Weather - advantage Brewers?

[homer]

Just spitballing about this since I'm home all day and bored....

 

Cubs have had three games postponed. One is to be made up on an otherwise off day on May 14, another as part of a double header on May 19 (the other as part of a doubleheader on July 21). So instead of 9 games in 10 days in mid May (with an off day after game three) the Cubs have 11 games in 10 days with no off day.

 

How that affects their bullpen remains to be seen but I'll take any little advantage I can find.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

Yeah, I am interested in how having lots of early delays impacts a team. I am guessing there are proprietary analytics on that, but I haven't seen anything in the public realm.

 

I would guess playing fewer DHs is a very slight advantage over the course of multiple seasons. I would think not meaningful in one season, but who knows?

[KeithStone53151]

I agree it's an advantage. It will especially be fun if their pitching staff has an injury or two, and they have to go to their black hole of a minor league system and find someone to throw what will basically amount to BP.

 

I know it's early, but my call of their pitching in general struggling this year has been spot on. Their SP ERA is 3rd worst in all of baseball, and their SP WHIP is dead last. Good thing they spent all that money on Darvish and Chatwood...

[bill hAll Star]

I agree it's an advantage. It will especially be fun if their pitching staff has an injury or two, and they have to go to their black hole of a minor league system and find someone to throw what will basically amount to BP.

 

I know it's early, but my call of their pitching in general struggling this year has been spot on. Their SP ERA is 3rd worst in all of baseball, and their SP WHIP is dead last. Good thing they spent all that money on Darvish and Chatwood...

 

Well, their bullpen has been fine and/or good.

 

We'll see if the likes of Darvish, Chatwood, Lester, Quintana all continue to be much worse than career norms. This may be about where Chatwood ends up, wouldn't be a surprise. The rest I think will get back on track, even if Lester is a bit more of 2017 Lester rather than previous years. Some of the starters like Lester have some tough BABIPs that will even out soon I'm sure.

[CrewFanBrewMan69]

I agree it's an advantage. It will especially be fun if their pitching staff has an injury or two, and they have to go to their black hole of a minor league system and find someone to throw what will basically amount to BP.

 

I know it's early, but my call of their pitching in general struggling this year has been spot on. Their SP ERA is 3rd worst in all of baseball, and their SP WHIP is dead last. Good thing they spent all that money on Darvish and Chatwood...

I'm guessing unless there's injuries they are pitching through (which I doubt since their velocity seems in line with career averages) I'm guessing all them will start pitching closer to career norms than what they've done their first 2-3 starts this year. I still expect Chatwood to be a really solid 5 since he's out of Coors, but you never know. They also have had some crazy extra rest and this early in the season maybe that's not a good thing for starters since their routines get screwed with.

 

Either way I know this weather is way out of the norm but MLB should do a better job scheduling more games in domed cities/south/west stadiums until the last week of April or so. Also just make every new stadium require a dome/roof of some sort. Thank god we have a roof.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

The problem with scheduling games in warm places early is that everyone wants more home games after school lets out. June, July, and August are still baseball months, so I wouldn't want Milwaukee playing fewer home games in the summer given how much the Brewers rely on attendance.

 

Really, any disincentive is going to come from the clubs themselves. The Cubs can afford early washouts. The Twins not as much. And, really, Minnesota is the troubled team here. You cannot reliably play baseball in early April in Minneapolis. Every other outdoor city can probably just budget a few rainouts and know it is year to year, but MN is playing DHs all the time. Their fault, really. The Pohlads wouldn't pony up for a roof, and now it is going to cost the team in terms of attendance and home games played elsewhere and taxed bullpens.

 

The roof on Miller, despite its periodic issues and odd aesthetic, was a fantastic investment by the Crew and the taxpayers, at least in a baaeball sense.

[chuckiehacks]

 

Either way I know this weather is way out of the norm but MLB should do a better job scheduling more games in domed cities/south/west stadiums until the last week of April or so. Also just make every new stadium require a dome/roof of some sort. Thank god we have a roof.

