NL Central

[owbc]

11 hours ago, formerlybis said:

I watched a bit of the Cubs game on TBS last night against the Blue Jays. They are not in a good headspace right now - several outward displays of frustration at repeated failure to deliver on opportunities. PCA, in particular, is struggling mightily and he’s not handling it well.

They have a big lead in the WC race, and I don’t think they’ll collapse that much, but it’s going to start becoming an issue if this bad aura keeps up much longer. The Brewers could help that along directly next week (gotta think the out of town scoreboard has been doing a number on their heads, too).

PCA has a .293 OBP. 

1st percentile chase %

3rd percentile walk rate

60th percentile bat speed

---

Putting that aside, the Cubs haven't even choked. They basically treaded water, playing .500 ball for two months while losing 15 games in the standings to their rival. 

[gregmag]

The Cardinals just lost two of three at home to the Rockies. Tanking for draft picks? They’ve pretty clearly given up.

[Dragonbait]

43 minutes ago, gregmag said:

The Cardinals just lost two of three at home to the Rockies. Tanking for draft picks? They’ve pretty clearly given up.

Or they're just not good.

[markedman5]

4 hours ago, gregmag said:

The Cardinals just lost two of three at home to the Rockies. Tanking for draft picks? They’ve pretty clearly given up.

The 2 series before they took 4 of 6 vs Dodgers and Cubs.

Maybe they just lost a series to a bad team? It does happen …..especially to 500 teams in this year of parity.

 

[markedman5]

 

[yfinn6]

Miguel Amaya was hurt tonight, too. Doesn't look good.

[kestrel79]

Big stretch coming up for the Crew here with 0 off days. I'm glad we have some W's "in the bank" here this is really going to test our depth. But what hasn't this team overcome yet this season?  Bring it on! I'm looking forward to a game on TV every day. 

[wibadgers23]

Hoping the Blue Jays can take the series today.  8 games back just sounds really nice heading into the weekend.

[adambr2]

Dodgers versus Cubs is a pretty interesting potential WC matchup. Interesting mostly because one of them would be going home early.

[tmwiese55]

6 minutes ago, adambr2 said:

Dodgers versus Cubs is a pretty interesting potential WC matchup. Interesting mostly because one of them would be going home early.

I just noticed this last night which led me to double check if MLB reseeds after the WC.    They do not.  So, in theory if the playoffs ended today MKE would be playing the winner of LAD/Cubs. 

On one hand, you'd want the Dodgers to go through any difficulty possible, on the other you'd rather not risk playing them in the NLDS.  And really I'd rather not play the Cubs either due to losing the stadium to their fans, plus it would sting so much worse if we had this crazy season and then lose to them right away. We'll see, hopefully it doesn't shake out facing a Cubs/Dodgers winner. 

[Brian]

On to Cincinnati now, we sure can't take them lightly and have a let down series.  They are the 2nd hottest team in the NL Central.  Hope the Brewers can keep their heads screwed on straight to win the series after all the hamburger hoopla then the Cubs. 

[adambr2]

50 minutes ago, tmwiese55 said:

I just noticed this last night which led me to double check if MLB reseeds after the WC.    They do not.  So, in theory if the playoffs ended today MKE would be playing the winner of LAD/Cubs. 

On one hand, you'd want the Dodgers to go through any difficulty possible, on the other you'd rather not risk playing them in the NLDS.  And really I'd rather not play the Cubs either due to losing the stadium to their fans, plus it would sting so much worse if we had this crazy season and then lose to them right away. We'll see, hopefully it doesn't shake out facing a Cubs/Dodgers winner. 

The Dodgers are definitely dangerous, you’d like to think we would have some confidence going into that one being 6-0 against them in the season, but we know how dangerous they are when they’re right and healthy. They’re the defending champs for a reason. 

The Cubs — I don’t know. The home field advantage thing would suck, but it’s just always been that way. Would be a crushing series to lose, but it’d be just as sweet on the other side to end their season. 

I think you could make pretty legitimate arguments that the Mets and Padres aren’t very desirable opponents, either.

I guess my summation is that nothing has gone our way since 2018, no matter the opponent or matchup, so it’s time to just let the chips fall where they may and get the job done regardless of the opponent. Start by locking up that top 2 seed and go from there. 

[Playing Catch]

38 minutes ago, Brian said:

On to Cincinnati now, we sure can't take them lightly and have a let down series.  They are the 2nd hottest team in the NL Central.  Hope the Brewers can keep their heads screwed on straight to win the series after all the hamburger hoopla then the Cubs. 

