Chicago Cubs Thread - Playoff Push Pending

Really trying to make that 5-game series between the Brewers and Cards more meaningful

wsc8521s said:

Ah, the ol' disappearing late September bats. If they ever appeared for some of our dudes this season in the first place.

We gonna blow the division against the Pale Hose? That'd be some shit

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2 hits and 8 Ks last night. Baez & Schwarber both hitting under .200 now - Schwarbs .187! Pretty remarkable how collectively bad the offense has been this season. Happ has cooled off too. Heyward in the cleanup spot last night.

The bats were alive to start the season and combined with great starting pitching to propel the team to a 13-3 start. That start gave the team the security of first place. Hitting fell off after that and has disappeared. Slash line for August was .217/.322/.408 and 4.33 runs/gm. September is worse with a slash line of .217/.300/.328 and 3.59 runs/gm. Happ has joined Bryant, Rizzo, Baez and Schwarber in their misery. The eye test is worse than the numbers. To their credit the Cubs have maintained their lead despite a slump with a two month duration.

The Cub announcers discussed the discrepancy between the number of Cub batters being hit and the number of HBP Cub pitchers have accumulated this afternoon.. It's huge and disconcerting. The Cub hitters have been thrown at all season without retribution. That has added to the frustration of the hitters. No protection. Javy took two consecutive pitches high and tight today. The second pitch hit him. He objected. Warnings to each bench were given. No Cub retaliation. The last Cub hitter of the day Cameron Maybin had to dive out of the way to avoid a 100 mph bean ball. No ejection by the umps and little protest from Ross. If you don't think this matters you've never played baseball.

There was some discussion I was reading somewhere the last couple of days that the Cubs slug under .350 against pitches that are middle/middle, which is by far and away the lowest number in the league. The Dodgers slug over .900 on the same pitches.

I've watched a decent amount of games this year, and the number of middle/middle pitches the Cubs either take or foul off is insane. The Pirates pitchers, who are bad, were just throwing first pitch strikes, Cubs were not swinging, and then had to start hacking at bad pitches once they get into 0-1, 0-2 and 1-2 counts. Its the whole team. The patience is fine, the walks are fine, but it feels more like they are looking to take walks instead of get on base. Outside of Javy swinging at every pitch, most of the batters are striking out because they get into tough counts taking strikes.

Cubs September swoon continues for year 4.

The best case scenario for tonight would be Cubs win, Brews/Cards split their Double Header and Reds lose to the Twins.

I think the Reds are out of contention for the Central because of tie breakers. The Cards are the only thing we are worried about. Need the Brewers to sweep today and Cubs win and they clinch.

Reds are in the 7 spot right now tied with the Marlins in the 6th spot, Cards in the 5. Brewers are 1 game behind Giants for the 8 spot. There is a scenario where 4 Central teams are in the playoffs, that assumes the Pads keep playing these last 3 games against the Giants and the same with the Rays playing the Phils.

DaDeacs said:

There was some discussion I was reading somewhere the last couple of days that the Cubs slug under .350 against pitches that are middle/middle, which is by far and away the lowest number in the league. The Dodgers slug over .900 on the same pitches.

I've watched a decent amount of games this year, and the number of middle/middle pitches the Cubs either take or foul off is insane. The Pirates pitchers, who are bad, were just throwing first pitch strikes, Cubs were not swinging, and then had to start hacking at bad pitches once they get into 0-1, 0-2 and 1-2 counts. Its the whole team. The patience is fine, the walks are fine, but it feels more like they are looking to take walks instead of get on base. Outside of Javy swinging at every pitch, most of the batters are striking out because they get into tough counts taking strikes.

Cubs September swoon continues for year 4.

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Agree with your assessment. There have been times the team has gone after the first pitch middle/middle fastball. Initially they resulted in loud outs. Then it became soft outs and fouls. Now it is swing and miss, fouls or watch it go by. Timing is completely off for everyone. They don't see 95 mph fastballs in BP so they can't regain their timing. Probably would help to bring some pitchers from South Bend for BP before the playoffs. Feed them some speed.

DaDeacs said:

I think the Reds are out of contention for the Central because of tie breakers. The Cards are the only thing we are worried about. Need the Brewers to sweep today and Cubs win and they clinch.

Reds are in the 7 spot right now tied with the Marlins in the 6th spot, Cards in the 5. Brewers are 1 game behind Giants for the 8 spot. There is a scenario where 4 Central teams are in the playoffs, that assumes the Pads keep playing these last 3 games against the Giants and the same with the Rays playing the Phils.

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Reds own the tiebreaker over the Brewers.

Javy is so smart on the base paths

Good day, Marlins looking more likely in first round which I'd say is ideal. Please don't turn into a pumpkin in the playoffs Yu

Dylan Cease provided the high 90's fastball and the Cubs took BP. Good to see smiles in the dugout. It's a start.

Umpires were smart to eject Cordero for hitting Contreras, especially after last night. Things would have gotten ugly fast. Cub hitters seem willing to take matters into their own hands.

wsc8521s said:

Good day, Marlins looking more likely in first round which I'd say is ideal. Please don't turn into a pumpkin in the playoffs Yu

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Yankees and Twins both need wins, and the Reds and Marlins have the same record - need the twins to win out or the fish to somehow take another game from the Yanks. Do not want to face the Reds in the first round.

Baez doubles hitting lefty.

Willie hits a 3 run shot, does a gigantic bat toss per Rizzo’s request to fire the boys up and gets beaned the next at bat. He responds by hitting another HR.

K
FREAKING
B!

DaDeacs said:

Yankees and Twins both need wins, and the Reds and Marlins have the same record - need the twins to win out or the fish to somehow take another game from the Yanks. Do not want to face the Reds in the first round.

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Yeah, Marlins have the tiebreak vs the Reds so that kinda sucks. Hope Yanks win again tomorrow, nightmare scenario would be MIA win/CIN win/STL loss/SF loss (not sure exactly how that StL-Tigers doubleheader would work), in that scenario we gotta deal with Bauer and Sonny Gray

Kimbrel has 0 walks and a negative FIP in his 8 appearances in September. He was hittin 99 MPH consistently last night. Cautiously optimistic here. All we need now is 6 innings out of yu and hendricks, then go Adam (Or Q?), Jeffress and Kimbrel in some order.

Also, Marquez on the 40 man playoff roster is all the excitement. If Crochet can come in with no minor league experience, Marquez can with no experience above A ball. Blast 100 MPH fastballs in there and let the hitters figure it out.

NL Central Division Championship despite the a roller coaster season is an accomplishment.

I expect to see Marquez this afternoon. I figured Crochet's appearance dispelled any reluctance the Cubs felt.

Marquez better come in today. 10-1 now in the 7th.

Cubs will have a decent shot in any series if the starting pitching maintains the performance YTD.

Looks really nervous for his first outing.