bukie

Yes and Schilling is right behind him too. There are easily 7-8 no doubt HOFers on the ballot this year thanks to the stupidity of the BBWAA, and the problem is just going to perpetuate until we actually get a year with 6-8 inductees. However, since there's a 10 vote limit and 20 arguable HOF players on the ballot now, the only way that happens would be to shaft actual HOF players on votes like with Lofton, McGwire or Posada this year. When you're the 20th best option on a 10 name ballot with the best hitter and pitcher since racial integration on it, and even they aren't getting inducted things are messed up.

Your tune will change when the Cubs are 80-20 in July.

One week into the conference season and the RPI is already hilarious. Particularly in the B1G. Guses which teams have which RPIs: 10, 25, 29, 34, 46, 48, 50, 56, 68, 81, 91, 120, 129, 145.

The "I've been pretty patient..." line is the biggest example of misplaced entitlement I've seen this year.

Nice to see Edwards on the list too, and that Jansens cutter isn't on it was that Lackeys slider was too good in comparison.

#101: Vedder Teams Up With Harry to Sing Final 7th Inning Stretch of 2016 Why on the list? - Didn't really affect the game itself, but have to give it to Vedder to really nail this one, especially in what had to be an extremely tense Wrigley crowd, in a 1-run elimination game. Plus, the stretch is a Wrigley tradition, only makes sense for the best stretch of the year to make the list.

Following the HOF ballot tracker via Ryan Thibodaux, through 143 public ballots there are 8 candidates over 70% : Bagwell, Raines, Rodriguez, and Guerrero are over 75%, Bonds, Clemens, Hoffman and Martinez are above 70. All I want at this point is enough votes for those 8 to get them all in, and enough votes for the other 9 viable candidates (Mussina, Schilling, Walker, Sosa, Wagner, Sheffield, Kent, McGriff, Ramirez) to keep them on the ballot for next year. Lee Smith is not getting voted in, and is off the ballot next year. Posada is the only other name on the ballot that could get enough support to make next year's ballot.

A good bit of the enjoyment of the thread stems from abject denial of just how bad the Cubs system was at that point. Hand wringing about giving up Jackson, Barney or Colvin because that was the best the Cubs had at that point.

Oh good, the Bills fired Ryan so the Bears can scoop him up next week.

I don't know why the prior post breaks the board width. Nothing is extra wide.

#102: Travis Wood and Clayton Richard are Heroes in Milwaukee Why on the list? - Well, let's see...first Travis Wood gets out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the 12th inning in the most Travis Wood way possible, three straight pop-outs. Then, Wood walks in the go ahead run in the 13th. After that, Clayton Richard gets out of a 2nd and 3rd 2 out jam in the 13th to pick up his first career save. Basically, the Cubs had no business winning this game several times over, but the Brewers just couldn't get it done against Wood and Richard, and thus leave in shame.

Interesting week 17 scenario: If the Packers and Lions tie, they both make the playoffs. If they don't tie, the winner gets the 4 seed and the loser would be likely out of the playoffs.

#103: Hammel Hits and Heyward Throws to Down Cards Why on the list? - Hammel was the only offense for the Cubs that day, and combined with a solid early start, held on to defeat the Cards 2-1. Heyward's catch and throw basically extinguished the only other threat the Cards mounted that day, and combined were the biggest WPA effects of the game. Between the pitching and the hitting, it was Hammel's biggest combined WPA in any game.

#104: Javy Baez Justifies Instant Replay With Sick Slides Why #104? - Before replay, those are two obvious outs. Maybe not game changers, but it's fun to watch. Why on the list? - Javy shows the world what happens when Javy is not the one tagging the runner. Hell, the second one he's clearly picked off, and both fielders hold the glove in front of the bag, so Javy dekes them, swims over, and reaches around the tag to the base. Just amazing, and it worked multiple times!

#105: Kalish and Russell Hit It Where They Ain't Why #105? - Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. It's not exactly a walkoff, so it's an enjoyable moment but not extremely memorable. Why on the list? - Always fun to beat Dusty Baker's Nats, right? This was maybe Jason Hammel's worst start of the first half, against Gio Gonzalez, and the Cubs pulled away anyway. Ryan Kalish played in 7 games for the Cubs this season, and this was his biggest contribution to the team.

