Pirates (Keller) vs Brewers (Miley): 6/17/23, 3:10pm

[Brock Beauchamp]

Wade Miley is back and Brandon Woodruff might be ready to pitch soon. And the Brewers are in first place again!

Let's keep it that way today.

[treego14]

[Brock Beauchamp]

Are the Reds the biggest threat in the division? I thought they could be surprisingly decent if things clicked but I thought it’d come from the pitching side. 

[wiguy94]

5 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Are the Reds the biggest threat in the division? I thought they could be surprisingly decent if things clicked but I thought it’d come from the pitching side. 

I have them as the biggest threat. Still have the Cardinals second and the Pirates third. Cubs are the lowest threat.

[treego14]

[wiguy94]

Winker back and immediately back into the 2-hole. Hopefully it works out better this time.

[Brock Beauchamp]

1 hour ago, wiguy94 said:

I have them as the biggest threat. Still have the Cardinals second and the Pirates third. Cubs are the lowest threat.

I disagree on the Cubs, I'd put them on par with the Pirates and ahead of the Cardinals. I went into the season low on the Cards and have only dropped them further, history be damned.

[Fear The Chorizo]

The Cubs are the biggest threat if they want to make moves at the deadline to improve their pitching and not be sellers.  They've been playing better lately, too.

[Brewcrew82]

Ball 4...

[Brewcrew82]

In terms of threat to win the division:

1) Cubs

2) Reds

3) Cardinals

4) Pirates

*I'm very close to switching the Cardinals and the Pirates though. 

[Brewcrew82]

It would help if Rowdy could not be so terrible. If he's not going to hit, he's going to be on his way out. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

1 minute ago, Brewcrew82 said:

It would help if Rowdy could not be so terrible. If he's not going to hit, he's going to be on his way out. 

As much as I adore Rowdy, his player type is as fungible as they come. I never expected much from him and never saw him as more than a 2-ish win player with significant decline as he ages. 

[Brewcrew82]

Just now, Brock Beauchamp said:

As much as I adore Rowdy, his player type is as fungible as they come. I never expected much from him and never saw him as more than a 2-ish win player with significant decline as he ages. 

I thought he could follow up on last year and have a nice breakout year w/ a OPS above .800. But this is no good with how little value he contributes everywhere else. 

[Frisbee Slider]

9 minutes ago, Brewcrew82 said:

In terms of threat to win the division:

1) Cubs

2) Reds

3) Cardinals

4) Pirates

*I'm very close to switching the Cardinals and the Pirates though. 

Why Cubs?

[HarryDoyle]

Until the Cardinals are mathematically eliminated I consider them the biggest threats.

[Brewcrew82]

8 minutes ago, Frisbee Slider said:

Why Cubs?

Stroman and Steele. And their outfield plus Swanson and Hoerner. 

[RobertCrawley]

Great to see Miley back!

[Brewcrew82]

Gotta love our Wiemer. 

[markedman5]

Get hot again Joey!

[Frisbee Slider]

I wonder how other NL Central fans view the division race.

Do they assume the division is Milwaukee’s to lose? Are we the favorites?

[Brock Beauchamp]

27 minutes ago, Brewcrew82 said:

I thought he could follow up on last year and have a nice breakout year w/ a OPS above .800. But this is no good with how little value he contributes everywhere else. 

To be fair, I also kinda expected that with the increased offense this year, he’d end up around .800. Maybe his OPS+ wouldn’t change much but the raw numbers would bump a bit. 

[SomewhereInTime]

Wow that's a horrible mistake by the eye in the sky.  We absolutely can't be missing free outs by not challenging.

[sveumrules]

5 minutes ago, Frisbee Slider said:

I wonder how other NL Central fans view the division race.

Do they assume the division is Milwaukee’s to lose? Are we the favorites?

Reds and Pirates fans are probably feeling pretty good about their chances based on how they’ve played relative to preseason expectations.

All three projection systems currently have the Cubs as the lead challenger, though I’d guess their fans are less optimistic than the computers.

Cardinals fans have history on their side but have to think they’re getting increasingly antsy as they find themselves with the worst record in the NL.

[Frisbee Slider]

3 minutes ago, sveumrules said:

Cardinals fans have history on their side but have to think they’re getting increasingly antsy

Saint Louis almost needs to hold today’s lead against the Mets. At some point, being 17 games under .500 seems insurmountable.

[Brewcrew82]

2 minutes ago, sveumrules said:

Reds and Pirates fans are probably feeling pretty good about their chances based on how they’ve played relative to preseason expectations.

All three projection systems currently have the Cubs as the lead challenger, though I’d guess their fans are less optimistic than the computers.

Cardinals fans have history on their side but have to think they’re getting increasingly antsy as they find themselves with the worst record in the NL.

If the Cardinals enter July around their current record, they're going to have very little history to bank on other than "devil magic"...