I Don't Care What The Cubs Do Anymore (Mostly/Sorta)

[owbc]

We always seem to match up well with the Diamondbacks. I offer no explanation.

If we're going to play the NL East, I'd rather have the Mets. Philly is the more talented team and would probably win a slugfest at Citizen's Bank Park. I would consider holding Ben Sheets back to game 3 in Milwaukee rather than risking him giving up 3-run bombs in that bandbox. Not only that, but I could see us getting baffled by Jamie Moyer, costing us the short series. The Mets will probably finish strong, but besides Wagner, we could take advantage of their bullpen. I also refuse to count the Marlins out, and we did finish 0-6 against them this year, so that's another team that I would preferrably avoid if they pull another miracle and sneak in the the playoffs.

Without any injuries, it's hard to make a case for the Brewers catching the Cubs, but I'm still not sold on the Cardinals and would much rather cheer for the Cubs to lose. I wouldn't mind them having to play the Diamondbacks again, Chase Field has been a house of horrors for the Cubs. The Dodgers already had good pitching, so a Cubs/Dodgers series could result in some low scoring games that could go either way. Still, I would favor the Cubs over anyone in the NL.

Edit (sorry for putting two unrelated ideas in one post):

This "hot streak" debate has me intrigued as well. If a hot streak increases your odds of winning, then it seems to me that the "hotter" you get, the more likely you are to win games and continue your streak. Clearly, this isn't the case, since all streaks eventually come to an end. Last year, the Rockies steamrolled over teams for a full month, but it didn't matter when they played the clearly superior Red Sox. What about the Brewers' streak 2 weeks ago? When did they become officially "hot"? Was it after the Giants' series? In the middle of the Cardinals' series? I didn't even think they were that hot at all, they just rode a wave of good pitching and took advantage of a poor St. Louis bullpen. Even if they did build some sort of momentum, it certainly didn't help them this week.

Hot streaks are sample variance, but when a player is seeing the baseball well, he's going to get more hits for an extended period of time. This also affects the players around him, as the opponents will pitch differently to them--for example, Hart and Braun will be pitched differently today due to Fielder's HR streak compared with a week ago. However, this shouldn't affect the Brewers' odds of winning today's game. You never know when the hot streaks are going to begin and end. If Campillo pitches well today, it doesn't matter how well Fielder has been hitting. In addition, if Fielder lets his success get to his head, he could start swinging at bad pitches today and go 0-4 with 3 K. You just don't know. Thus, streaks can only be looked at in the past tense and offer no prediction of future performance.

[Fear The Chorizo]

specific to this thread title - I definitely still care what the Cubs do, since they are the only team still in front of Milwaukee for the division lead. 4 games is a good working margin, especially with how good a team they are, but all it takes is a 2 bad series from them and all of a sudden that lead is 2 games or less.

 

I will definitely be a bit more torn when the Cubs play the Cardinals, Phillies, Mets, and Marlins, but as long as Milwaukee stays within 3-5 games of the Cubs in the standings and maintains the lead in the wild card race, I'm rooting for the Cubs to come back to the pack a bit as long as they're not losing those games against the other contending teams. I'd rather maintain contact with the division lead to give the Brewers 2 ways into the playoffs than be happy with leading the wildcard only to watch some team the Brewers don't play as much get red hot and overtake them.

 

The way the schedules set up, both Milwaukee and Chicago could go on a pretty good tear to put some distance between them and the other playoff contenders - that will serve both of them well for September. The Cards, Marlins, Phillies, and Mets are all quality teams, but they play each other a good amount, especially the NL East teams. After watching the Cubs sweep the Brewers at home in a four game set, nothing would be sweeter than taking 2 of 3 from them at wrigley and casting doubt on their playoff chances heading into that 7 game roadie in Shea and at Miller Park.

[SeriesFinale]

I'm finally coming around to the acceptance that the Brewers path to the playoffs will be the Wild Card.

 

Even after their disgusting capitulation to the Cubs at MP a couple weeks back I held out hope that the Brewers could still give them a run for the division; however, in the two weeks since the Brewers have gone 10-3 (9 games of which were on the road) but with a loss tonight could still end up a half-game behind where they were after the 4-game sweep. That's tough.