 

The problem with that is that teams like MKE will get a disproportionate number of early season home games. I'm sure they would prefer home games in the summer when the weather is nicer, and more importantly, kids are out of school.

[owbc]

This kind of April weather is quite unusual--especially the extent and duration. I wouldn't make any long term decisions based on it. The climate is only going to get warmer. Miller Park should have air conditioning.

 

These kind of events are forecast well in advance now so any of these teams (e.g. Minnesota) could have moved their weekend series to Milwaukee. But they can just reschedule for the summer and get a decent crowd then.

 

That said, even the Blue Jays' indoor game got canceled because of falling ice poking a hole in their roof.

[homer]

Please refrain from any posts about climate change. Thanks.

[MrTPlush]

Miller Park does not need A/C. That kind of thing is incredibly expensive. Nowhere near the handful of games where you wish you had it. I’ve been to so many games and never once complained. Whether that heat or the sticky feeling when it is closed due to rain.

[jerichoholicninja]

The Cubs can just make up a rainout whenever they want so no disadvantage for them.

[KeithStone53151]

I agree it's an advantage. It will especially be fun if their pitching staff has an injury or two, and they have to go to their black hole of a minor league system and find someone to throw what will basically amount to BP.

 

I know it's early, but my call of their pitching in general struggling this year has been spot on. Their SP ERA is 3rd worst in all of baseball, and their SP WHIP is dead last. Good thing they spent all that money on Darvish and Chatwood...

 

Well, their bullpen has been fine and/or good.

 

We'll see if the likes of Darvish, Chatwood, Lester, Quintana all continue to be much worse than career norms. This may be about where Chatwood ends up, wouldn't be a surprise. The rest I think will get back on track, even if Lester is a bit more of 2017 Lester rather than previous years. Some of the starters like Lester have some tough BABIPs that will even out soon I'm sure.

 

They certainly won't be as bad as they've been, but I could see Lester/Quintana especially not bouncing back fully. Both have a ton of innings on their respective arms, it wouldn't surprise me if their stuff was generally not as sharp. I'm not sure I trust fangraphs numbers, I tracked one Lester start and he was much more 89-90 than 91-92 that they are reporting. It could be that specific start I suppose.

 

Yes their bullpen is solid, that was always going to be the case. They are solid 1-7 in the bullpen, but any injuries will be a huge problem as their next man up options are sub-replacement level at best.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Lol at the cubs having to postpone another home game due to weather...this is going to impact them alot when their scheduled offdays vanish and scheduled single game dates turn into doubleheaders later this year - going to have to give starts to arms not currently in their rotation, and their options to take those starts are less than sparkling to say the least.

[xisxisxis]

With the way they are playing I would much rather have them playing these games and losing more than they win then having them make them up when they actually are a good team again...

[Fear The Chorizo]

With the way they are playing I would much rather have them playing these games and losing more than they win then having them make them up when they actually are a good team again...

 

I get that point, but I also think piling up a ton of games later in the season is going to be worse longterm for their talented but thin roster - particularly on the pitching front. Those July-August off days are like gold for MLB teams in that 80-130 game window, and the more games they need to play during that period, the more they're going to have to rely on their biggest weakness (lack of depth). I also think part of why they are struggling early this year by their presumed standard is how uneven their schedule has been to date - tons of rainouts, took them the longest to get a home opener and many of those initial home games were rained/snowed out.

[brewcrewdue80]

Now that it has reached 4 games I think you can assume an advantage. There will be more rainouts with summer T-Storms, you are eliminating off days and forcing double headers at a time the Cubs are healthy and should be fresh. Mid-season down the stretch 10day DL stints by their good players while having 11 or 12 games in that time should lead to more losses.

 

But it's the Cubs, and I'll guess they'll find a way to not play all 162 games if they don't need it to make the playoffs.