footlongcomiskeydog

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Oct 22, 2016 -> 08:19 PM) He is definitely off though, missing his spots. This is not vintage Kershaw. He is off no doubt, but he already pretty much threw a perfect start back in game 2. No there was no way he was gonna come into Wrigley and completely shut down this Cubs offense again. Its all academic anyway cause Hendricks is straight dealing. LA will be lucky to cross home plate once in this game. Hopefully Cleveland can put up a better fight than SF or LA but I highly doubt it.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Oct 22, 2016 -> 08:12 PM) Kershaw has done so much to kill his "un-clutch" reputation this postseason, and he is just ruining it all tonight. He just ran into a buzzsaw tonight man. The Cubs offense woke up big time after game 3. If the Cubs offense is on its game no pitcher in the world has a chance against them.

The Dodgers may not even get a runner to second in this game. Hendricks is straight $ at Wrigley.

2 runs should be enough to win it against this putrid Dodgers offense. The Cubs have the best offense, pitching, and defense in baseball. I don't think it is possible for anyone to beat them in a 7 game series.

Why didn't the Dodgers pitch Kershaw in game 5 again? They really thought they were gonna come into Wrigley and completely shut down the Cubs bats for two straight games?

The Cubs bats are alive and the dodgers offense is putrid. One run here might be enough to win it for the Cubs.

QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 20, 2016 -> 10:24 PM) I really wonder if deep down they felt they would struggle to even score a run against Lester and didn't want to waste Kershaw? It would be a playing not to lose mentality....but so is not pitching him tonight I think they realized that they were stuck between a rock and a hard place in any scenario. LA's lack of starting rotation depth was exposed big time in this series. There is no way that Kershaw and Hill hold the Cubs scoreless in two straight games at Wrigley. The Cubs are simply the better team and it is finally starting to show.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 20, 2016 -> 09:59 PM) Awful. This series is over. Horrible decision. It was LA's only chance. Definitely. And they conceded yesterday's game pitching the 20 year old. What a gift. But the Cubs will obviously take it. Why not? They'll beat Kershaw and that will be that. Lotta partying in Chicago Sat night. LA might find a way to squeak out a victory on Saturday night but there is no way that they beat the Cubs twice in a row at Wrigley. Kershaw should have started tonight and then you use him out of the bullpen for 3-4 innings in a potential game 7.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Oct 20, 2016 -> 09:43 PM) What a ridiculous f***ing decision to hit Ruiz cleanup tonight. The Dodgers basically conceded this game by not starting Kershaw and running Ruiz out there in the cleanup spot.

QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 20, 2016 -> 09:33 PM) Dodgers suck outside of Kershaw starting Yep. No one in the National League has an offense that can hang with the Cubs unfortunately. Giants and Dodgers have some straight up scrubs in their starting lineups.

This Cubs team is so deep. Gonna be extremely difficult for anyone to beat them in a 7 game series.

QUOTE (JUSTgottaBELIEVE @ Oct 16, 2016 -> 08:35 AM) The fact that my buddies that are Cubs fans think that it's a given the Cubs win the Series by getting past the Dodgers is comical. That's my biggest issue with Cubs fans. As soon as they get a nice team, they get cocky. Oh, never mind the fact that they haven't won the World Series in 108 years, minor detail. The Indians are actually rolling even better than the Cubs right now as evidenced by their 5-0 record in the playoffs against two very good AL East teams. They don't have the same name recognition as the Cubs but their offense is very good (5th in baseball in runs scored, Cubs 3rd), defense is sound (5th best defense according to fangraphs, Cubs 1st), better bullpen including the best reliever in baseball, ace (Kluber) to match Lester, better manager, and home field advantage. Plus they seem to have all the intangibles going their way right now. If they can line up Kluber for Game 1, they will not be an easy out. The tribe are playing good baseball right now, but their rotation is very weak after Kluber. The Cubs rotation is much much better. Bullpens are pretty close to even too. Cubs will be heavy favorites to win if they meet up next round.

QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 15, 2016 -> 11:20 PM) Indians actually match up well, as they can steal bases. Like you're implying, I don't trust the Indians starting pitching after Kluber though. You gotta get on base to steal and Lester has been pretty good at not allowing many baserunners. Plus Ross has been on his game this postseason and is gunning dudes down. The tribe still gotta get past Toronto too. Have a feeling that series is gonna go 7.

QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 15, 2016 -> 11:13 PM) He might lose his starts, but Kershaw is the best pitcher on the planet. Regular season for sure, but I would take Jon Lester or Madison Bumgardner over him if it was a postseason game and I had a choice.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Oct 15, 2016 -> 11:05 PM) blanton is pretty mediocre. how do you think the cubs would fair against andrew miller? The Cubs will probably struggle against Andrew Miller but he is just one guy. They will have little trouble scoring runs against Josh Tomlin and Trevor Bauer though. One could easily ask how the Indians would fare against Jon Lester at Wrigley. Pretty much a guaranteed W every time he gets a start there for the Cubs.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Oct 14, 2016 -> 01:33 PM) I don't really understand that sentiment. Aside from the usual "playoff baseball rarely goes how you expect", Fangraphs playoff odds has this series as a literal coinflip, and I have to agree. Yeah the Dodgers suck against LHP but Lester can only go twice. The Dodgers have the two best pitchers and they can go 4 times. The Cubs will have the pitching advantage in Games 1 and 5 but assuming Kershaw starts Game 2 the Dodgers will have the advantage in 2,3,6 & 7. Game 4 is basically a tossup because I think the Dodgers will hit around Lackey. LA has the better bullpen and the better offense when a LHP isn't on the mound. Before the playoffs began I thought LAD/CHC would be the optimal matchup out of all possible playoff combinations for a potential classic playoff series. Thi series is anything but a literal coin flip. Vegas had the Cubs at close -200 at the start of the series. The Dodgers are going to have to play absolutely perfect baseball to win this series. Also, are you serious when you say that the Dodgers have the two best pitchers in this series? One could easily argue that the Cubs have the three best pitchers in the series.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Oct 15, 2016 -> 10:59 PM) cubs offense has not ran into a competent bullpen yet Dodgers relievers all have pretty good numbers for the most part. Regular season don't mean much anymore though which was very evident by Mr. Blanton turning into a pumpkin.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Oct 15, 2016 -> 10:40 PM) The cubs have bullpen problems bro. Chapman has blown two f***ing saves already and to LH bats at that. Let that sink in for a second. Chapman is still dominant and the Cubs bullpen is just as good as any of the remaining teams. Offense is good enough to bail the bullpen out as well. Cubs are going to be extremely difficult to knock out in a 7 game series. they really don't have any weaknesses.

This Cubs team is an absolute wrecking ball and has been all season. Don't think it is possible for anyone to defeat them in a 7 game series.

QUOTE (JUSTgottaBELIEVE @ Oct 12, 2016 -> 10:44 AM) Lit up like a Christmas tree? Strasburg was 15-4 with a 3.60 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, and 11 K/9 IP. Yes he had 3 rough starts in August before hitting the DL but overall he had a very good season (for fantasy and reality purposes). A healthy Strasburg is absolutely huge for the Nationals. Of course, that's the big question. The thing is even if they can get only 5 solid innings out of him that's an upgrade over a guy like Ross. I said he was getting lit up like a Xmas tree before the Nats shut him down not all season. He had 20 earned runs over 12 innings in his last 4 starts before the Nats realized something was seriously wrong with him. He won't be pitching at all this postseason. Dude is done for 2016. I hope the Dodgers find a way to squeak by Schezer and the Nats this afternoon as I think the Dodgers match up better against the Cubs. A Cubs-Nats series will be over in 5 games or less.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Oct 12, 2016 -> 10:24 AM) So the Nationals score a few runs off Hill and it suddenly erases what he's done all year? He's been the 2nd best pitcher this year next to Kershaw. Regular season stats mean very little right now. Hill looked like garbage a couple of games ago and I don't think he will fare much better this afternoon.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Oct 12, 2016 -> 10:03 AM) It seems like he's had "discomfort" since the day he was drafted. It's always something with him. I had Strasburg on my fantasy team this year so I followed him pretty closely. He was getting lit up like a Christmas tree before he was shut down. I highly doubt that he will be making any appearances this postseason. Dude's arm needs a nice long rest and the Nationals will have to cap his innings pitched every year going forward one would think. If the Nationals advance it will be Roark versus Lester at Wrigley for game 1. Everything is lining up very nicely for the Northsiders this October unfortunately.

QUOTE (Deadpool @ Oct 11, 2016 -> 11:46 PM) Cubs vs Washington would be fascinating. I really don't think it matters who the Cubs face next round. They are by far the best team left in the NL. The Cubs have owned the Nationals all year and no Ramos and no Strasburg is gonna hurt them big time. The Nationals only hope is that David Murphy turns into superman again. The Dodgers might have a chance if they pitch Kershaw 3 times in the Series. Maeda and Hill don't scare anyone and Jensen has been getting rocked so far in the postseason. I've come to the realization that this is simply the Cubs year. They are the best team in baseball. A World Series championship is inevitable. I live in Lincoln Square so I am firmly in the belly of the beast and it majorly sucks. In fact, people were lighting off fireworks in my neighborhood last night after the W. I muttered freaking amateurs under my breath as the fireworks boomed around me, but part of me was very jealous that a winning team exists in Chicago and it sure as hell ain't the Sox.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 2, 2016 -> 12:21 PM) This is the big thing. This is the worst free agent market in history, and we have a TON of pieces that could go. The Sox aren't going to start the rebuild this winter. The lack of activity yesterday is proof of this. Next year is year 3 of the infamous 3 year plan. The Sox should be able to pull a Yankees and load up the farm next trade deadline.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Aug 2, 2016 -> 11:32 AM) Outside of barely squeaking into the playoffs in '08, they've been pretty mediocre or worse for almost a decade now. How many more years of garbage can we expect before they're relevant again? How much better could things have been if they hadn't tried the same bad plan for years and years? They are going to try the same bad plan again in 2017 it appears. They will hope that Abreu bounces back, Frazier gets his average/OBP up, Anderson and Rodon continue to improve and not regress, Shields and Gonzo can hold up the end of the rotation, and that Q and Sale continue to dominate and avoid the injury bug. The re-tooling and hoping will most likely not work. The rebuilding will then begin in earnest at the trade deadline next year. I know it's a pipe-dream, but I would like a totally new front office to handle the rebuild. Hopefully the Sox can be competitive again by 2019-2020. Things obviously could have been much better since 2008, but this organization is too stubborn to stick with any sort of logical plan. Hahn and company really screwed up in the offseason prior to 2015.