#106: Gregory Polanco Gives the Cubs a Gift That Felix Pena Saves Why #106? - It's the season of giving, right? Sure, the Polanco error seemed irrelevant at the time, but after a string of Cub pitchers failed to get outs, it was suddenly the difference in the game that allowed Felix Pena to step up and make his lone statistical contribution to the season. Why on the list? - Polanco is the gift that just keeps on giving to the Cubs, right? Plus, Pena gets to contribute, the Cubs try their darndest to blow a game they should have won easily, but Polanco and Pena won't allow it. Sure, it's not the most memorable Polanco miscue that allowed a Cub victory, but that was last year...

I'm sure there's a more clever title in there somewhere, but that was Maddon's mad genius in action for sure. I just loved that it was essentially the Spencer Patton highlight of 2016.

#107: Maddon Uses a Strategy Out of Left Field to Help Cubs Win in 15 [bbvideo=560,315] [/bbvideo] Why #107? - Using pitchers in the outfield and double switching them into the game to pitch? That's unique. However, nobody hit a flyball to LF during any of this, so the theory wasn't even tested in this game. Why on the list? - I mean, it's memorable, nobody had ever done it before, and it was obscure enough that even Len and JD had to double check the rules on it. Plus it annoyed Bryan Price to no end, which made it doubly worth it. Plus, the Cubs won the game, marking it as Spencer Patton's only career Cub victory, in a game he also played LF. This is also the lone Joel Peralta positive WPA outing as he got Votto to line into a DP to end the 13th. How did the Cubs score five runs in the 15th, you ask? Well, see for yourself: [bbvideo=560,315] [/bbvideo]

I can do that. Not meaning to fake out, as I won't get to do 107 until later tonight, but it involves another seldom-used player that was interesting enough to make the list. Anybody have any other fond memories from Cubs at the All Star Game?

#108: Bryant Starts the All-Star Game with style [bbvideo=560,315] [/bbvideo] Why #108? - It was a Cub HR in the All-Star Game, which is rare, but it's still just the All-Star Game. It counts, but not for much, and not any more (thankfully). Why on the list? - Bryant's All-Star Game HR was the lone Cub highlight in an otherwise forgettable game that caused the Indians to get Game 7 of the World Series at home. Thanks, Johnny Cueto! The Cubs made some history in this game, as this was the first time the entire starting infield was all from the same team. Bryant was just the 8th Cub to HR in an All-Star game, joining Alfonso Soriano, Andre Dawson, Billy Williams, George Altman, Ernie Banks, Hank Sauer, and Augie Galan.

