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Pressure induced by Cubs-fan-specific desire tow in? Absolutely not. Not even a little. You vastly overestimate: 1) How much players care about fans. 2) How different Cubs fans are from other fans. I'm not just talking about fans. It comes from everywhere. You know perfectly well that every time the Cubs get into the playoffs, there is going to be non-stop talk of "can they do it?", "will they choke?", "how will they blow it this year?" etc. The players are asked about it constantly. The media talks about it constantly. The players are forced to deal with garbage questions like "do you believe in curses?" and other nonsense. It's a circus. Everybody is watching them and waiting for them to fail. The minute one bad thing happens, the fans start booing and everybody says "here we go". It's a completely different animal. We saw it last season. The second Loney hit that grand slam, the stadium went completely lifeless for the rest of the series... even though they were only down 2 runs in the first game. Everyone was waiting for them to fail. They expected it. You'd have to be absolutely nuts to believe that playing in the postseason with the Cubs doesn't bring more pressure than playing in the postseason for a team like the Angels or Braves. The only thing that could compare was pre-2004 Boston.

I'm telling you that you are absolutely, positively, 100% delusional on this subject if you think that athletes give one whit of care how much the fans want the team to win. Are you being serious right now? That's beyond ignorant. They aren't robots. You're in 100% denial if you think that the postseason pressure of the Cubs isn't felt by the players.

pretty constructive

So your theory is: Play in high school and know scouts are in the stands? No problem. Play in minor leagues knowing your future as a ballplayer is on the line each and every season? No problem. Break into the big leagues, knowing that rookies need to perform immediately or get labeled "AAAA," No problem. Play for a team whose fans really want to win? Oh no, too much pressure! There's a difference between pressure coming from yourself and pressure coming from millions of rabid fans who are ready to label you satan if you don't perform in the biggest situations. I mean, are you really going to pretend like the Cubs getting swept the last 2 seasons had absolutely nothing to do with pressure and choking? Seeing as how Arizona and LA had just as much "pressure," the answer is pressure had the least to do with it. Umm, either that or they handled the pressure better, which is the whole point of this thread. Also, those teams did not have as much pressure on them as the Cubs. Not even close. Are you telling me you don't think the Cubs choked at all in the past 2 postseasons?

literally 2 hours ago i heard somebody on mlb network saying that the white sox just acquired "a superstar caliber hitter", in those exact words Congratulations, you got the wrong network. I'm all for ESPN bashing but they've never panned Alex Rios out to be some sort of superstar. Never. Just because ONE GUY on MLB Network said he's a "superstar caliber player" definitely doesn't mean that and basically everyone else in national sports TV has never said Rios is that good. Now if he puts up those numbers from 2-3 years ago in CF for the Sox, that's a real steal. I'm not a big Rios fan but that contract definitely isn't as bad when he's placed in CF. My bad, I forgot that ESPN is soooo much better than MLB Network. Every ESPN on-air employee is very knowledgable, right? BBTN is pretty much brilliant. John Kruk is a mastermind and Fernando Vina knows more than everyone on this board combined. I feel foolish for comparing them to those jokers over at MLBN. I'm aware that I said MLBN. MLB Network, ESPN, etc. It's all the same garbage. I gave that as an example because it was the most recent. Unless you watch ESPN 24/7 and have a superhuman memory, that's a pretty ridiculous claim to make. Making that kind of argument is pointless, to boot. You can say "they never do that" as many times as you want. I know what I've seen and heard. Don't tell me what I do and do not hear. He never said ESPN was great. You entire first paragraph is an argument against something never said and a waste of time. You made the claim that ESPN, etc made Rios out to be a superstar, but haven't shown anything to support that and public opinion is against you (no one here seems to have a memory of such things, except you). Seems unlikely that you're right and everyone else is wrong on this point. He called me out on getting the wrong network, as if MLBN would say something like that, but ESPN is way above it or something. If that's not what he was saying, then pointing out that I "got the wrong network" was useless. I'm fully aware that they're different networks, and he's fully aware that my argument wasn't based on ESPN alone. They're both just examples. And how the hell am I supposed to provide proof of what I said? Sorry, I don't tape ESPN 24/7 in case I need to prove that they said something. Asking me to prove something that's impossible to prove is a weak argument. Whatever, I know what I've heard. I'd appreciate it if you'd stop telling me that I haven't.

