MrTPlush

With Yelich out I think Hiura needs to kinda be a rock for this line up. Like...not strikeout in clutch spots.

We will see if they do the “lock out” again. I think they kinda discovered that was not a good way to go about things. I mean what if you buy 4 tickets and suddenly the other people couldn’t make it? That happened to a lot of people and it got real ugly on the phone lines from people calling in discovering they got banned from participating. I appreciate what they are try to do...but...yikes. I guess I don’t get why they let people buy a strip and then get 8 additional tickets in a place nowhere near the strip...it doesn’t really add up if you ask me. Or why let people decline a strip and then get 8 tickets? Probably should be 4 tickets or however many seats you have, whichever is greater. Or maybe, idk, warn people before hand reselling will lock you out in future pre sales. So then people will make sure to only get the number they confidently will need. At least be transparent from the front. And no...I didn’t run into this last year, but I think it was pretty lame by the Brewers.

That would be nice but very premature to think about that. The opponents next week are going to be tougher than the Padres and Pirates, especially some of those Reds pitchers. Not to mention the home field advantage for the WC game. That may go down to the end even if we clinch earlier than that.

Woodruff has the stuff to be one of the best in my opinion. He doesn’t have the track record, but if he was Top 5 in the NL next year? Not shocked at all. Now calling him Top 3 in baseball? Good luck with that, I hope you are right. It’s okay to be optimistic, but jeez...that’s out there.

I'm thinking they're going down with a whimper. They look very un-Cub like since that Pirate series ended. Yah, I think they are pretty much dead at this point. The rush Kimbrel back and throw him into a tie game...he blows it. Rizzo screws up his ankle and he drugs up to limp around the field. Baez is gone these days. I just can’t imagine that team streaking some wins together. They need a Brewers collapse at this point.

Time to stick the fork in the Cubs tonight and then twist it tomorrow!!!

His season is definitely over and he won’t be picked up until all this is done, at best. When I saw he was sending messages to the newest accuser...man what an idiot. Shut your mouth already. It doesn’t make him guilty, but man he just cannot he a normal adult for 24 hours.

They have 9 hits...they just aren’t getting timely ones.

May I ask why?? I'd rather see the Cubs win..and at least one more in this series, if not the remaining 3. If they do that, at WORST the Brewers are 1 game out(if not tied) of the division starting next week(that's of course assuming a sweep of the hapless Pirates). Anything, BUT a Cubs win AND Brewers loss. Brewers win and Cubs win...I’m down for.

Anything but a Cubs win and a Brewers loss works for me today.

Looks like the same set up as last year so I won’t bother really writing it out. Prices appear the same as last year...or dang near close if not. Below are when the sales start, which as you can imagine kicks off with season ticket holders. 9/23 at 9am Central Time - Game 163 and NLWC tickets go on sale. 9/26 at 9am Central Time - NLDS tickets go on sale. https://www.mlb.com/brewers/tickets/postseason?partnerId=ed-14450431-1167904183

Funny to say the Cubs have "failed" or are "destroyed". They have arguably been just as successful as any other team in the last half decade. Not only that, but they might as well be just as promising as many other teams the next half decade. Comparing them to the Dodgers is also a tad strange as their payroll have not been that similar many years. 2019 Cubs #2 Dodgers #4 2018 Cubs #3 Dodgers #4 2017 Cubs #9 Dodgers #1 (#2 was $50mil behind) 2016 Cubs #5 Dodgers #1 (#2 almost $50mil behind) 2015 Cubs #11 Dodgers #1 (#2 almost $80mil behind) Most years the Dodgers have been tens of millions more in payroll over the Cubs...most years well over any team in baseball period. I sure hope the Dodgers would find success more often. Seems strange to critique a postseason mainstay for the last 4 years that has a World Series trophy...that still looks poised for more postseason action in the coming years. Yah, maybe they aren't a dynasty, but I think people just assume that was easy to do...especially on what was a sub $200mil payroll before this year. Reality is many players regressed or aged leading to them not being such a powerhouse. Have they made some poor moves? Sure, but at the same time most of the big time trades have yet to look bad for the MLB team. Maybe Torres, but he was traded for Aroldis Chapman...a big piece of the WS run. Looking back...maybe that team wasn't destined for a dynasty? It isn't that easy to be a constant powerhouse on a somewhat realistic payroll and their pitching wasn't that crazy young. The farm wasn't that loaded and the FA market hasn't been too lucky for buyers in recent years.

