I Can't Believe the Standings

[Dead Simmons]

Might be getting ahead of things but I love that potential divisional round matchup with the Nationals while the Dodgers are stuck facing one of their talented NL West rivals.

Yeah, except the Rockies are in free fall and LA just swept AZ after my lowly Cards beat 'em a series. The Dodgers are the best team in the world right now!

[pacopete4]

The standings are fun to look at. Especially the what if.

 

If the Brewers basically play .500 ball in the second half going 36-35 in the remaining 71 games it would take the rest of the division to play the following to match their 86 wins:

 

-Cubs & Cards (43-45): Would need to have a winning % of .581 with a record of 43-31 over their last 74 games to match 86 wins.

-Pirates (42-47): Would need to have a winning % of .603 with a record of 44-29 over their last 73 games to match 86 wins.

 

Just tossing it out there to show that this division can be won.

[rcc]

The division can be won if the Cubs can't get it going and the others play like the first half. Stearns has done a fantastic job with this club.

 

I choose to overlook Feliz.

 

Looking at the standings today I am very happy.

[Dead Simmons]

The division can be won if the Cubs can't get it going and the others play like the first half. Stearns has done a fantastic job with this club.

 

I choose to overlook Feliz.

 

Looking at the standings today I am very happy.

Yep, who 'da thunk it? Cubs/Cards below .500 at the break? Brewers back to wall banging...nobody saw that coming.

 

The Bucs dropped 10 in the 1st on Lester Sunday. It's going to be a long 3 days for those North Siders. I have to share one of those "I never saw that before" moments: We have a rook, De Jong, who's tearing the cover off the ball and with Wong out has been getting lots of AB's. Anyway, on Saturday he's playing SS close to the bag with a man on 1st. He gets a tailor made DP ball...now get this: instead of stepping on the bag and firing to 1B, he inexplicably steps OVER the bag and starts to chase the runner back to first! The guy is briefly in a rundown with the batter standing on first, scratching his head, along with everybody in the park.

 

Fortunately for the kid, he went something like 10 for 12 with 7 XBH in the 3 game series vs. the Mets. Oh well...it's going to be a very interesting 2nd half in the Central.

[JohnBriggs12]

The teams to worry about are the Cardinals and Pirates both of whom have better starting pitching than the Cubs do.

[brwrsfan]

I tend to worry about all of them if they're within 10 games of us - but my immediate focus is always on the teams directly behind us (at least until the lead is only 1-2 games). So right now, it's the Cubs and Cardinals.

 

More importantly though, the Brewers just need to win their own games. If we just keep winning, taking series, avoiding the long losing streaks, we'll be fine. We need to play well and win games against the teams at the bottom of the standings - like the Phillies coming out of the break. We still have two series with the Nationals, one with the Dodgers, Rays and Twins. So I'd expect we have some losses coming there. And probably the most important thing of all, is that we have to do well against the divisional teams. We still have 12 left with the Pirates, 10 with the Cubs and 8 with the Cardinals. The season very well might come down to how we perform in those 30 games.

[Dead Simmons]

The teams to worry about are the Cardinals and Pirates both of whom have better starting pitching than the Cubs do.

 

These words prove prophetic! The Cubs are not going to win the Central easily. Call it a hangover, the league figuring out those hot rookies or Maddon going senile. As you know, except for the Reds, the Central is basically a .500 division.

 

Are any of us going to beat the Nationals and then the Dodgers???

[adambr2]

The teams to worry about are the Cardinals and Pirates both of whom have better starting pitching than the Cubs do.

 

These words prove prophetic! The Cubs are not going to win the Central easily. Call it a hangover, the league figuring out those hot rookies or Maddon going senile. As you know, except for the Reds, the Central is basically a .500 division.

 

Are any of us going to beat the Nationals and then the Dodgers???

 

Probably not. But someone will get a shot at the Nationals.

 

The Rockies and Diamondbacks seem to be holding fairly steady for the 2 WC spots. I think assumptions of the Rockies' demise may have been exaggerated a bit. Barring a total collapse by either I think it's division or bust for everyone in the Central.

[OnaBadger58]

The Rockies and D backs have a lot of games against each other and the Dodgers. Both teams have a good lead, but I think the Brewers have an outside shot at the WC still.

[MrTPlush]

If we catch the second wild card we are probably divisional leaders at that point. We are 6 games back on the wild card spots. With 40ish games left that is a heck of a lot of ground to pick up.

[OnaBadger58]

If we catch the second wild card we are probably divisional leaders at that point. We are 6 games back on the wild card spots. With 40ish games left that is a heck of a lot of ground to pick up.

Agreed, but the Rockies have 14 games against the Dbacks/Dodgers and 3 against the Brewers still.

[MrTPlush]

If we catch the second wild card we are probably divisional leaders at that point. We are 6 games back on the wild card spots. With 40ish games left that is a heck of a lot of ground to pick up.

Agreed, but the Rockies have 14 games against the Dbacks/Dodgers and 3 against the Brewers still.

 

Agree things can change if one of the wild card holders beats up the other. Or of course we sweep the Rockies etc.

 

Regardless I'd be more focused on the division 2.5 games away vs. a wild card 6 games away.

[MoreTrife]

The teams to worry about are the Cardinals and Pirates both of whom have better starting pitching than the Cubs do.

 

These words prove prophetic! The Cubs are not going to win the Central easily. Call it a hangover, the league figuring out those hot rookies or Maddon going senile. As you know, except for the Reds, the Central is basically a .500 division.

 

Are any of us going to beat the Nationals and then the Dodgers???

 

Of course the Cubs get lucky that Harper goes down and Kershaw is still down. Hopefully that changes come playof time because without those guys the path for the Cubs is much easier. I'm firmly in the anyone but Cubs...or Cardinals haha sorry Dead Simmons.

[pacopete4]

Hey Brewers, you want back in the wild card race? Go sweep Colorado!

[wibadgers23]

Dbacks also in a funk right now and about to lose again tonight. Brewers would be 4 games back if Houston holds on.

[KeithStone53151]

If we can keep winning games, we'll find a way into the playoffs. Whether it's wildcard or division. The cubs have really had a hard time against the reds. Pounded them the first game but lost the 2nd and almost lost last night. Boston is helping us out as well. We likely will at the very least be playing some meaningful September baseball.

[reillymcshane]

Brewers are 1.5 games back of the Cubs, 4 games back of Dbacks, 5 games back of the Rockies. While I wish we were doing better, I'm happy with our chances now. It's about winning now. The pitching has been better over the last month or so, and our bats are waking up. I'll take that scenario going forward. We have pretty tough schedule ahead of us, but I'm good that we are in this fight at this point - let's just keep winning.