Brewers (Miley) vs Cubs (Taillon): 8/28/23, 7:05pm

[Brock Beauchamp]

Now the real fun begins!

[Jake McKibbin]

Really interesting that the clubs have lined up almost perfectly with their "fourth choice" guys, then number 1 & 2 starters for each game.

It's almost worth seeing that four game series highlights from July again for the drama involved, if we have anything like that again there'll be a few heart attacks

Can definitely get to Taillon, I think it comes down to whether the Brewers can be tighter/luckier defensively than they were in July ( a lot of ground balls just finding holes) as well as keeping the hitting up. They could romp through this if they maintain any semblance of offense, but these Cubs could just GO

What a thrilling way to start the week.

Some fun stats

Bellinger has just a .387 Slugging percentage over his last 10 games, despite a .290 batting average. He's very short and compact to the ball and poking it to gaps at the moment, but it's working.

Justin Steele has shown some signs of fatigue over his last seven starts, with an ERA over 4 in August

Seiya Suzuki is en Fuego with a .444/.516/.815 line over his last seven, and a 1.083 OPS over his last 15 games

Other than that, not a ton of hot bats, with Hoerner struggling a little bit

Candelario has hit it hard at times but also just a .207 OBP over his last seven games

 

 

[Jake McKibbin]

On top of that, Taillon has really struggled against lefties but done okay against right handers. He's particularly struggled with an out pitch to lefties

 

Facing 261 left handers - 27 walks, 14 home runs, 1.56 WHIP

Facing 235 right handers - 6 walks, 5 home runs, 1.14 WHIP

 

Could we see yet more Rowdy madness tonight? Though he is 0-6 against Taillon

 

The first game is going to be a real tone setter, especially with Burnes / Woodruff coming up next. If we get the old vintage Miley, it's on, but I'm worried Swanson will catch fire again against the Brewers. He's struggled of late, but he has had some success against Miley in the past

[RobertCrawley]

Miley is a gamer. He'll be ready for a big start like this.

[treego14]

[wibadgers23]

Obviously I’d love to sweep or win 2 but even if the Cubs take 2, they’d only gain 1 game. So just don’t get swept. This series makes me nervous. We’re playing really well right now but so are the Cubs and that crowd is going to be amped up knowing the Cubs have some ground to make up on the Brewers.

[Jake McKibbin]

2 minutes ago, wibadgers23 said:

Obviously I’d love to sweep or win 2 but even if the Cubs take 2, they’d only gain 1 game. So just don’t get swept. This series makes me nervous. We’re playing really well right now but so are the Cubs and that crowd is going to be amped up knowing the Cubs have some ground to make up on the Brewers.

The Cubs may be thinking they need to at least win this series though, so that adds a lot of pressure too

[Brock Beauchamp]

The Brewers are in the enviable position where they just have to avoid the sweep. Going 1-2 isn't optimal but it holds off the Cubs enough that their odds of winning the division should increase.

[RobDeer 45]

Boy this is going to be a wild one.  I can't wait to watch and hopefully not get too stressed out!  Looking for the Crew to set the tone tonight and get off to a good start.  Wrigley should be electric!

[AKCheesehead]

The only game I got to attend while I was in Wisconsin this summer was the Devin blown save vs the cubs.  I had to hear that horrible song being played in cars as I walked through the parking lot.  I want payback.  Fly the L!

[StearnsFTW]

4 hours ago, wibadgers23 said:

Obviously I’d love to sweep or win 2 but even if the Cubs take 2, they’d only gain 1 game. So just don’t get swept. This series makes me nervous. We’re playing really well right now but so are the Cubs and that crowd is going to be amped up knowing the Cubs have some ground to make up on the Brewers.

I expect extra-loud cheers for 280' flyouts this week.

 

[BruisedCrew]

6 minutes ago, StearnsFTW said:

I expect extra-loud cheers for 280' flyouts this week.

 

I heard plenty of them at AFF at the games I attended on Saturday and Sunday.

I don't think that reaction is exclusive to Wrigley fans or necessarily worse than at other places.

[markedman5]

Interesting that the Brewers are underdogs in the first 2 games…..

 

[willie key]

Winning this game tonight would take away alot of anxiety for all the posters the rest of the week

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

1 minute ago, markedman5 said:

Interesting that the Brewers are underdogs in the first 2 games…..

 

Yeah, baseball odds seem to me to be heavily weighted toward the home field team. Cubs bullpen might be in slightly better shape too, I'd say, though it is a worse bullpen. Plus, the Cubs have the kind of underlying numbers that odds makers need to consider. 

Seems like an even series to me!

 

 

 

[wiguy94]

8 minutes ago, Cool Hand Lucroy said:

Yeah, baseball odds seem to me to be heavily weighted toward the home field team. Cubs bullpen might be in slightly better shape too, I'd say, though it is a worse bullpen. Plus, the Cubs have the kind of underlying numbers that odds makers need to consider. 

Seems like an even series to me.

I was reading @Matthew Trueblood’s series preview on northsidebaseball and he seems to think the opposite in terms of bullpen. Our bullpen is fresh and healthy while he said their bullpen is a bit worn down and a bit injured.

[TURBO]

37 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

I was reading @Matthew Trueblood’s series preview on northsidebaseball and he seems to think the opposite in terms of bullpen. Our bullpen is fresh and healthy while he said their bullpen is a bit worn down and a bit injured.

He would know, since he's a Cubs fan and all...

[treego14]

[Jake McKibbin]

Santana sitting probably after yesterday's scare just to be sure, hasn't had many days (if any) out of a lineup so far

[tmwiese55]

1 hour ago, markedman5 said:

Interesting that the Brewers are underdogs in the first 2 games…..

 

I thought that for tonight when I saw it.  Usually the SPs factor so much into it and MKE having the clearly better one tonight you'd have thought it would be the other way around in spite of being on the road.   Also, the top A team bullpen guys for MKE didn't pitch yesterday 

[Brewcrew82]

Anderson out of the lineup again against a pitcher he’s had success against. DFA of Anderson and call up of Black needs to be the move before the end of the week imo. 

[markedman5]

2 hours ago, Jake McKibbin said:

Santana sitting probably after yesterday's scare just to be sure, hasn't had many days (if any) out of a lineup so far

Not just a precaution…….he couldn’t go

https://twitter.com/adammccalvy/status/1696297194570100755?s=61&t=6XPB8f4sAKmJIzxgMcsCjw

[rluzinski]

2 hours ago, tmwiese55 said:

I thought that for tonight when I saw it.  Usually the SPs factor so much into it and MKE having the clearly better one tonight you'd have thought it would be the other way around in spite of being on the road.   Also, the top A team bullpen guys for MKE didn't pitch yesterday 

ROS ZiPS Projection:

Tallion: 4.27 ERA

Miley: 4.25 ERA

[duewizard]

YELLI 

[HarryDoyle]

That escalated quickly! Get hot, Yeli!