2016 Cubs not appearing in this list: Brian Matusz - He was a Cub for a day. Do you remember the day where Matusz outdueled Felix Hernandez? Because that's totally not what happened. His most positive outcome from his day was striking out Cano looking with a runner on 2nd in the first inning, just before giving up a 2-run HR and putting the Cubs in a near insurmountable hole in 3 innings of pure awful, giving up 6 runs. I suppose he did contribute to a posibive Cubs moment in that sense, giving them the opportunity to come back from that hole, since they eventually won the game 7-6. His lone positive highlight: [bbvideo=560,315] [/bbvideo] Joel Peralta - He actually appeared in five games for the Cubs, and his most positive outcome was entering a 2-2 game against the Reds in the 13th with the winning run on 2nd and giving up a rocket to Joey Votto that was caught for a double play. Aside from that all he did was blow a game to the Mets 2 days later that made them think they were in the Cubs' league this year. There isn't a single Joel Peralta video highlight for the Cubs this season. Joe Nathan - He was a Cub for a whole week, and actually picked up the victory July 24 against the Brewers, after striking out the side in the 6th (and giving up a leadoff 3B and walk) down 4-1 just prior to the Cubs coming back in a big way. Never gave up a run with the Cubs, but never provided a whole lot of value in his 3 outings either. Nathan strikes out the side in Cubs debut: [bbvideo=560,315] [/bbvideo] Jake Buchanan - He won a game with the Cubs! Pitched 5 innings, gave up no runs against a Reds team that had basically given up, and provided actual positive value. Beyond that, largely nondescript. His other game he came into the 9th inning of a 7-1 game and finished the game, giving up a run against the Brewers. Buchanan looks good against the Reds: [bbvideo=560,315] [/bbvideo] Neil Ramirez - Poor Neil. Lights out in past years, injuries caught up with him and he didn't have the same stuff as he had in the past. He threw 8 times with the Cubs this season before they put him on waivers, and pitched for both Milwaukee and Minnesota this season. His Cub highlight this season was getting one out in the 13th in a wild game in Milwaukee on May 18 that will show up on the highlight list at some point. Unfortunate, none of Neil's pitching made video this season. Adam Warren - Came over from the Yankees for Starlin Castro. Pitched well initially for the most part, then fell apart in the end of May and June, and was sent to the Yankees as part of the Chapman deal. His biggest contribution came in two consecutive late wins against the Nats in May, where he held them scoreless long enough for the Cubs to pull ahead both times. Warren gets Zimmerman to end the threat in the 10th: [bbvideo=560,315] [/bbvideo] Joe Smith - Joe came over from the Angels at the trade deadline, and immediately did terrible for a month. After contributing nothing positive in 6 August outings, he actually contributed positively in 9 of 10 September outings, but unfortunately the biggest outing of his year, striking out two Giants in the 7th to preserve a 1-run deficit and end up with the win, didn't make it on video. One thing did, though... Smith starts his Cub tenure with an out (barely): [bbvideo=560,315] [/bbvideo] Jeimer Candelario - Jeimer made his major league debut this season, playing in 5 games. He managed just one hit, however, and that was in a blowout, so his highlight reel is pretty short. He did HR in spring training, though, and may have more of an effect on the team next season. Candelario's first MLB hit: [bbvideo=560,315] [/bbvideo] Tim Federowicz - Tim was brought up for a bit in May when the Cubs needed a second catcher with Montero on the DL. He didn't do a whole lot, really only providing a significant positive WPA in a single game, a 7-1 victory over the Pirates, where he doubled and scored. His only other extra base hit came against the Padres in a game the Cubs gave away late. Federowicz showing that WTP: [bbvideo=560,315] [/bbvideo] Munenori Kawasaki - Kawasaki was a fan favorite, and a clubhouse presence, but didn't do a whole lot of note for the team statistically. He provided the most value during a 5-4 Cub victory over the Brewers on September 16, but there wasn't really a moment in there of note. His biggest moment, really, was in the preseason, which doesn't really count towards the season moments, but I almost included it anyway. Kawasaki launches a 3-run HR in Spring Training: [bbvideo=560,315] [/bbvideo]

Inspired by Rany Jazayerli's "Top 216 moments for the 2015 Royals", and because I feel like it, I'm going to post the top 108 moments for the 2016 Cubs season. These moments are ranked by my biases and opinions, which is good enough for me. I'm considering WPA of the moment, along with significance of the game in the season, and also trying to cover moments from as many of the Cub players as possible, as almost everyone on the roster contributed positively to the season in at least some way. Some pre-emptive answers to questions before we get started: Why 108? - Well, now that the 108 year streak is broken, it's one last chance to remember that # before it's gone to history along with the season. How long will this list take? - I'm shooting for one every day, up until it finishes up on opening day. If I can figure out how to embed MLB video, I'll include a video in each post of the moment. But there are only 102 days until opening day! - Well, smart guy, that's not even a question! I'll do the top 5 moments on the last day, since interest in the team is only going to grow until then. I'll toss an extra one in here or there as needed to fill out the list. What do you mean by "momemt"? - A specific play in a game in most cases. Some cases it'll involve an entire game's performance, since starting pitchers rarely have one "moment" in a game where they shine. In some cases, I'll string together a series of plays that play into each other as one moment so I can more easily pare this down to 108, because just off the top of my head I can think of a good 25-30 plays just from game 7 of the World Series. Who died and made your opinions important enough for this post? - Nobody, just thought it'd be fun to do and interesting to follow. I feel like there's a bit of a dearth of good Cub-focused writing, as my favorite Cub blog writer is behind a paywall, and the media is largely made up of meatheads and shock jocks. Heck, I don't care about the Royals and I followed every single one of Rany's 216 moments last year. Tonight I'll start with a quick post about the players on the roster that don't get a moment in the list, and start with #108.

Clay Buchholz to the Phillies for a 24yo class A+ 2B, Josh Tobias.