UMFan83

Reds lose to the Tigers today, falling 2.5 behind the Cubs, which means the Cubs will at least have at least a 2 game lead when they step on the field tomorrow. Marlins currently down 3-2 in the 5th to the Brewers. If the Marlins lose, they will be 3 back. For the Cubs to be at least 2.5 games above the cutline at the end of the night they need the Marlins to lose to the Brewers and the Giants to lose at the juggernaut Rockies. Any other result and the Cubs will be 2 games up.

The media was going to be brutal on the Bears this week no matter what they said. All that matters is what we see on the field, and we need to see a lot better on Sunday.

Just looking at the schedule, if the Cubs don't skip anyone we're looking at these starters the rest of the year: ARI - Steele, Hendricks, Wicks PIT - Assad, Taillon, Steele COL - Hendricks, Wicks, Assad ATL - Taillon, Steele, Hendricks MIL - Wicks, Assad, Taillon But with 3 off days coming up they have a chance skip 1-2 starts to optimize their pitching matchups. Maybe something like (number of days of rest in parenthesis) ARI - Steele (5), Hendricks (5), Wicks (5) PIT - Taillon (5), Steele (4), Hendricks (4) COL - Wicks (4), Taillon (4), Stroman/Assad/BP ATL - Steele (5), Hendricks (5), Wicks (5) MIL - Taillon (5), Stroman/Assad/BP (5), Steele (5) If the Cubs have clinched a playoff spot they can rest Steele on the last game of the season and Hendricks and Wicks well rested for Games 2 and 3. Maybe Stroman back by next Sunday is too soon, not sure but consider that a 5th starter spot for whoever takes it. Obviously if its Taillon you want to pull from the rotation instead of Assad, then that would switch around a bit but same principle. You can basically skip 2 starts from your worst starter down the stretch and still give all of your starters an extra day of rest before all of their final starts except one.

He has a .493 OPS since August 12th (28 games) .167/.301/.192 slash line. Maybe PCA is also a bad hitter right now, but if he's putting up a .493 OPS he's still offering elite defense and (we havent seen it yet but) baserunning. That said Tauchman might not be what he was earlier in the summer, he's not a .493 OPS player and still takes great ABs and gets on base at a decent clip relative to his BA.

Some notes from Carter Hawkins radio appearance today:

It will be interesting to see how they play it. It's a little different in the past where the team could set their rotation by having them pitch in the 2nd to last series of the season so they are rested but not rusty going into the NLDS. But in this format, the Braves will have 6 days off between their last regular season game and first NLDS game due to the WC round. In past years I'd think the 2nd to last series of the season is a bad time to play them because they'd probably set their rotation in that series and then rest people the final 3 games of the season. But in this format, maybe they rest starters the 2nd to last series and have their starters go in the final series of the season so they don't have like 11 days of between starts. Who knows, but either way I wouldn't rely on the Braves half assing it against us. It will still be a tough series. The Brewers might be different. I'm assuming they'd want Burnes, Woodruff, Peralta to start in the WC round that is 10/3-10/5. If Counsell has the opportunity to set his rotation for that round and ideally give his guys a 5th day of rest before the playoffs, he'd ideally have them going the 27th, 28th, and 29th, meaning only 1 of them (probably Peralta) would go against the Cubs. But that's only if they've clinched the division in time to set that up.

True, however there are 3 spots at play since the Phillies keep losing. Right now there are 6 teams within 4 games of each other fighting for 3 playoff spots. The Cubs playoff odds were at 93% last Thursday. Today they are at 77.7%, meaning more than 3 out of every 4 times the Cubs end up in the playoffs. They absolutely have to play better than they have the last week but they should. Whats the old adage things are never as bad as they seem at their worst and things are never as good as they seem at their best. If we're looking at the team from July on, this is their worst.

The funniest thing about today is Zac Gallen got lit up tonight. He's now been lit up in 3 of his last 4 starts. In the other game he had the best start of his career when he pitched a CG shutout against the Cubs. 5.1 IP, 9 H, 6 R 5.1 IP, 8 H, 5 R 9 IP, 3 H, 0 R 5 IP, 8 H, 7 R

Reds win, so the Cubs playoff cushion is now just 2 games. Looks like Arizona will lose tonight and our gap over them will remain at 2. Marlins are beating the Brewers 2-0, if they win they will move to 2.5 back and the Cubs will stay 4 GB Milwaukee. The Reds and Diamondbacks play tomorrow. If they both win, the Cubs will take the field Friday with a 1.5 game playoff cushion. Most likely finish tonight Phillies 1.5 GA Cubs -- DBacks 2 ----------------- Reds 2 (tied) Giants 2.5 Marlins 2.5 It's getting reeeeeeeeeeaaaallllly close. Cubs need to play better ASAP

It's completely inexplicable how much went wrong on Sunday. Yes there is plenty of blame that can go to the players, but in general this reflects worst on the coaching staff BY FAR. We looked like a bunch of amateurs out there and while its painful to watch every Bears fan needs to watch that video and absorb it.

Reds up 2-0 already. A win tonight and tomorrow puts them 1.5 Gb the Cubs the next time they take the field. enough dooming though

Giants win. The Cubs playoff cushion will be down to 2.5 at a minimum tonight. If the Reds win tonight it will be down to 2 games. Despite getting swept by the Cubs, the Giants (5-4) have gained 0.5 games on the Cubs (5-5) in the standings over the last 10 days.

FWIW the Brewers were swept at Coors Field this year.

Giants hit a 3 run HR in the 8th to tie the Guardians. With a win, they'll have gone from 6 GB to 2.5 GB in a week.

Bellinger looks like he's going home run or bust his last 2 ABs. Need baserunners at this point Belli

Sure but we are losing, so for now we have to rely on other teams to keep us afloat. If there was just one more halfway decent team in the WC race we'd be in trouble.

We have to hope the Braves really do take their foot off the pedal for our series. The Brewers are horsefeatherss and would relish knocking the Cubs out of the playoffs to continue Wisconsin sports dominance over Chicago.

14 baserunners, 3 runs today 😞

Damn, cant even get a sac fly

At least get a couple home to give us a chance in the 9th

Another big spot for the rookie. Bases loaded 1 out, down 4. Edit: Nevermind Gomes is PHing

PCA game trying grand slam coming up. I hear he's good at that lately.

Lets get through the 8th first

Like I said, they've not been playing well but have gotten by with a light schedule and luck in close games until recently. They were 9-4 in <2 run games from August 12 - Sept 1. Since then they've been 1-5, so 10-9 overall. Luck is evening out. 8 of those 19 close games came against the White Sox, Royals and Tigers, 3 of the worst teams the league. As I said earlier they haven't played badly the entire month, they've had good stretches (like against SF), but collectively they have not been playing their best baseball.

Sure...I'm just saying thats the vibe I got from Rockies fans. If KB is healthy and wants to play the last 2 weeks of meaningless baseball I'm not surprised the Rockies obliged.