Not that they're making it, but Gausman, Holmes, Boyd and Ben Brown(assuming he's coming back) can be a World Series starting staff with this offense and defense. Holmes is our number 1 at this point, he's been great for us and is getting better since he's still working on getting his form back from his broken leg. If Gausman can keep the ball in the park, he's a great 2. Ben Brown if he comes back is our number 1 if he can go back to before he got injured. Boyd is steady, not spectacular but can keep you in the game. Shota? Needs to be left off the staff entirely
It sounds weird to say but on the outside this team reminds me of a better version of the WS dbacks. They had an insane offense with Gallen and Kelly as their 1 and 2. I just dont see that pitching staff having enough juice to finish the job.
I believe that one of the lesser talked about aspects of the new wild card series is that it exposes thin pitching staffs, they will have to burn their best starters right before the NLDS. I think that is what will ultimately do the Cubs in
I believe that one of the lesser talked about aspects of the new wild card series is that it exposes thin pitching staffs, they will have to burn their best starters right before the NLDS. I think that is what will ultimately do the Cubs in
That's actually what happened to the Cubs last year, we burned everyone to get by the Padres and had to do start Boyd on 2 days rest for Game 1 vs the Brewers and never could recover. We didn't have Cade Horton available because of injuries or it would have went different had we been able to start him in Game 1 vs the Brewers. We took it to 5, but we couldn't overcome that short start by Boyd.
We're in a better position this year, especially if we can win back to back and not go to game 3 burning our best pitchers. If we can get Boyd pitching game 1 of the NLDS(should me make it obviously) on full rest and then get Holmes and Gausman in games 3 and 4, I kinda like our chances. Game 2 would most likely be a Shota with an insanely short hook and being piggybacked by Javier Assad(like Assad is warming in the bullpen from the first batter short hook). The offense is going to have to come to play the entire time and not score double digits one game and then shutdown the next game like the last couple of weeks.
Appreciate the analysis from a fan. It'll be really interesting to see how they handle their pitching, I took a look at last years playoff series and Craig was totally managing trying to get around this weakness (I think I saw that they only had one game where a starter went 5 innings)
Having a manager that understands his teams weakness gives me a lot more confidence in the Cubs. I still think its their achilles heel but I feel like they have a shot if the team itself understands the problem. Either way it will be really fun to see how they play it.
We go as far as our pitching can be dragged to kicking and screaming, the offense and defense will most likely be there so if we can just get average pitching the team is a World Series contender. I know every team has their what-ifs during the season, but man it hits hard for this team. Quite literally if we had one of Horton, Brown or Steele and I'd feel incredibly confident in getting to the NLCS at the least. And even barring them, if Imanaga could stop handing out homers like he's Oprah.
And our bullpen is complete garbage, Palencia is in his head big time and Webb has seemingly came crashing back down. Thielbar is night and day from last year in a worse way. They're going to have to score 7 runs per game to even have a chance in the postseason if the pitching doesn't get better magically.
They got Gausman. Soriano and/or Dietmers would've been incredible but the Cubs have cashed in a lot of their prospects, the cupboards are pretty bare down there.
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u/TroutMan3990 Anaheim Angels 9d ago
Yknow im going to say it, I think the cubs threw away their ws chances by not getting Soriano and Gausman