spot not a good idea. Also, keep in mind, just because you decide to bunt doesn’t mean it is automatically man on second with one out. That can be screwed up too. . 

6 minutes ago, Stratos said:

Meh.  Merrill also isn't a good hitter vs LHP, OPS in the 600's i believe, both this year and last. The wind blowing in, good pitcher on the mound, and very good infield D that can turn 2.

I think he figured it was going to be a more scoring game and at least was right about that.

Except bunting doesn’t necessarily increase your chance of scoring. And they didn’t score. 

13 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

I little unconventional going with Kittredge to start the game. I wonder if the plan is Kittredge for 1 inning, Shoto for 4 and maybe Rea, Civale or Soroka for a couple. Then you have lefties and Keller to close it out. They are going to have to get innings from someone other than Keller, Pomeranz and Theilbar tomorrow. Palencia is probably not available. Honestly I wouldn’t mind if the plan was Rea after Shoto and he take it as far as he can. 

Probably something like that.  I think they might save Rea as the emergency backup if there's a Gane 3 unless he's needed in Game 2.  Probably see 1 or both of Soroka and/or Civale tomorrow.  Then everyone from today is probably available besides Palencia.

Not sure what they think of Theilbar right now, he's hasn't looked good his last few appearances.

17 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

I little unconventional going with Kittredge to start the game. I wonder if the plan is Kittredge for 1 inning, Shoto for 4 and maybe Rea, Civale or Soroka for a couple. Then you have lefties and Keller to close it out. They are going to have to get innings from someone other than Keller, Pomeranz and Theilbar tomorrow. Palencia is probably not available. Honestly I wouldn’t mind if the plan was Rea after Shoto and he take it as far as he can. 

People wanted the backend bullpen of doom at the trade deadline but we built the middle relief bullpen of doom instead. 

1 hour ago, Jason Ross said:

Do you want me to timestamp when I rank *all* the posters or just when I rank you? 

  Reveal hidden contents

You'll be waiting a while.

Just kidding.

I love you. You're in my top-1,000 on this site.

 

Oh, we did that years ago.....

22 minutes ago, Derwood said:

Oh, we did that years ago.....

I'm sad I missed this. 

1 minute ago, Jason Ross said:

I'm sad I missed this. 

It was a tournament. 

I didn't win

I didn't win the first round

1 hour ago, Rcal10 said:

I little unconventional going with Kittredge to start the game. I wonder if the plan is Kittredge for 1 inning, Shoto for 4 and maybe Rea, Civale or Soroka for a couple. Then you have lefties and Keller to close it out. They are going to have to get innings from someone other than Keller, Pomeranz and Theilbar tomorrow. Palencia is probably not available. Honestly I wouldn’t mind if the plan was Rea after Shoto and he take it as far as he can. 

Thielbar didn’t pitch today, so he is good to go

1 hour ago, Rcal10 said:

I little unconventional going with Kittredge to start the game. I wonder if the plan is Kittredge for 1 inning, Shoto for 4 and maybe Rea, Civale or Soroka for a couple. Then you have lefties and Keller to close it out. They are going to have to get innings from someone other than Keller, Pomeranz and Theilbar tomorrow. Palencia is probably not available. Honestly I wouldn’t mind if the plan was Rea after Shoto and he take it as far as he can. 

Getting a few runs on the board early will make all the pitching decisions a little easier 😉

Am I crazy to think Zaidman’s home run calls were good?

Final out call

3 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

Merrill bunting was god awful baseball. 

Bunting is not bad baseball, there is a reason it's been done for 100+ years.  The '16 Cubs did squeeze bunts and had massive success, if I recall Jason Heyward (fresh off his massive contract) bunted in the 8th or 9th inning against the Giants in that last game (although he didn't execute it properly, he was a bum) 

A bad result doesn't justify a bad process.  Ian Happ doesn't bunt because he's a veteran player who thinks it's above him.. and that's where the criticism comes in 

14 minutes ago, PeanutPunch33 said:

Bunting is not bad baseball, there is a reason it's been done for 100+ years.  The '16 Cubs did squeeze bunts and had massive success, if I recall Jason Heyward (fresh off his massive contract) bunted in the 8th or 9th inning against the Giants in that last game (although he didn't execute it properly, he was a bum) 

A bad result doesn't justify a bad process.  Ian Happ doesn't bunt because he's a veteran player who thinks it's above him.. and that's where the criticism comes in 

And totally not true. Do you think Happ refused to.bunt? Seriously that is ridiculous. As for Heyward, he hit .210 that year. He should have bunted. Merrill is a clean up hitter. True, the bunt has been around for 100 years, and less bunts occur every year. You know why? Because stats show it is not a correct move. You are right, a bad result doesn’t mean a bad process. Same with Happ. He hit the ball over 100mph and happened to hit into a double play. Doesn’t mean it wasn’t the right call and doesn’t mean he was selfish (complete nonsense statement) to have swung away.