NL Wild Card Race

[Frisbee Slider]

A place to discuss the exciting finish for the NL Wild Card spots.

If season ended today, Brewers would host the Reds.

[Frisbee Slider]

Brewers are:

10-3 against Reds

3-1 against Marlins

4-2 against Phillies

5-5 against Cubs

2-4 against Diamondbacks

2-5 against Giants

I guess we should cheer for Cincinnati and Miami?

[Brewcrew82]

17 minutes ago, Frisbee Slider said:

Brewers are:

10-3 against Reds

3-1 against Marlins

4-2 against Phillies

5-5 against Cubs

2-4 against Diamondbacks

2-5 against Giants

I guess we should cheer for Cincinnati and Miami?

Not worried about any of these teams, honestly. SF and ARI, in particular, were different when we played them. 

[Frisbee Slider]

Rockies might beat the Giants twice today. 
 

Reds, Diamondbacks and Marlins all have identical records as of this moment.

[Frisbee Slider]

Cubs currently out of the playoffs by virtue of the Marlins holding the head-to-head tiebreaker.

[Jake McKibbin]

I really really like a playoff matchup of Brewers v marlins. I think it really fits this team if they have the aces going, as the Marlins rotation is in pieces, and some high strikeout guys vs Peralta Woody, and Burnes if needed is very nice

[Frisbee Slider]

This week:

Cubs host Pirates and Rockies 

Reds host the Twins and Pirates

Giants travel to Arizona and Los Angeles 

Marlins host the Mets and Brewers 

This doesn’t seem like the week for Giants to gain in the standings 

[Outlander]

The NL Wild Card race is interesting because the Brewers play a big part in who they will be playing. If the Brewers tank against the Cubs next week they likely face the Cubs or if the Marlins do what they just did against the Braves and sweep the Brewers then a good chance they play the Marlins. Looks like the Cubs lose the tiebreaker to both the Marlins and Reds. I happen to have some Marlins gear from people I know from Florida so maybe will troll Cubs fans next weekend.

[Underachiever]

I wanted to say it in this thread: I don't know that I could handle up to six consecutive games against the Cubs. I am not a young man anymore. Any team but them.

[Frisbee Slider]

Agreed. Strongly prefer not Cubs. Goodness knows how Chicago fans would show up at an AmFam playoff game.

[Team Canada]

Although fans typically care way more than players, if the Brewers control whether the Cubs make the last WC or not I imagine the players wouldn't mind having a say in that. I think it helps that since it's the last series, they'll already be set to throw the regular back half of the rotation, so we should see Houser, Miley, and Rea/Teheran/whatever for as long as they can go. The trick will be we probably won't be using any of the top bullpen guys the last 1-2 games, so close games could be dicey.

[Jake McKibbin]

2 minutes ago, Team Canada said:

Although fans typically care way more than players, if the Brewers control whether the Cubs make the last WC or not I imagine the players wouldn't mind having a say in that. I think it helps that since it's the last series, they'll already be set to throw the regular back half of the rotation, so we should see Houser, Miley, and Rea/Teheran/whatever for as long as they can go. The trick will be we probably won't be using any of the top bullpen guys the last 1-2 games, so close games could be dicey.

The really nice thing to is if it comes down to the wire, Steele will pitch that last game, and potentially put him either on three days rest when he's starting to flag already, or maybe out altogether. It could be that way with whoever gets the 6th WC spot

[Team Canada]

Yeah, that's a good point for all teams - the fact that multiple teams are going down to the wire means that they have to go all out to get in and can't set things up for their series with the Brewers.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Those last 6 on the Cub schedule (@ATL, @MIL) do not look like much fun for them - even if both teams are just playing out the string....ATL is likely still pitching Fried and Morton in two of those games and I don't see them mailing any of those games in.  The Braves haven't yet clinched the best NL record overall and likely wont until sometime during that series if the Dodgers keep playing well.

My preference would be for the Brewers to knock the Cubs out of the playoffs during that last regular season series and then get to face a burned out pitching staff from MIA or CINCY in the Wild Card round before heading to LA for the Divisional series.

