August 2, 20187 yr Another Cubs’ World Series title might be the absolute bottom before the Era of These Kids Can Play III begins in earnest.
August 2, 20187 yr 10 minutes ago, caulfield12 said: Another Cubs’ World Series title might be the absolute bottom before the Era of These Kids Can Play III begins in earnest. The Cubs have already won over all the casual Chicago fans. I would expect a large majority of remaining WSox fans wouldn't let another Cubs title change their allegiance
August 2, 20187 yr Eloy's batting like .330 in the minors. And yeah, win and the fans come back. It's a tried and true strategy for larger market teams.
August 2, 20187 yr 1 hour ago, AustinIllini said: Eloy's batting like .330 in the minors. And yeah, win and the fans come back. It's a tried and true strategy for larger market teams. i think for the Sox it needs to be win AND have the cubs start to fade.
August 2, 20187 yr 1 minute ago, ptatc said: i think for the Sox it needs to be win AND have the cubs start to fade. I agree. I'm rooting hard for the Cubs to win 84-86 games the next few seasons. Nothing could change the casual fan's mind better than the Sox starting to rise and the Cubs stagnating in mediocrity.
August 2, 20187 yr Sox actually do hit critical mass and win 2+ World Series. Sox beat the Cubs in the World Series These are literally the only ways the Sox can win over mass amounts of new and/or casual fans. Most of the current generation is fucked. My one buddy at work was old enough to be stoked when the Sox won in 05, but still ended up a Cubs fan. The Cubs have beaten the Sox handily at winning over the majority of the Chicago fanbase, and it will take decades to repair the damage that's been done to the Sox fanbase. This may sound crazy, but it might be an absolute must that this rebuild works, for the sake of the Sox future in Chicago. I don't know how sustainable it will be for the Sox to fail at the rebuild and as a result continue to draw like they currently do.
August 2, 20187 yr 3 hours ago, Buehrle>Wood said: We cant get worse than this very moment. Right? This is probably the 5th or 6th game this season that prompted that question. So, probably not. Very little pitching.
August 2, 20187 yr 22 minutes ago, Tony said: It may sound dramatic because that’s what it is. Overly dramatic. If the Sox put together a 90 win team, make the playoffs, then follow up that season with a great first half, the park will be full most of the summer. I have zero doubt about that, and it has nothing to do with what the Cubs are doing. A 90 win playoff team, followed by a great first half would indeed produce results similar to 05 and 06. But they are also results of a somewhat successful rebuild, which I allured to in my post. This would be great to awaken the current Sox fanbase. If the rebuild proves unsuccessful (a big if since I believe it will be successful), it will be bad for the Sox to produce fewer new fans, as well as continue to draw like they currently do. Somehow people got on the subject of casual fans and I wanted to offer my thoughts on what it would take to win them in part of my post, which is why part of my post was about the Cubs. The final sentence, the overly dramatic part, is 100% on the Sox to pull off. Since we're playing with hypotheticals, I don't want to say it's overly optimistic that the Sox will draw better if they have a 90 win playoff season and then a great first half of the next year. Just as I wouldn't say it's overly dramatic that if the Sox fail at this rebuild, then they will have even more digging to do to get them out of this hole they are in, which is basically what I was saying.
August 2, 20187 yr 4 hours ago, Tony said: It may sound dramatic because that’s what it is. Overly dramatic. If the Sox put together a 90 win team, make the playoffs, then follow up that season with a great first half, the park will be full most of the summer. I have zero doubt about that, and it has nothing to do with what the Cubs are doing. Agreed. It's already full on the weekends. Last weekend it was packed with Toronto...kind of a nobody team to watch especially with no Donaldson.
August 2, 20187 yr 1 hour ago, Scoots said: Agreed. It's already full on the weekends. Last weekend it was packed with Toronto...kind of a nobody team to watch especially with no Donaldson. I was at the game on Sunday and there were tons of Toronto fans that helped fill the park up. Their fans travel well apparently.
August 2, 20187 yr 8 hours ago, ptatc said: i think for the Sox it needs to be win AND have the cubs start to fade. I'm 56 and the Cubs have always had more fans. Just start winning and every thing will be okay.
August 2, 20187 yr When we are talking about baseball and the state of the team, how does it turn into a conversation about the Cubs, fans in Chicago and if the Sox will move or not? It sounds like a conversation for after the Cubs win their next World Series.
