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Chicago Cubs Thread - Playoff Push Pending

Seems too obvious of a storyline, but if it does get us going it's well timed, direct Wild Card and division competition five of the next six series
 
Bote was sent down to make room for Cishek. 3rd straight reliever we brought off the IL without a rehab appearance (Kimbrel, Kintzler) - both the other guys had rough first outings.

Assuming the Bote demotion was just because he had options and get some more at bats since Happ and Kemp are splitting 2B now and he has been relegated to super sub. He'll be back during the callups. The interesting thing will be to see what bat gets recalled to take his place - hoping it will be Zobs, but looking more like Descalso - cause right now we have 14 pitchers, not sure who gets sent down or "injured", hopefully its Strop. Otherwise, only people with options are Wick and Ryan, would prefer not to lose one of them.
 
Roster moves will be interesting.

The fourteen pitchers on the roster seem the most likely for postseason play. Maybe the club stays with a three man bench until September? One or two will be eliminated for the postseason.

Contreras, Bote, Descalso, Zobrist and Almora should return in September. Bench strength improves dramatically.
 
BlackjackMc said:
Roster moves will be interesting.

The fourteen pitchers on the roster seem the most likely for postseason play. Maybe the club stays with a three man bench until September? One or two will be eliminated for the postseason.

Contreras, Bote, Descalso, Zobrist and Almora should return in September. Bench strength improves dramatically.
Click to expand...

I think MLB made a change - only 28 roster spots in September. Still have decisions to make.
 
Kimbrels velo looks great, his curve is awesome - but his fastball, which used to have some decent movement, looked hard and straight, a couple of warning track hits to the end the game last night is scary on guys that don't have a ton of pop. He can get strikes on people not expecting 98 and then following with that curve, but I haven't seen him throw the curve for strikes (mainly swing and miss) and the fastball in the zone at 97/98 is still hittable if the batter is laying off the curve and looking for it, like Belt did last night.

Just gotta hope he can stay in the 98 range and get the fastball past people for the rest of the year, because if he drops to 94/95, there will be a decent amount more HRs given up.
 
Ryan and Wick had good outings as well. It appears they have become the bridge to Kimbrel. Phelps, Chatwood and Holland have pitched well. Kintzler has struggled recently, Cishek has struggled since the all star break and Strop has had a rough year. Edwards and Montgomery are gone. Joe may be rethinking bullpen roles.
 
Is that worse than boggling?

My boi Hendo working some magic today, seeing him at Citi next week. Hopefully bullpen doesn't fuck this up
 
Quite a journey for Rowan Wick. Starts the season with Iowa. Gets three call ups in May, June and July. Five appearances, 7 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 4 BB and 6 K. Fourth call up on July 22. In 13 subsequent appearances he has held opponents scoreless 12 times and become Maddon's option to close when Kimbrel is unavailable. The numbers since July 22...12.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 16 K, 3 HLD, 2-2 Saves, 2-0 record. He has seized his opportunity.
 
Wick's story is even more improbable:

- Cardinals drafted Wick in the 9th round in 2012 as a catcher.
- Played catcher and OF in the minors for the Cardinals from 2012-5.
- Converted to pitcher in 2016.
- Cardinals waived Wick in 2018.
- In 2018 Padres claimed Wick, he had a 6+ ERA in a few appearances for the Padres that season, but mostly played in AAA
- Last off-season, the Padres trade Wick to the Cubs for another minor leaguer in a deal that no one cared about.


Only in baseball can a guy with a career like that make a material impact in a team's late season run. Crazy.
 
The Cubs fail to go twelve games over .500 again. They can get to eleven but twelve has eluded them all season. This is their magic number.
 
If the Cubs intend on winning the Central division they will need to be more than 12 games over .500. Despite multiple opportunities they have been unable to get to twelve over, generally losing multiple games. At this point, it has become a recurring theme to be overcome to reach their goal. They may not talk about it (though Len and JD have mentioned it) but everyone knows it is there.

This has nothing to do with the "magic number" to win a division or wild card spot. Sorry for the confusion.
 
Too much mediocrity on this team.

Feel like we would've been better served not trading away any #assets and allowing all of our young guys to come up and prove themselves, then we really could've had a multi-year run of being a really, really good team.

But when you haven't won a title in 108 years, I get it
 
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