[HarveysWBs]

5 hours ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

Those last 6 on the Cub schedule (@ATL, @MIL) do not look like much fun for them - even if both teams are just playing out the string....ATL is likely still pitching Fried and Morton in two of those games and I don't see them mailing any of those games in.  The Braves haven't yet clinched the best NL record overall and likely wont until sometime during that series if the Dodgers keep playing well.

My preference would be for the Brewers to knock the Cubs out of the playoffs during that last regular season series and then get to face a burned out pitching staff from MIA or CINCY in the Wild Card round before heading to LA for the Divisional series.

I’m all on board with taking care of business against the Cubs, especially if it means eliminating them from postseason contention.  I wouldn’t advise a reckless approach to it, obviously, but I wouldn’t be opposed to using any of our A-team arms in the first two games of the series.

Get those entitled, drunk scrub fans out of our house, and move on to the wild card series against a team with a solidly negative run differential, thank you very much.

[BruisedCrew]

I wouldn’t be so sure that the Brewers won’t be using any of their top starters at all in the final series even if the division race is decided. 
 

Burnes, Woodruff, and Peralta are slated to pitch this weekend, so if they stayed on the 6 day rotation they would be pitching again next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Pitchers usually don’t like to go too long in between appearances, so the Brewers might want them to start on schedule, even if it’s only to go 3-4 innings. That would set them up to pitch with 4 days rest on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. 

[nate82]

20 minutes ago, HarveysWBs said:

I’m all on board with taking care of business against the Cubs, especially if it means eliminating them from postseason contention.  I wouldn’t advise a reckless approach to it, obviously, but I wouldn’t be opposed to using any of our A-team arms in the first two games of the series.

If the Brewers already have the division wrapped up I don't see these games being anything more than a spring training game.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

With the caveat that it's going to be a three-game baseball series against a decent team, I think the Cubs are the worst match-up from both a talent and emotional perspective. 

If I had to draft the teams in the order I'd want to face them, I'd go:

1) Marlins

2) Reds

3) D-Backs

4) '27 Yankees

5) Cubs

 

I think the Giants are toast.

 

[wiguy94]

So Padres have won 7 in a row and have a pretty easy schedule to finish the season (vs Cards, @ Giants, @ White Sox). If Cubs hold on to lose the Padres would only be 4 games back of the WC3 spot. Could they potentially make this late season run?

[Brewcrew82]

8 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

So Padres have won 7 in a row and have a pretty easy schedule to finish the season (vs Cards, @ Giants, @ White Sox). If Cubs hold on to lose the Padres would only be 4 games back of the WC3 spot. Could they potentially make this late season run?

Still a big stretch but stranger things have happened. They need pretty much everything to go their way in addition to winning every game.

[wiguy94]

3 minutes ago, Brewcrew82 said:

Still a big stretch but stranger things have happened. They need pretty much everything to go their way in addition to winning every game.

Yeah which has happened in the last week. Can it happen for another week? Padres sneaking in would be worst case scenario imo as they clearly have more talent than any potential team we would face in the WC round

[willie key]

I’m amazed at the utter collapse of the cubs.    All in little over a week.   They were playing great ball for two months or so and just completely lost it

[Brewcrew82]

12 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

Yeah which has happened in the last week. Can it happen for another week? Padres sneaking in would be worst case scenario imo as they clearly have more talent than any potential team we would face in the WC round

Agree. Sucks that we’re going to be playing the Marlins this weekend. I’ll be cheering for the Reds from here on.

[wiguy94]

4 minutes ago, Brewcrew82 said:

Agree. Sucks that we’re going to be playing the Marlins this weekend. I’ll be cheering for the Reds from here on.

Yeah we play both the Marlins and the Cubs so winning against them would just help the Padres. Definitely rooting for the Reds although Hunter Greene looked dominant in his last outing. 

[Frisbee Slider]

The Cubs are on the losing end of tiebreakers against the D-backs, Reds, Marlins and Phillies, giving all of those teams the advantage if they were to finish the season in a tie with Chicago.

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