I can't really imagine being 15 years old and getting accused of such crimes...especially if I didn't do it. Sit there as a prosecutor threatens to ruin your entire life if you don't take the plea. Pleas are also highly attractive to minors as they usually can get it wiped off their record forever with a plea in a lot of cases after a few years of good behavior. Countless people get falsely accused and prosecuted a year...there are people in jail for life wrongly accused. Why even risk it in a "he said she said" situation when you can just plea and have it disappear in 5 years or whatever? But end of the day he took the plea and knew the consequences of doing so. Hard to feel bad for him and now the world will view him guilty whether he likes it or not. That's what he signed off on.

Kimbrel has not been that bad for the Cubs. Most of his appearances have been quite useful. Of his 6 appearances where runs were given up two were complete garbage time. So he has only given up runs in 4 meaningful situations. You could even cross off another one when he gave up 3 runs against us when the Cubs were already losing and scored zero runs in the game. He has actually only blown two games and then has the Cardinals loss where he blew the tie in his 22 appearances. For comparison Josh Hader has messed up 4 games in the same time span Kimbrel has been pitching(29 appearances). No I am not trying to say Hader has been just as bad or anything...just that Kimbrel hasn't really been costing the Cubs that much despite shaky stats. I would actually argue Kimbrel has been a good asset to the Cubs so far in his time there. Long term he is going to need to pitch better as the way he is pitching isn't going to be as kind in a large sample. In this smaller sample it hasn't costed them much. I think the Cubs are a large part in some of his struggles. They were so desperate to have him he got almost no work prior to MLB appearances and that may have something to do with the injuries...that they also rushed him back from with maybe one garbage time appearance. Like the Cardinals game, "Oh you haven't pitched in a game for weeks? Here you go!" Literally asking for failure. I think the impatience and desperation really hurts these midseason pickup pitchers.

I wasn't knocking on Thames. He is going on 33 years old and his production year to year isn't exactly clear besides that. Last year he had an OPS south of .800...he doesn't exactly have a big track record of consistency. He is a fine bat, but when you start striking out 30% or more of the time and then four guys behind you are terrible...that isn't exactly a great recipe for success. You would basically have a line up of Hiura/Yelich/Rendon and then hopefully decent bats in Braun/Thames. The later two are definitely risky bets to produce just as good next year. Then with Braun he could easily miss significant time leading to a different bat stepping in and being downright horrendous (though Grisham gives hope we have a decent replacement for someone if they get injured). I think they could risk Pina and drop Grandal, but then they need to get a big upgrade at 3B (by keeping Moustakas) or finding a nice replacement at SS (not likely to get big offense there). Pina hasn't been bad after his horrendous start to the year. I 110% expect Thames option to be picked up and I actually like Thames...just not exactly as one of our Top 5 bats, which is what he would be if we spent the entire budget on Cole or Rendon. He is a great #6-#7 hitter like he is now.

2003 - 523 2006 - 489 2008 - 449 2013 - 598 2018 - 624 I couldn't go farther back than 2003. The answer seems to be yes. I will also mention the average yards on a punt has dramatically changed. There used to be a ton of guys averaging 10+...that simply isn't the case anymore. The more important question would technically be net return, but at the same time I think there is a sacrifice to make guys not have dangerous returns. There were only 7 returns for TDs last year, no one had multiple. Ten years ago there were 17 TDs and four guys had at least two. In 2003 there were 18 TDs and once again four guys with multiple TDs. This shift of punting smarts seems to be in the last 5 years...which makes sense to me.

The ironic part of this is Tremon Smith had a big returning game in preseason too. He had kick returns of 45 and 29 yards...against the Packers.

I think you make a good point here. It's way easier to have him adjust after his last outing than any other going forward. Have him throw something like 50 pitches tomorrow, 65 on the 26th, you'd have him around 80 for that potential wildcard game. Maybe they prefer to keep him on normal rest and have Lyles start the potential wildcard game...with Woodruff scheduled for games 1 and 5 of a 5 game series? That would really be putting the cart in front of the horse though. I'll also add that pitching the 26th is in Cincy while the 27th is in Colorado. I think Woodruff's arsenal will play better than most of our starters in Colorado. The nice thing is no matter what he will be available for the potential WC game. Pitching him on the 27th does take him out of the Game 163 game picture though...that would be only two days rest. He may be available I guess (all hand on deck), but it would be really limited at that point. If you don't find yourself in a Game 163 the starter won't make it far, maybe 5 innings max. Hader and Co. will have a day of rest before and after. They wouldn't push their luck whether it be Woodruff or someone else. I see Woodruff complained of arm soreness after his last start. That may factor into the date a bit...definitely effects his pitch count. May go 3 innings depending on his pitch count.

