apete6

Here's a story on the DA responsible for deciding whether or not to charge/prosecute Kane. This makes it seem that if Kane is charged, he's likely guilty with strong evidencial support. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-patrick-kane-prosecutor-20150819-story.html

The Cubs road jerseys (both versions) are an embarrassment. Most high schools have better road jerseys. Those 1958 throwbacks from Friday's game would be glorious as the new road jerseys.

Who do I petition to change my name to Strop Fist Pump?

Going to be a battle of the bullpens today.

THROW A [expletive] STRIKE, HENDRICKS.

I want to sweep this series so bad. Just a big "[expletive] you" to the Sox fans as the first step to show them that this Cubs thing is going to be around for a LONG, LONG time.

They are also potentially more dangerous in the playoffs, so I want them dead. Also, good thing they rested Strasburg for those 2011 playoffs. He's really paying them dividends these days.

This. If we ever play an important game vs. the Cardinals, they will do this. I could see Matheny being like the Cobra Kai coach and telling their guys to Sweep The Leg. Let's hope that Maddon is Mr. Miyagi.

So...unless Lester throws no-hit ball, he's guaranteed to give up at least 1 stupid run per game? Good to know. Arrietta for important games, please.

Replace Lester with Kerry Wood from Game 7 and commence heroin injection.

That was my wife the entire NBA/NHL playoffs and every night time football game. It's great. Grab a glass of bourbon and enjoy "me time".

Couple months late, but now that Price has been traded, he won't require a pick (similar to Lester this year, though it didn't matter). So, we should still have a 1st round pick somewhere in the 20s unless we sign Heyward or someone like that instead of Price.

Any surprises? Lamarr Houston as a backup seems surprising but I haven't been following camp closely. Not many. Jacquizz Rogers ahead of Lankford, but that's probably a veteran presence type thing. Willie Young seems to be playing for a job and is the biggest victim of the 4-3 to 3-4 switch along with David Bass. AJ Cruz not even listed on the KR/PR chart is kind of odd. Also, Sherrick McManis listed very low on CB after initial praise in camp. See ya later, Daniel Thomas.

You probably should just go ahead and admit defeat on that one. Based on all of the verified accounts of his "partying" over the years and life of entitlement, there's a FAR better chance that something happened than not. Still probably a pretty slim chance he faces a complete career-killing punishment over it due to his built-in advantages ($$$, fancy lawyers, the overall worldwide rape culture, likely lack of 100% damning evidence, etc...), but in everyone's heart of hearts, they know something shady happened and that it's probably closer to the worst case scenario than the best case scenario. Maybe I'm just ignorant on his "partying" habits but just because someone likes to get hammered all the time & bang tons of chicks doesn't make them a rapist. And if those rumors are true I feel bad for Kaner. But in the end he put himself in the position for this to happen. His "partying" has included choking some girl in public during the Madison debacle a few years back, that's why I referenced it. A ton of guys drink a lot and bang a lot of chicks, but he's not only on the higher end of that spectrum, but has been entitled his whole life, and shown violence toward women publicly while drunk, that's why I mentioned that.

I'm going to need video evidence before I believe such a thing...

Heh, awesome find. In other news, apparently I've been blocked on twitter by David Haugh for quite a while and didn't realize it. Probably happened at the same time Kaplan blocked me ages ago, but I can't be sure. I've been blocked by Haugh as well. Literally retweeted 1 of his tweets with a snarky response (no cursing, vulgarity, etc...) and got banned. What a dbag.

You probably should just go ahead and admit defeat on that one. Based on all of the verified accounts of his "partying" over the years and life of entitlement, there's a FAR better chance that something happened than not. Still probably a pretty slim chance he faces a complete career-killing punishment over it due to his built-in advantages ($$$, fancy lawyers, the overall worldwide rape culture, likely lack of 100% damning evidence, etc...), but in everyone's heart of hearts, they know something shady happened and that it's probably closer to the worst case scenario than the best case scenario.

