soccer10k

At least he’s being treated and used like the mop up man he is Was about to post that I’ve seen enough of Duensing for the night when I saw Joe coming out of the dugout.

JAVY JAVY JAVY

Zobrist!

Haha, I'll take it.

Puig evened it up a bit for us.

Nope, it’s acting like this team is terrible and has no chance of doing anything this year after a five game losing streak. Less than a weeks ago we had won 17 of 25, had won 7 of 8 series and had the best record in the NL. And don’t try and say this is just heat of the game thread moment because you and others do this all the time. I’m not going to lie, the losses bother me a hell of a lot less than they did pre-WS. But they still bother me. Some more than others. So go ahead and bitch about losses. It’s fine. I’ve complained about losses this year. But there’s a huge difference between “this loss hurts, never should have happened, team blew it, team sucked today” and “omg, this team is horrible, definitely not making the playoffs, collapse potential, etc.” It’s definitley possible this team doesn’t make the playoffs and I suppose it’s possible that they collapse and win 76 games. But they’ve got a three year track record of being really good, are still on pace for upper 80’s in wins and are 2 1/2 games out of first and currently lead in the wild card. Fangraphs has them 87% to make the playoffs, BP is 76% and 538 is 78%. I get it, you wanted us to be like the Astros. That would be awesome. But there are other options besides “Astros good” and “total crap”. saying there is collapse potential is not the same as the other 2 things you grouped it with. the rotation's problems are concerning enough that a collapse to .500 or whatever and missing the playoffs is not the far-fetched idea that it's constantly treated as. there is plenty of reason to be scared as horsefeathers of the rotation and what it would mean organizationally if they don't turn it around. it's at the point where people complaining about the cubs are automatically assumed to be saying the cubs are on their way to the bottom, when really it's the opposite side that is constantly pretending to know where the cubs are headed. any sort of negativity is immediately met with 1 of like 3-4 posters saying some variation of "who cares, they won x amount of games the last 4 years, so that is obviously going to continue" and then the other 2-3 people immediately liking the post. The three things do deserve to be grouped together, especially the last two. You're going to the extreme here. I admitted there's a realistic chance the Cubs miss the playoffs. Going by the three metrics, It's around a 1 in 5 they miss. That's not far fetched. But its much more likely they make the playoffs, even if it's as a wild card. Again, entering the Reds series they had the best record in the NL. Did you think there was collapse potential then? If you did, you're just a lunatic and we're probably done here. If not, then you're just blowing 5 games out of proportion and putting more stock in that than the 73 games before, which is not the best of ideas. That's why people get annoyed. You're ignoring 2 1/2 months of baseball in favor of less than a week. The Dodgers last year were on pace for 115 wins and had a 1-16 stretch in September (worked out pretty well for them). The 2017 Astros had a 4-12 stretch (worked out even better for them). The Cubs had a 5-15 stretch in 2016 (ditto). These things happen. It's baseball. Bad teams are going to look great for one to two week stretches and good/great teams will look bad for one to two week stretches.

The doom boners on this board are fully erect right now. in nsb game threads, the new doom boner is hoping they lose so you can tell everyone how much it doesn't bother you Nope, it’s acting like this team is terrible and has no chance of doing anything this year after a five game losing streak. Less than a weeks ago we had won 17 of 25, had won 7 of 8 series and had the best record in the NL. And don’t try and say this is just heat of the game thread moment because you and others do this all the time. I’m not going to lie, the losses bother me a hell of a lot less than they did pre-WS. But they still bother me. Some more than others. So go ahead and bitch about losses. It’s fine. I’ve complained about losses this year. But there’s a huge difference between “this loss hurts, never should have happened, team blew it, team sucked today” and “omg, this team is horrible, definitely not making the playoffs, collapse potential, etc.” It’s definitley possible this team doesn’t make the playoffs and I suppose it’s possible that they collapse and win 76 games. But they’ve got a three year track record of being really good, are still on pace for upper 80’s in wins and are 2 1/2 games out of first and currently lead in the wild card. Fangraphs has them 87% to make the playoffs, BP is 76% and 538 is 78%. I get it, you wanted us to be like the Astros. That would be awesome. But there are other options besides “Astros good” and “total crap”.

The doom boners on this board are fully erect right now.