i like the usage of the word "dunk" though. it paints the picture perfectly

I want no part of that contract. It's atrocious

So your theory is: Play in high school and know scouts are in the stands? No problem. Play in minor leagues knowing your future as a ballplayer is on the line each and every season? No problem. Break into the big leagues, knowing that rookies need to perform immediately or get labeled "AAAA," No problem. Play for a team whose fans really want to win? Oh no, too much pressure! There's a difference between pressure coming from yourself and pressure coming from millions of rabid fans who are ready to label you satan if you don't perform in the biggest situations. I mean, are you really going to pretend like the Cubs getting swept the last 2 seasons had absolutely nothing to do with pressure and choking?

i predict that jim hendry blows most of his spending money on jarrod washburn

predictions on olsen's numbers this season?

you ruined it

hmm. bradley is finally hitting so he's due for an injury

i bet he gets lit up

I saw a vid of the cab driver speaking and he claimed that he DID say that. Actually, it's the vid at the top of this page

Guys, Ryan Dempster has amazing control. He can put the ball exactly where he wants, whenever he wants. Obviously he did it on purpose.

I almost don't even care anymore. I've ccepted the fact that this team is probably not making the playoffs. If they end up going on a run and making it, fine. I just doubt it will happen.

literally 2 hours ago i heard somebody on mlb network saying that the white sox just acquired "a superstar caliber hitter", in those exact words Congratulations, you got the wrong network. I'm all for ESPN bashing but they've never panned Alex Rios out to be some sort of superstar. Never. Just because ONE GUY on MLB Network said he's a "superstar caliber player" definitely doesn't mean that and basically everyone else in national sports TV has never said Rios is that good. Now if he puts up those numbers from 2-3 years ago in CF for the Sox, that's a real steal. I'm not a big Rios fan but that contract definitely isn't as bad when he's placed in CF. My bad, I forgot that ESPN is soooo much better than MLB Network. Every ESPN on-air employee is very knowledgable, right? BBTN is pretty much brilliant. John Kruk is a mastermind and Fernando Vina knows more than everyone on this board combined. I feel foolish for comparing them to those jokers over at MLBN. I'm aware that I said MLBN. MLB Network, ESPN, etc. It's all the same garbage. I gave that as an example because it was the most recent. Unless you watch ESPN 24/7 and have a superhuman memory, that's a pretty ridiculous claim to make. Making that kind of argument is pointless, to boot. You can say "they never do that" as many times as you want. I know what I've seen and heard. Don't tell me what I do and do not hear.

Let me explain this for the 28526h time An inning pitched that wouldn't have been pitched = an extra inning Maybe you grasp it this time And I never said anything about crippling overuse.

literally 2 hours ago i heard somebody on mlb network saying that the white sox just acquired "a superstar caliber hitter", in those exact words

That makes sense though. Toronto fans see him enough to know what he is

what

Oh, and nothing about how Rios' LD% plummeted this season? I'll go ahead and say that I doubt his LD% fall off by a couple percentage points at the age of 28. Your turn. Huh? That post didn't even make sense. You used BABIP for this season to show that he's just been unlucky. The low LD% (something that should always be used with BABIP) shows that he has not been hitting the ball hard. It is by far the lowest of his career. This just in. If you don't hit the ball hard, you're going to have a low BABIP. And I read the article. It was pretty good. Nothing in it has to do with my argument though, which is simply that Rios is overrated as a hitter. A lot of people make him out to be Evan Longoria, when really he's been more Robison Cano so far. Noooooooooo. You said he was the most overrated player in baseball not an overrated hitter. He might be an overrated hitter, but not a overrated player. + his LD% is a good bet to return to where it has been for the rest of his career. which was my point. I know. And my point wasn't to show that he was falling off a cliff at age 28, and you know it. It was in response to your "well, he's been crappy this season, but check out his BABAIP. He's just unlucky!" post. You can't make a post saying that a guy has just been unlucky this season and then fail to mention the fact that he is also hitting the ball much softer this season as well. And I'll admit that in 06 and 07 Rios wasn't ioverrated as an overall player. Unfortunately, those are the only 2 seasons he's done it.

mediocre? oh now you've done it. how dare you go read that dave cameron article, dude. it pretty much changed my life

Oh, and nothing about how Rios' LD% plummeted this season? I'll go ahead and say that I doubt his LD% fall off by a couple percentage points at the age of 28. Your turn. Huh? That post didn't even make sense. You used BABIP for this season to show that he's just been unlucky. The low LD% (something that should always be used with BABIP) shows that he has not been hitting the ball hard. It is by far the lowest of his career. This just in. If you don't hit the ball hard, you're going to have a low BABIP. And I read the article. It was pretty good. Nothing in it has to do with my argument though, which is simply that Rios is overrated as a hitter. A lot of people make him out to be Evan Longoria, when really he's been more Robison Cano so far.

Oh, and nothing about how Rios' LD% plummeted this season?