NL Central

[AKCheesehead]

8 minutes ago, tomoohka said:

Couldn't help but to turn this game on. 

Former Brewer Drew Pomeranz on the mound. May his control be even worse than it was here. 

I thought he pitched extremely well in his time as a Brewer.  I agree I hope he blows big games for the cubs though. 

[Team Canada]

K (single) K K. Fly the L.

[markedman5]

8 game lead

[markedman5]

 

[gregmag]

Brewers now cannot end the Cubs series in worse than a tie for first place. Not that I’m expecting the worst, but that gives you a little bit more room to breathe.

[BCF]

16 minutes ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

Call me a dope or say that I'm asking for it, but the division race is over. The Cubs just are not a very good team. They are about .500 over the last 2 months, played offense at an unsustainable clip in April and May and all season, got randomly lucky pitching to an awful lot of contact. They'll probably make the playoffs, but I'm not even certain of that at this point. I am just not worried about a matchup with them at all.

Disagree

Cubs have a cupcake schedule the rest of the way and Brewers still have Jays and Phillies back to back on the road 

[markedman5]

Now 17-0……amazing 

 

[folly412]

Didn't even have to play to expand the largest division lead in baseball.  

Cubs only 1/2 game up on the Dodgers for WC1.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

Cubs lose. Probably not a big mathematical difference between a 7-game and an 8-game lead. But it feels like we need to stretch this given the schedules down the stretch.

Honestly, I still expect this will be a close-ish race. The Cubs feel like they have a run in them, and we might face a 4- or 5-game L streak at some point. Every notch off the magic number counts.

[markedman5]

For the “ we should have traded for Will Castro” guys…..

He has been dreadful with the Cubbies so far…..this doesn’t include another 0-4 today

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/castrwi01.shtml

[markedman5]

https://www.fangraphs.com/standings/playoff-odds

[HarryDoyle]

We will know for sure this time next week where we stand. Cubs have the Pirates this weekend before the big five gamer. Three wins there really ought to be game over as far as the division goes.

[wibadgers23]

Feels like a big loss for the Cubs given they play the Pirates at home this weekend. Feels real good to be up 8 games.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

50 minutes ago, BCF said:

Disagree

Cubs have a cupcake schedule the rest of the way and Brewers still have Jays and Phillies back to back on the road 

Phillies are at home. The Cubs have playing .500 ball on that supposed cupcake schedule for quite some time now. They actually have to start beating cupcakes, which they have not done. 

It's going to take a lot more than the Brewers going like 2-4 against the Jays and Phils to make up 8 games in 42.

The Brewers are 97-65 if they go .500 the rest of the year. Not that that is a guarantee, but the Cubs won't get there.

[Frisbee Slider]

43 minutes ago, markedman5 said:

https://www.fangraphs.com/standings/playoff-odds

100% playoff odds seems high for August 14 😬

[folly412]

I hope the Brewers or the city of Milwaukee would never be this cringe in pursuing a (pending) free agent,

[tmwiese55]

Yes its almost at barring historic collapse or historic run by the Cubs level of being over.  Really, if not for the 5 gamer as a big variable you could be saying it now.  As someone just said, this time next week will say alot.  Assuming normal-ish occurrences for the next week it will essentially be at the "barring historic..." point.    But, if Cubs go 4-1 or 5-0 in that it changes everything.  This next week is big.   Just simply go 4-4 in these 8 games and you're good to go.    Also, if it goes even better than that to kind of close the door its big for planning roster/injury returns and all that.  

[OldHeidelberg]

1 hour ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

Call me a dope or say that I'm asking for it, but the division race is over. The Cubs just are not a very good team. They are about .500 over the last 2 months, played offense at an unsustainable clip in April and May and all season, got randomly lucky pitching to an awful lot of contact. They'll probably make the playoffs, but I'm not even certain of that at this point. I am just not worried about a matchup with them at all.

It's at the point where if we don't win it will be a collapse and we won't be too enthused about the postseason anyway. So not worth worrying about, I agree, we got this.

[Thurston Fluff]

The Cubs are a good team not great team. The first half of the season shows they can get hot and do some damage in the playoffs. We've seen that happen often enough to think it isn't possible this season. The Brewers are a great team so lets kick them when they're down and try to make sure they don't even get there. 

[willie key]

19 minutes ago, OldHeidelberg said:

It's at the point where if we don't win it will be a collapse and we won't be too enthused about the postseason anyway. So not worth worrying about, I agree, we got this.

 Not getting a bye to the decision series would disappoint me at this point 

[formerlybis]

Things definitely can still change. Looking at the last 10 games column on the standings, we were 10-0 and the Cubs 4-6. I don’t have to mansplain the math there. Long way yet, 

[LouisEly]

1 hour ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

The Cubs have playing .500 ball on that supposed cupcake schedule for quite some time now. They actually have to start beating cupcakes, which they have not done. 

Sort of, they are 11-12 post-All-Star game and their schedule has included:

BOS (66-56)
KCR (60-61)
@CHW (44-71)
@MIL (76-44)
BAL (54-66)
CIN (64-58)
@STL (61-61)
@TOR (70-51)

So, four teams with winning records, two teams .500-ish, two teams with losing records.

They have gone 5-7 against the teams with winning records, but only 6-5 against teams w/o winning records.  A .545 winning % the rest of the way (assuming all are against teams w/o winning records which isn't true) will only get them to 92 wins and probably isn't going to catch the Brewers.

[BruisedCrew]

2 hours ago, HarryDoyle said:

We will know for sure this time next week where we stand. Cubs have the Pirates this weekend before the big five gamer. Three wins there really ought to be game over as far as the division goes.

This is how I look at it today.

This next week could be the most pivotal of the season.

From the Cubs perspective they have to think they can sweep the Pirates, especially as they won’t be facing Skenes or Keller  They can hope the Reds, who are fighting for a playoff spot, can knock off the Brewers a couple of times. Then they have a chance to make a major move by winning 4 or 5 against the Brewers.

 If the Brewers are still ahead by 7 or 8 games after the Cubs series they will be looking good. If the Cubs cut it to 4 or 5 or less the battle will really be on. 

[crossface2311]

In 2018, the Brewers were 6 games back on August 28. We know how that turned out. We all know how baseball can be. Take 2 of 3 this weekend and stomp on the Cubs next week. Get as much breathing room as you can. And don't settle until it's clinched. 

[HarveysWBs]

I won’t rest easy until the Cubs’ season is in the grave. I’ve got too many Cubs fans around for me to risk letting myself get confident.

Chicago delenda est.