Yeah, that was crazy. Portugal almost went from winning their group at the start of injury time to out of the tournament less than 10 minutes later. I was so focused on who would finish first that when Iran scored, I forgot that they would have advanced with a win and with Spain tying, would have won the group.

We’re 15 minutes away from Spain being stuck on the hard side of the knockout bracket.

This will be like the Phillies series in 2015.

Group F is the only one in which no team has secured a spot in the knockout stage and no team has been eliminated yet.

Yep, that was a fun one. We're also set up for Mexico to suffer a devastating elimination. They're in as bad of a position as you can be in while having won both games. If Germany beats South Korea by multiple goals and Sweden beats Mexico by any score, Mexico is out. If Germany and Sweden win, they'll all have 6 points. If Germany wins by multiple goals, they'd be at least +2 on goal differential. If Sweden beats Mexico by one goal, Germany would be +2 at least, Sweden and Mexico would be +1. Germany would go through as group winner and Mexico would be out on H2H with Sweden. It's a lot, but I don't think it's crazy for Germany to beat South Korea by 2+ and Sweden to beat Mexico.

Clearly I meant tomorrow's game.

LOL Duensing. Go horsefeathers off. Grand slam to the horsefeathering pitcher?

Cubs win this thing 6-3.

Great start Farrell. Just had to walk the guy with a .617 OPS didn't you.

[tweet] [/tweet] So in almost four fewer seasons (he only played 40 games in 2011), Trout has more bWAR since 2008 than any other player. Kershaw is second among all players with 60.1 He's also first in fWAR in that span, with 61.2. Second is also Kershaw at 58.9. Next best position player is Votto with 54.9. If you extend it to 2007, Cano and Beltre pass him in bWAR. But in fWAR you have to extend it to 2006 for Cabrera to pass him, and even then he's only at 62.1.

Crazy one in Atlanta tonight. Game tied 1-1 after 7. Braves get 2 in the bottom of the 8th, Orioles answer with 6 in the top of the 9th but then the Braves get 4 in the bottom of the ninth. They're still tied 7-7 going to the 15th.

In 2015, the Cubs went 3-3 against the White Sox (76 wins), 1-3 against Detroit (74 wins), 3-3 against Miami (71 wins), 2-5 against Philly (63 wins) and 3-3 against San Diego (74 wins). The 2015 Cubs won 97 games that year. In 2016, the Cubs went 3-3 against Atlanta (68 wins), 2-2 against the White Sox (78 wins) and 2-4 against Colorado (75 wins). The 2016 Cubs won 103 games. In 2017, the Cubs went 2-4 against San Diego (71 wins). The 2017 Cubs won 92 games. Dude, consider who you're arguing with Oh I’m fully aware. I considered not looking up the info because of that but figured I would anyway.

Also, since May 6 (I only know this because the other day I looked up our record after getting swept by the Cards), the Reds have a better record than both the Cards and the Pirates.

In 2015, the Cubs went 3-3 against the White Sox (76 wins), 1-3 against Detroit (74 wins), 3-3 against Miami (71 wins), 2-5 against Philly (63 wins) and 3-3 against San Diego (74 wins). The 2015 Cubs won 97 games that year. In 2016, the Cubs went 3-3 against Atlanta (68 wins), 2-2 against the White Sox (78 wins) and 2-4 against Colorado (75 wins). The 2016 Cubs won 103 games. In 2017, the Cubs went 2-4 against San Diego (71 wins). The 2017 Cubs won 92 games.

Today was less than ideal but all will be okay as I plan on starting at least the next four game threads. CUBS are 42-30 in the first half CUBS are 42-0 when scoring more runs than their opponent CUBS are 0-30 when scoring fewer runs than their opponent CUBS are 21-16 on the road CUBS are 12-7 in June CUBS are 8-4 on Friday CUBS are 9-5 when Quintana starts CUBS are 3-3 against the Reds this year CUBS are 1156-1132 all time against the Reds Go CUBS!!!

So it appears I'm the anti-Sammy Sofa. I left to go for a run tonight and the Cubs were up 2-0. I get back and they're down 6-2.

So just going with 538’s current favorites gives the following: Left side matchups Russia-Portugal France-Iceland Brazil-Germany Belgium-Colombia Right side matchups Uruguay-Spain Denmark-Croatia Switzerland-Mexico England-Japan That’s just a little lopsided.