August 2, 20187 yr To answer the question of is this rock bottom, I will be 100 percent honest and say this is the least interested I've been in Sox games in probably since I started watching in 04. (Still follow the prospects on the daily and watch Moncada/Anderson/Gio/ReLo highlights.) But, it's just really hard to get interested in this big league team right now. It's the same thing every day almost, then you get the occasional comebacker against the Jays, which I just so happened to be watching. But a die hard fan such as myself starts to become disinterested, even though I know what the future holds for the team, yeah I would say it's rock bottom. Until Eloy and Kopech come up.
August 2, 20187 yr I haven’t watched a lot of games this year, but I would ask what all of you were expecting this year. I expected regression from Covey, although I thought Lopez, Giolito and Moncada would have better years. There’s so many prospects (lots of arms) coming up and there’s reason to believe there will be improvement next year that we should be optimistic. I didn’t think they would be a .500 team this year, although I thought they’d get at least 65-70 wins, so if people are judging by their record then I’d get it, but we would have to think there would be some rough patches and development with the young players up this year.
August 2, 20187 yr As we speak the Sox are playing to a .346 winning percentage which would give us a 56-106 year end record which would tie the 1970 team for the worst record in Sox history, with our horrible pitching I say we won't reach the 56 wins and probably end up at 50-112. We still have games with the Yankees, Red Sox and Cubs who will show no mercy on us.
August 2, 20187 yr 8 hours ago, Tony said: It may sound dramatic because that’s what it is. Overly dramatic. If the Sox put together a 90 win team, make the playoffs, then follow up that season with a great first half, the park will be full most of the summer. I have zero doubt about that, and it has nothing to do with what the Cubs are doing. Attendance is the most predictable thing in the world when it comes to Sox fans. Like it or not, the Sox are on the more bandwagon end of professional sports. It isn't as bad as a place like Cleveland, but it is pretty bad. They desert in large numbers when the team is bad, and show up out of the word work when they are good. History clearly shows that. Chicago loves a winner, and the Sox are no different.
August 2, 20187 yr I think the next 55 games will be rough. So don't know if this is rock bottom. But I expect the Sox to be MUCH improved in 2019. Probably not contention improved, but at least flirt with .500 for most of the year. Edited August 2, 20187 yr by ChiSox59
August 2, 20187 yr 1 hour ago, The Mighty Mite said: As we speak the Sox are playing to a .346 winning percentage which would give us a 56-106 year end record which would tie the 1970 team for the worst record in Sox history, with our horrible pitching I say we won't reach the 56 wins and probably end up at 50-112. We still have games with the Yankees, Red Sox and Cubs who will show no mercy on us. Last year after the trade deadline I looked at that roster and couldn't figure out how they were going to win a game. They had an early August losing streak IIRC, but then snapped off an actual winning streak and played .500 baseball for a stretch.
August 2, 20187 yr To the point of the thread, I think it might be getting better from this week. This may be the bottom point.
August 2, 20187 yr Things can always be worse. Just ask the Cleveland Browns or Detroit Lions fans. LOL Everyone, including me, who howled for a full rebuild had to be prepared for times like this.
August 2, 20187 yr 28 minutes ago, tonusaitis said: Things can always be worse. Just ask the Cleveland Browns or Detroit Lions fans. LOL Everyone, including me, who howled for a full rebuild had to be prepared for times like this. The same people who howled for a rebuild are the same people on twitter and on here that show zero semblance of patience for Eloy and Kopech, the cornerstones of the rebuild along with Moncada.
August 2, 20187 yr I, I'm a new day rising I'm a brand new sky To hang the stars upon tonight I am a little divided Do I stay or run away And leave it all behind? It's times like these you learn to live again It's times like these you give and give again It's times like these you learn to love again It's times like these time and time again
August 2, 20187 yr 1 hour ago, raBBit said: To the point of the thread, I think it might be getting better from this week. This may be the bottom point. Well I guess I'll be the one to ask since it's your usual cryptic post. Do you know something we don't ?
August 2, 20187 yr The major league roster will tell you where we are. As long as only the tip of the iceberg in terms of rebuild talent is in Chicago, it is going to be bad. There are literally 3 of the bigger pieces here. The rest are still fighting their way through the minors. Until we clear out the placeholder talent, it will be bad. But again, that is what a rebuild looks like. It takes time for these guys to get here, learn on the job, and figure out how to win.
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