Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
I would rather play on Monday and get the wildcard series at home.
Chicago Cubs 2026
The offense won't allow for it. The Red Sox get 2nd and 3rd with one out and score twice. The Cubs, in that exact situation, get a strikeout and a pop up.
It's who they are. They can play on the moon, but if they can't hit the long ball, they won't give the staff the support they need.
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
They are really limping to the finish. They already lost game one today after an early 3-0 lead. I have less faith in Holmes after every start recently. I don't think the prospects are good. I give them an outside shot in the best of three wildcard but no way they could beat Milwaukee or the Dodgers in the NLDS.
On August 10 the Cubs were 6 games in front of the 2nd Wildcard team.
Limping home to the finish.
They go 2-11 today with RISP to improve their recent production.....to 5 for 50. Took me a while to figure it out but that's a .100 average !!
Limping home to the finish.
They go 2-11 today with RISP to improve their recent production.....to 5 for 50. Took me a while to figure it out but that's a .100 average !!
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Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
14-19 over the past 33 games. 61-60 since the 27-12 start.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
The sad reality is, this Cubs team is the most obvious sitting duck in the playoffs you're ever going to see.
The Padres are going to bring in yet another guy throwing 237 mph in every single moment they get into any trouble, whereas the Cubs will never have a matchup they have any confidence in against the middle of that order after the first inning.
Offenses win divisions (so long as the Milwaukee Rays aren't in your division) but premium arm stockpiling wins championships.
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
0-0 in the bottom of the 8th in game 2. This offense really sucks right now. Perfect timing!
What a disappointment. Why bother with the playoffs? I guess they want to play the Braves in Atlanta.
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Stacking arms and being able to score in a variety of ways creates consistency. It's why Milwaukee, despite the payroll, mows down the division year after year. The Cubs are a one trick pony, which can lead to 10 game winning streaks, but also 10 game losing streaks. The stretch they're in now is just ugly.
Phillies lose. Padres down 4. Cubs would have to win Sunday and Padres lose all 3. Most likely Cubs playing red hot Padres in San Diego.
Can we just forfeit the last game and rest ?
I don't know how much the rosters can be expanded, but maybe just fly the Iowa team to Tampa. Let them handle it.
Still a chance AZ gets in over Phillies.
Start Rea and make it a low leverage bullpen game.
If the Padres win and the Phillies lose today, the Cubs Sunday game will not matter. Would they still play it or just head back to Chicago or to San Diego? If they were playing in Boston and it was rained out, they would not make it up so why play it in Tampa and risk injuries?
Yes they will still play the game
This has been a bad team for the last quarter of the season. Which is remarkable considering PCA was performing at an MVP level and Bregman at a near-MVP level for that entire time.
Really, over the last 40 games, no one on the offense was particularly bad. Amaya and Hoerner weren’t great. Everyone else was at or exceeded their career norms.
I think the defense fell off from all-time great to merely amazingly good after Swanson got hurt, and it exposed how much the pitching staff was relying on an absurdly elite defense to stay above water.
Shota, Holmes and Peterson were fine as starters, which was probably the most you could expect from Shota and Peterson. I think they were hoping for better from Holmes when they traded for him. Gausman and Boyd were bad. The entire bullpen was awful except for Civale, who may have been the last quarter-season MVP, and Zeferjahn, who recovered from his first few appearances to look decent.
The Cubs never got the help they were hoping to get from the IL. They also bizarrely sidelined Rea and Assad, ground ball throwing innings eaters, for a quarter of the season. Over the last 40 games, they’ve combined for 27 innings.
Overall, for a team that was supposed to win 90-something games and was favored to win the division, winning 80-something games and not even being close to the Brewers has to be considered a disappointment. Especially given the historically great season from PCA.
Really, over the last 40 games, no one on the offense was particularly bad. Amaya and Hoerner weren’t great. Everyone else was at or exceeded their career norms.
I think the defense fell off from all-time great to merely amazingly good after Swanson got hurt, and it exposed how much the pitching staff was relying on an absurdly elite defense to stay above water.
Shota, Holmes and Peterson were fine as starters, which was probably the most you could expect from Shota and Peterson. I think they were hoping for better from Holmes when they traded for him. Gausman and Boyd were bad. The entire bullpen was awful except for Civale, who may have been the last quarter-season MVP, and Zeferjahn, who recovered from his first few appearances to look decent.
The Cubs never got the help they were hoping to get from the IL. They also bizarrely sidelined Rea and Assad, ground ball throwing innings eaters, for a quarter of the season. Over the last 40 games, they’ve combined for 27 innings.
Overall, for a team that was supposed to win 90-something games and was favored to win the division, winning 80-something games and not even being close to the Brewers has to be considered a disappointment. Especially given the historically great season from PCA.
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
The wheels have completely fallen off for the Phillies.
If all goes how it looks like it's going to go tonight, tomorrow's game means absolutely nothing. Start Rea and go with Hollowell, etc. Including today, starters and high leverage arms will have three full days off. Much needed.
For the offense, get some ABs in there for a couple of guys to see if they can get the offense on track to feel good going to San Diego. This is very likely going to be a 2 and done series, but it sets up as well as possible.
All 3 games of Cubs/Padres set for 9:00 PM CT start times with the games airing on Peacock and NBCSN.
Only potential change to start time/network for game 3 would be a 7:00 PM CT start on NBC and Peacock but there would have to be a couple different scenarios happen for that to occur.
Only potential change to start time/network for game 3 would be a 7:00 PM CT start on NBC and Peacock but there would have to be a couple different scenarios happen for that to occur.
When I check the standings I look at the last ten games. Gives me an idea of how teams are playing. Not foolproof obviously, could be 5-5 and have won or lost 5 in a row. Anyway NL
Brewers 8-2
Padres "
Dodgers "
Braves 5-5
Cubs "
Phillies 4-6
Anything can happen, but something has to change NOW
EDIT
Looked at AL
Everyone is 5-5 except the 8-2 Guardians and 7-3 White Sox
Brewers 8-2
Padres "
Dodgers "
Braves 5-5
Cubs "
Phillies 4-6
Anything can happen, but something has to change NOW
EDIT
Looked at AL
Everyone is 5-5 except the 8-2 Guardians and 7-3 White Sox
No Thornton, Thielbar, or Cabrera on the playoff roster this round.
Lol. Worst possible start to the game.
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
I guess 5-0 would be worse. But point taken.
