Soul

You can tell that felt reeeaaalllly good.

Ok, now they’re getting sassy.

I hate schedule watching to be honest. The sands shift every week. Teams ebb and flow. Rosters show up with players in various states of health. Player by player matchups matter. Etc etc. It’s really scary because the Bears just put up a stinker. If that stinker wasn’t a one-off then we’re probably in deep do-do

Blitz the hell out of Penix. I don’t think he can handle it.

Sorry for the AI slop but I've had ChatGPT tracking velocity. MLB velocity update — October 1, 2026 The verdict is clearer now: velocity is still rising, and 2026 was another substantial step upward. Average four-seam velocity finished at a record 94.8 mph, up from 94.5 in 2025 and 91.9 when pitch tracking began in 2008. That's the sixth straight season with a new record. Even more suggestive of what's coming: pitchers age 25 or younger averaged 95.9 mph. Triple-digit pitching exploded. MLB recorded 5,687 pitches at 100+ mph, versus 3,701 in 2025 — a 54% increase in one year and more than 26 times the 214 recorded in 2008. Jacob Misiorowski alone threw 1,115 of them, smashing Jordan Hicks' previous single-season record of 673, and reached 105.5 mph. Baseball Savant's 2026 leaderboard also shows eight pitchers averaging at least 100 mph on their four-seamer among pitchers with 100+ pitches. The biomechanics/training story increasingly looks like “raise the floor,” not merely “raise the ceiling.” MLB's analysis found that since 2008 the average pitcher's minimum fastball velocity rose 5.1 mph, while average maximum velocity rose only 1.2 mph. In other words, modern development has made pitchers capable of operating much nearer maximum effort pitch after pitch. MLB also notes the continuing role of biomechanical measurement, data-driven efficiency work and velocity-focused development throughout the minors; Triple-A four-seam velocity is already up from 92.7 mph in 2022 to 93.6 in 2026. Bottom line: definitely rising, not plateauing. And the most striking change since our last check is the final count of 5,687 triple-digit pitches. That isn't a tiny incremental increase — it's a huge one-year jump. The statistic I'd watch most closely in 2027 is that 95.9-mph average among pitchers 25 and younger. If that cohort replaces older, slower pitchers as you'd expect, the league-wide average has room to climb further even without anyone discovering how to throw harder than today's 104–106 mph extreme.

Admittedly I don’t follow the draft but 100 MPH+ is a base expectation now. If the Cubs don’t have that in the pipeline they are going to fall behind, and quickly. I mention it because right now the Cubs have already fallen behind, so they’ve already got some catching up to do.

There a lot of Packers/Cubs fans. It comes from the era when WGN broadcasted Cubs games everywhere. You couldn’t get the Brewers. It’s amazing how that has echoed through the decades. It helped create the large fan base the Cubs have that a lot of other teams don’t have.

Yeah I can’t account for the Packer fan crossover. I’ll need to think on that. There’s this whole rabid rural fan base with the Packers that just makes me roll my eyes.

This. There’s also a built up history of hatred between the Cardinals and Cubs that goes back decades and decades, before the Brewers were even a team. It’s not possible for the Brewers rivalry to match that. Brewers fans can’t understand that because their team is too new. Younger Cubs fans should realize my Dad and Grandpa passed this down to me.

I get that but Contreras and Uribe direct their stuff to the other team in the dugout and the opposing fans. It’s clearly designed to be antagonistic and even Murphy has said it’s bush league (at least in Uribe’s case).

That’s his “thing” and it’s over the top for sure. He did it in San Diego and needless to say they didn’t appreciate it very much. Uribe also has his way over-the-top stuff too, notably absent last night when he was a gas can. People get upset with PCA but Contreras makes him look tame.

If there’s a code the Crew cracked surely it’s to frustrate the pitcher.

Yeah they didn’t miss him that’s for sure.

Have the Brewers had any significant injuries this year? Seems like they’ve been lucky there too.

Brewers can’t hit homers. Except when they need to. Then they hit homers.