Big Woo mentioned to a reporter that the Burger Streak was important to him, and reading between the lines, he wanted the Burgers in part to eliminate the promotion as a talking point/distraction.

Having today off, too, is a great opportunity to reset. I will be happy going 4-4 during the next 8 games versus the Reds and Cubs.

I really, really love having the Chourio Wildcard in our hand. I just can't help but believe in the kid -- especially because he can see that this team doesn't need him to win games. He doesn't need to press to perform. His performance in last year's wildcard series was special, and I'm convinced that had Turang not hit into that double-play to end the game, that Chourio would've come through.

[igor67]

If I am a Cubs fan almost regardless of what happens this weekend I'd feel the need to go at least 4-1 during the series next week. At this point even just winning the series 3-2 since it would also give us the tie breaker is like adding 2 more games. And once that series is over there are not a lot of games left.

[Underachiever]

I think the discussion of who we would like to see the Brewers has not gone well recently, much like the Brewers' injury luck at the end of the year. I think that most people wanted the Dbacks instead of the Phillies or Braves in 2023, I know that playing Atlanta in 2021 sounded a lot better than playing either of the 100+ win Dodgers or Giants (with the Cardinals being the other possibility). Beating Washington in the 2019 wild card game sounded like a good matchup. We often frame these discussions in how much it would suck to lose to a certain team, such as the Cubs or Dodgers. It would also feel awesome to beat them. 6+ weeks, 42 games left, the only thing that is certain is that much will change before then.

[OldHeidelberg]

20 minutes ago, Underachiever said:

I think the discussion of who we would like to see the Brewers has not gone well recently, much like the Brewers' injury luck at the end of the year. I think that most people wanted the Dbacks instead of the Phillies or Braves in 2023, I know that playing Atlanta in 2021 sounded a lot better than playing either of the 100+ win Dodgers or Giants (with the Cardinals being the other possibility). Beating Washington in the 2019 wild card game sounded like a good matchup. We often frame these discussions in how much it would suck to lose to a certain team, such as the Cubs or Dodgers. It would also feel awesome to beat them. 6+ weeks, 42 games left, the only thing that is certain is that much will change before then.

As long as it's not the 49ers we will be fine.

[formerlybis]

1 hour ago, igor67 said:

If I am a Cubs fan almost regardless of what happens this weekend I'd feel the need to go at least 4-1 during the series next week. At this point even just winning the series 3-2 since it would also give us the tie breaker is like adding 2 more games. And once that series is over there are not a lot of games left.

If I'm a Cubs fan, first off, shoot me, but second, I'm a little conflicted about how I want the Brewers series to go with the Reds. CIN is closer to catching the Cubs than the Cubs are to catching the Brewers. 

Let's see where we are after Sunday. Things might get tighter.

[wibadgers23]

6 hours ago, wibadgers23 said:

Hoping the Blue Jays can take the series today.  8 games back just sounds really nice heading into the weekend.

First pitch was about an hour ago and they are already in the top of the 6th with one out. 

[Team Canada]

Heckuva duel between Boyd and Scherzer. Boyd's on track for a Maddux right now. For that matter, so is Scherzer.

[markedman5]

Vlad Jr gives them the lead

[Thurston Fluff]

6 hours ago, tmwiese55 said:

I just noticed this last night which led me to double check if MLB reseeds after the WC.    They do not.  So, in theory if the playoffs ended today MKE would be playing the winner of LAD/Cubs. 

On one hand, you'd want the Dodgers to go through any difficulty possible, on the other you'd rather not risk playing them in the NLDS.  And really I'd rather not play the Cubs either due to losing the stadium to their fans, plus it would sting so much worse if we had this crazy season and then lose to them right away. We'll see, hopefully it doesn't shake out facing a Cubs/Dodgers winner. 

I don't think it matters one bit. We have to beat a good team regardless of who it is. They'll also be the hottest of the teams by definition. If we play to our capabilities none of it will matter. We aren't the best team because we got lucky, or remained healthy. We are simply the best team top to bottom. If we play that way we move on regardless of who we face.

[BCF]

Cubs had 2nd and 3rd 0 outs and struck out all 3 times 

[markedman5]

2nd and third nobody out…..

Happ, Tucker and Kelly……

K K K

[tomoohka]

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. 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

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.