NL CENTRAL PREDICTATRON 2019

glad the Cubs have acquired future HOFer Craig Kimbrel to shut down the opposition.

at least the Mets may finish ahead of the Cubs.

AH, THE PIRATES

YADIER

(first time ive ever posted that)

Kimbrelol

DEJONG

LOL Kimbrel

a perfect final cubs game on WGN

glad the Cubs have acquired future HOFer Craig Kimbrel to shut down the opposition.

― omar little, Friday, 20 September 2019 03:47 (yesterday) link

Or as I said further back in the HOF thread:

Kimbrel looks like he's toast. he had that massive 2017 w/Boston but otherwise the two seasons before and the two since don't seem exactly Rivera-like in terms of consistency and microscopic ERAs. He's a guy that i do not want to see on the hill for the Cubs in an important situation in the World Series (lol?)

Kimbrel threw a meaty fastball up, in Wrigley, in a one run game. And after he got taken deep, he threw exactly the same pitch to the next batter! Juiced ball or not, that's dumb baseball.

Darvish was again incredible...til he wasn’t.

how'd the Pirates win 65 games?

it is a mystery

Assuming the Brewers snatch this WC slot, it's amazing that they gave Travis Shaw 261 PAs (mostly at 3B i think) to the tune of .157/.280/.274.

SLG < OBP is always an amazing accomplishment

not only that but he was constantly coming up during pivotal moments, like it would always be 2 on, 2 out, 1 run game, 8th inning, here's Mr .150

tbh I have no clue what happened to him, he was pretty damn good the last 2 years and he's too young for that sharp of a decline. I wonder if he's been hurt all year.

fire emoji

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-cardinals-lay-waste-to-the-cubs-2019-season

don't want to gloat too much - the cubs could very easily be spoilers to the cardinals hopes to win the division. cardinals get dbags + cubs to end the season. brewers get reds + rockies

for those who might care, wainwright is in line to start the final game of the season, against the cubs. could be his last regular season appearance, if he decides to retire and the cardinals get their asses kicked by the braves/nats

rough inning for the cubs

Brewers officially have a run differential of 0

flaherty looking good as he heads toward the bottom of the seventh

In his 4th Major League start today, Cardinals rookie Randy Arozarena has beaten out an infield single, stolen second, stolen home, thrown out a runner at third base from CF, and homered.

— Andrew Simon (@AndrewSimonMLB) September 25, 2019

rip cubes

positives for the cubs 2019 season - javy maintaining his 2018 breakout, darvish's second half, heyward's best season as a cub, contreras rebounding from his bad offensive season last year, hoerner looks like a viable 2b and leadoff hitter option going forward

biggest problem i think was the feast-or-famine offense, so many 1-run losses and cold streaks

i like a lot of the players but cubs games moving from WGN to the ricketts-owned pay channel next season is going to make it hard for me to be an active fan. going to try and follow the white sox more closely instead.

free agents: hamels, zobrist, castellanos, strop, cishek, lucroy

dudes getting raises: kimbrel (+$6m), hendricks (+$4.5m), bryant/baez/schwarber/russell arb 2, contreras arb 1

i could see them non-tendering russell, although he shouldn't be that expensive

brew crew is on FIRE

it helps that they've been playing the padres, reds and pirates, of course. but still, they've been relentless. next up: the feared colorado rockies, playing for nothing

the cubs' attachment to russell is mystifying to me. a below-average hitter/decent fielder at a position where they already have an mvp candidate. and that's not even factoring in his domestic violence allegations.

and nico hoerner appears to be a viable younger/cheaper/less assholish option

it helps that they've been playing the padres, reds and pirates, of course. but still, they've been relentless. next up: the feared colorado rockies, playing for nothing

true but they had like 10 games vs. the Cardinals in April so that's kinda how it goes

we need a schedule overhaul w/ more intradivision games, and 32 teams to make Howie Rose's head explode

the double-a texas league covers a big geographical area and only has eight teams, so division rivals play each other 30 times a year. it's kinda crazy

Gotta say I enjoyed the division format for threads

same

only division where we have fans of each team?

i will make individual threads for every team not in this division next year

I think Jays and Mets can have individual threads because they have an outsized # of fans on ilx.

cubs need a win this weekend to beat their notorious pecota projection

With Cubs out, Maddon isn't playing his "A" lineup in St. Louis, so @Brewers can start their bitching now: "Of course they're going to bitch, and I get it, but quite frankly, there are certain things I really don't give a shit about, and that would be one of them."

— Paul Sullivan (@PWSullivan) September 26, 2019

maddon otm

anyway his 'A' lineup last won a game 10 days ago, so

I can sense he's on his way to Queens

nah, mets are too cheap. i'm thinking san diego

wonderful catch by almora just now! that was the second time he robbed yadi tonight (first would have been a double, at the top of the wall).

oooooooof what a double finish
limping near the finish line

Happy retirement to Cincinnati Reds HOF announcer Marty Brennaman! I will long treasure his response to a fan's question about his greatest fear from a 2014 "Ask Marty!" segment! pic.twitter.com/2ccu8nvSXs

— ℑ 𝔇𝔬𝔫'𝔱 𝔅𝔩𝔞𝔪𝔢 𝔜𝔬𝔲 (@NickPinkerton) September 27, 2019

Hurdle out

idg why you’d fire someone hours before the final game

Cubs don't appear up to the task

Don’t get rid of Maddon imo

Great opportunity for Mets and Giants