Brock Beauchamp

That's a bold statement given that the Brewers just got Brandon Woodruff back after four months on the IL. I think it's going to come to head-to-head matchups but if both teams keep playing the way they have, both will make the postseason.

Yeah, the 2021 Braves were nothing special for four months. And they mostly picked up scraps at the deadline, IIRC.

Yes, the 3 seed hosts the 6 seed and the 4 seed hosts the 5 seed.

One down, two to go against the Jays. Yesterday, the NLC basically won out so no advancement happened there. A bright spot is that the Diamondbacks absolutely refuse to win and are quickly taking themselves out of Wild Card contention. But the best news is that the Giants are on a three game losing streak, bringing the Cubs within two games of the second Wild Card berth. If the Cubs can't take the division lead, getting into that second WC spot would be nice insurance.

Yeah, I find the Peacock presentation pretty bad. It feels like it's 15 years old.

No, overall I think the Apple broadcasts are middle of the pack, maybe a touch on the below average side at times. Same as Boog and Girardi. I like Boog just fine when he's not with Girardi.

Their presentation is typically Apple in its polish and simplicity. I REALLY like their visual presentation, though their on-screen odds system is garbage and their announcers hit-or-miss.

Here's a pretty nice piece from Rosenthal at The Athletic. As always, here's a plug to subscribe if you're not already a member, it's well worth the price. https://theathletic.com/4767256/2023/08/11/chicago-cubs-schedule-playoff-odds/ The quotes and bits about Swanson were the most interesting. He appears to be quite vocal about... well, everything. “The message still has to be to everyone that the expectation is this,” Swanson continued, raising his hand above his head. “I just kind of said now is a real important moment in culture setting. If we want to be winners here, we can’t just say, ‘All right, we’re going to turn our winner mindset on next year when we feel like we have everything right.’ No. The winning mindset stays at all times.”

You're all going to be thrilled to hear this is an ATV+ broadcast, I'm sure. This series is the last challenging team for the Cubs until they meet the Brewers at the end of August. A lot of movement in both the NLC and the WC are possible between now and then and if the Cubs are going to strike, they're not going to find a better stretch than this, provided they can get past the Jays.

Ugh thank you. I completely missed the prospect removal step here while doing it on the other two sites.

It's prospect voting time again! A rundown of the rules again: 1. You must have an account and be logged in to vote. If you don't have an account, click here. It literally requires 60 seconds to create an account. 2. Review our current top 20 prospect list, catch up on stats, rankings, etc. 3. Have your prospect list in your dirty little paws? Then flip on over to the new prospect voting page (after reading the rest of this, please). 4. Voting is super simple, you drag and drop players in the order you wish them to be. After you move a prospect, the list automatically renumbers so you don't lose track of the order. This works on mobile devices but it's a *vastly* better experience on desktop. Sorry, that's just how this kind of thing works. There's no great way to make something like this be as awesome on a phone screen. 5. Each prospect has a comment section where you can add any commentary you have on that player. At the bottom of the list, there is a general comment section to explain over-arching things you wish to mention. 6. Don't see a prospect you want to put on the list? Just pop back here and give me a mention (in a comment, start typing @Brock Beauchamp and then select my name when it appears). Mention the prospect you want added and I will do that asap. 7. Once you're done with all of it, click Save. You've now voted! 8. When the voting closes, a new thread will automatically generate in this forum with all of your rankings and comments for everyone to read and talk about. 9. You can only vote once. If you have voted in error, pop back here and again tag me, asking to have your vote deleted. I will remove it and you can vote again. Voting will close at end of day Tuesday August 15th!

This is something that power users often like but also helps lead to the death of communities. They become so insular and impenetrable with miles-long threads that no new user can or will read. More frequent, shorter threads lead to better long-term community health. And I say this as a person who has both run a community into the ground for making these mistakes and a person who learned their lesson and has revived/built multiple communities now.

I downplay batting order as much as the next guy but if Happ isn't hitting, he violates the one rule I care about: give your best hitters the most plate appearances. But he has been good enough that yeah, I don't think it matters much.

Are you asking about me changing the title? It was simply "Happ", which is so non-specific that I changed it to better reflect what the poster wants to talk about.

No game today and I think the Cubs have several off-days coming in the near future (or maybe I'm confusing another team, I can't keep anything straight in my head anymore). The Cubs are back on the outside looking in at the postseason, half a game behind the Marlins and 2.5 back of the Brewers. They face the Jays for three games and then it's smooth sailing for a few weeks as they face terrible AL Central teams and then the Pirates.

Welcome to NSBB!

I agree with your sentiment here. I can’t see a world where he gets anything near $100m.

I'm not sure there's a discernible difference between the Reds and Marlins in talent level, really. Both have been exceptionally fortunate and very volatile.

I'm sending this sucker off the rails! What do people think about this process? Is this a good way to use game threads before game time? I do not have strong opinions on this either way, it's really up to all of you.

Cubs are back into a Wild Card spot. After today, they need to get through three with the Jays and then they are faced with three absolute punching bags from the AL Central. If they can get through the next four, they're in nice shape heading to the end of August.

Welcome to NSBB!

The Cubs need to take advantage of the soft parts of their schedule and they, uh... failed to do that last night. In a rather spectacular fashion. They need to get back on track tonight, as they lost ground on both NLC teams in front of them.

Ah, yes. The Mets should be interesting this offseason. I think they're going to go hard at David Stearns, though I don't know if they'll land him. It's a good fit for both parties but I'm not sure Stearns wants back in the big chair after only one season away from baseball.

He's still under arb for 2024.

Bleh