 

That train's just chugging away in Chicago and I finally believe the Brew Crew doesn't have the gas to get them...in the regular season at least.

[naivin]

Yeah, I already said it somewhere on this board, perhaps in this thread...I don't see us catching the Cubs. They're just better, and that's ok. I'll worry about them when we play them in October (assuming they get past the DBacks or Dodgers).

[brewmann04]

cubs sold their soles to the devil i believe but the brewers need only to worry about the wild card

[Godspeed]

cubs sold their soles to the devil i believe but the brewers need only to worry about the wild card

Not wearing shoes is going to put the Cubs at a serious disadvantage though...

If that's truly the case then I'm confident that the division will be there for the taking!

[SeriesFinale]

cubs sold their soles to the devil i believe but the brewers need only to worry about the wild card

http://www.hallobay.com/images/2004/SH_Bear_fish_2L.jpg

Old Scratch really had to run a hard bargain for the Cubs to give them up, too.

 

[hawing]

'Tis no team; 'tis a remorseless come-from-behind machine.

[Gobias Industries]

Next 9 games against CIN, WAS, and PIT for the Cubs. Pretty unfortunate. Let's just hope we can keep a lead on the wildcard.

[joepepsi]

I have to give them credit. They sweep the Brewers and sit 5 games ahead. The Brewers then spend the next two weeks playing great baseball and lose a half game in the standings. Unbelievable. Never thought I'd say it this year, but now I agree: focus on the wild card and let the Cubs runaway with their 120 win pace.

[jhart05]

Still a lot of baseball left to play.

 

The cub could still choke it up.

 

I'd be fine with the Wild Card thou.

[bigredrobbo]

Here's how it plays out, IMO.

 

Cubs relentlessly plod along to a division title.

 

Brewers draft in their wake to get the wild card.

 

Cubs meet D'Backs (which scares Cubfans silly, believe me) with similar results to last year.

 

Brewers and Phillies meet. Brewers squeak it in 5.

 

Brewers lose to Webb twice, but beat Haren and Randy Johnson (on 4 McClung homers!), narrowly winning the series.

 

Brewers lose against whatever behemoth the AL throws up.

 

So close, so very very close...

[cubfan1126]

Cubs meet D'Backs (which scares Cubfans silly, believe me)

While they have 2 top notch pitchers, meeting them does not scare me silly. Nor does meeting anybody else.

[joepepsi]

I expect the Dodgers to win the West.

[lcbj68c]

I hope the Cubs beat the Phillies today. I've always looked at what STL and the NL East2 do before the Cubs. I hope the Cubs and Brewers get their spots solidified as soon as possible. Get our rotation in order and rest up for the playoffs. Anybody who is still holding out hope for an NL Central Title, god bless you.

[lcbj68c]

I expect the Dodgers to win the West.

I don't think so. I realize this was said two weeks ago, but ARZ's pitching is just too strong and far and away better than LAD. Manny Ramirez's 100ab's won't change that.

[trwi7]

I'm pretty much done following the Cubs right now unless they're playing the Brewers or a wildcard contender. They're a very good team and I don't think we'll be able to catch them. So I hope the Brewers beat 'em at Wrigley and then the Keg to end the season and the Cubs beat the Cardinals when they play.

[rluzinski]

As small as it is, the chances of the Brewers catching the Cubs is still greater than both Philli and the Mets finishing ahead of the Crew. Gotta root for a Cubs loss. Besides, I'd rather the Brewers play Philli in the first round, rather than the Mets.

[lcbj68c]

Not me. We already took 2 of 3 at Shea this season. I like the CC vs Santana matchup and every matchup thereafter. You'd rather face Victorrino, Utley, Howard, etc? Give me David Wright, Beltran, and an aging Delgado any day.

[Postseason2006]

Cubs looking for a loss finally...

[pitchleague]

the "aging" Carlos Delgado has 30 HR and an .850 OPS.

 

Still, it is a surprise . . . . .