I admire the confidence in us automatically winning the WC game despite the notable disadvantage we would have. No way we lose that WC game. Pressure is on them, not us. Our pitching will dominate. We hit great established starters. Same with the dodger series, pressure will be enormous on them, not us, and that could mean the difference. 1) I think there is a 50% chance we lose the WC game IF we get to play in it. 2) If we were so blessed to play past the WC game and had to face the Dodgers I would rather it be in the NLDS. Only because the smaller the series the better the odds to make an unlikely result reality. I don't know what our chances in a 7-game series would be, but it would probably be well under 25%. Also Brandon Woodruff is suppose to pitch this weekend, but they didn't give a date. Sunday would be his 'normal rest' as a starter. However, since he only pitched 2 innings they could probably push it up to Saturday as he won't get a full workload again anyway. That would then line him up on normal rest for the 26th for what would likely be close to a full workload. That would then line him up to pitch on normal rest again on October 1st...I am sure you can guess the significance of that date. I also wouldn't be shocked if they tried keeping his workload light through the regular season so they could push him up a day to the 31st...if need be. They were suppose to decide on his next appearance last night, they have not announced that as far as I know. Davies is already the starter Saturday...so that could hint Sunday...but never know. Even if he pitches Sunday he won't pitch the three days prior to October 1st...so he certainly could pitch the 1st anyway as I doubt anyone is throwing 80+ pitches in the WC game. As long as they don't play a Game 163 they get a rest day for Hader and Co.

I admire the confidence in us automatically winning the WC game despite the notable disadvantage we would have.

Playing as a team is way more important than one player. I would rather have a few guys than one player in Cole/Rendon. In this case you are talking a resigning of Moose, Grandal, and probably even another player for the same cost. Not only the same cost, but less years committed and way less risky. Rendon isn't much use when our bottom of the order is Thames/Cain/Pina/Arcia/Pitcher. This doesn't even consider a possible sophomore slump for Hiura or Braun being a crippled mess. I don't think people consider the fact how big of a disaster that lineup could be in 2020. It is like the rotation this year. Before the year you could see it was a risky and potential disaster to construct it that way...it was indeed a disaster to start. Cole/Rendon are simply nowhere near even possible. This just is not a cheap roster already. They probably need to add two bats min....one is just not going to do it especially when it kills any other move making that costs over a few million.

They also realized punting out of bounds is idiotic and guys that can actually kick it short enough to induce a fair catch or get a favorable bounce are insanely valuable. Returners rarely risk a ball ending up on the 2 yard line and will fair catch even inside the 10 just to make sure that doesn’t happen. It’s funny to look back and think how big of a deal trying to kick it out of bounds inside the 20 was a religious thing everybody just did...now it is more common to just kick it high to let your guys get down there to catch/stop it or get the fair catch called.

I’d love to host the Wild Card if we cannot win the division. Hosting a game and not being the last team in sounds way better. Especially if we were to end up losing that game. Not sure how confident I am in that though. Nationals are a serious threat to sweep the Marlins this weekend, if we only go 2-1 against the Pirates that puts us 2.0 GB. They have already sweep the Marlins three times this year. There schedule isn't a total cupcake after that though and we win a tiebreaker so we only need to tie them. Thankfully the Indians looked poised to be in the race till the last series and really have gotten hot. Cubs are in big trouble. That was not a good start to the upcoming weekend for them. Especially when we play the Pirates and the Nationals play the Marlins. You gotta figure they need 2/3 this weekend or they are going to be in big trouble.

A lot of that ranking is the fact so many players are still not signed. Once that happens I’m sure Wisconsin’s overall ranking will drop quite a bit. It’s still a fantastic recruiting class for Wisconsin...just a little misleading. With that being said I feel quantity classes are better than quality for UW. Wisconsin just typically does better with experienced players...not the kinds looking to bounce soon. Make no mistake they have some real solid high ranking recruits for Wisconsin standards. I’d expect a real Final Four threat 2-3 years from now.

How amazing would it be to go on a run in back to back seasons and ruin the Cubs shots and then come back and ruin the Cards? Especially in the second case when just about everything has gone wrong this year. The way the year has gone a WC birth and making the Cubs miss the postseason all together would be stellar. Well really postseason two years in a row would be great for this franchise.