Ah, the "bats get cold" argument. Despite the Royals/Giants making the WS last year, hasn't it been disproven that the Wild Card winners win the WS about as much as they should given statistical probabilities in the playoffs?

home and home i think Yes, that should read 6 games (3 home, 3 away).

I really like most of this post and I agree that they are after money, which they probably should be and that is somewhat disheartening when you actually realize that's what sports are 100% about right now. The English Premier League, IMO, really does a great job of emphasizing the importance of every game, as does college football. One game playoffs in a sport where, as you said, good teams lose 40% of the time anyway, will never sit well with me. In my mind, either go full on madness like College Basketball or, one could argue, the NFL, or value the regular season at least slightly more. At least baseball isn't as bad as NBA and NHL where the regular season is nearly 100% meaningless. Though those postseasons are incredible to watch, it's hard to justify shelling out $75-$100 for a 300 level ticket to a regular season basketball or hockey game.

And they'd only be 5 games behind the Cardinals this year. The sad thing is, I actually had to look it up to find out the Cardinals weren't actually 84-26. Dumb on me? Probably, but, still,

This. What little is removed in randomness vs. a 3 game series (and it's *very* little) is far outweighed by the excitement factor. I'm SURE we'll all feel the same way when it's Dan Haren vs. Garret Cole in a couple of months.

I know we've had this discussion on this topic several times, but I wanted to start a thread solely dedicated to scheduling ideas/thoughts/proposals. And, with Manfred reportedly open to going back to 154 (or less?) and the Cubs at least being in the playoff discussion for the first time since the 2nd wild card game was invented, timing isn't bad. I have 2 not fully baked proposals: 1. Leagues/Divisions stay as is, regular season remains 162 games. Regular Season: 18 games vs. division foes (72 games) 6 games vs. rest of your league (60 games) 3 games vs. each team in designated other league division (30 games) Pros: A bit fairer than what they do now Cons: Interleague "rivalries" only played 3 games every 3rd year Playoffs: Wild Card round is 3 games at higher seeded team, including a doubleheader the first day All other series are now 7 games and home field is based on record Pros: Fairer way to determine champion, ASG no longer determines home field in the WS Cons: Lacks "one and done" element of wild card game, wild card doubleheader is not necessarily fair, longer overall season 2. Regular Season dialed back to 156 games. Go back to 4 divisions but add 2 teams to go 16 AL/16 NL Regular Season: 12 games vs. division foes (84 games) 6 games vs. other division (48 games) 3 games vs. each team in 1 division in other league--rotates annually (24 games) Pros: Division games mean more, keeps parts of interleague Cons: Expansion might not be a great idea, minimizes interleague play, "sanctity of the game" people don't like not being 162 or 154. Playoffs: Division winners automatically make it and there are 4 wild cards. HOWEVER, seeding is based purely on record. Top 2 seeds get byes. Wild Card Round: (3) hosts (6) and (4) hosts (5) in a 3 game series including DH on first day. All games at top seed. Division Series: (1) has home field advantage over lowest remaining seed and (2) has homefield advantage highest remaining seed in 7 game series (2/2/1/1/1) LCS: Top remaining seed has home field advantage over lowest remaining seed in 7 game series (2/2/1/1/1) World Series: As is, except for the obvious answer of best remaining record gets home field advantage (2/2/1/1/1) Pros: Top Seeds get advantage with bye/rest, silly World Series All Star Game thing ends, with addition of teams it's still a relatively low % of playoff teams (12/32=38%, same as NFL is now but NFL rumored to be going to 14/32 soon), Wild Card round more fair Cons: Wild Card DH is not necessarily fair, maybe top teams don't want bye/rest, 6 playoff teams could be viewed as too much

The Cubs should just cut the [expletive] and make him the permanent Anthem guy if he's interested.

Yeah, meaning I was 21 in 03. Worlds of difference. Hell, an authentic Prior jersey was like a week of work for me in college. Ha.