Cubs 8, Braves 3

In Postgame by berselius277 Comments

OSS: Cubs get some clutch hits, cruise to victory against another playoff contender.

Three up:

  1. Willson Contreras had the two biggest hits of the day by WPA, driving in the Cubs first two runs by homering in the second inning and knocking in Javy on a RBI single in his next PA. He also prompted a kerfuffle with his first HR to to words /gestures exchanged with Tyler Flowers and/or the Braves dugout. The crowd certainly let Flowers have it when he struck out in the next inning.
  2. We got good Jon Lester in this one, striking out seven with no walks in six innings. He did give up two unearned runs in the sixth thanks to a David Bote error, but the Cubs were up 7-0 by that point.
  3. Jason Heyward had a two hit day, including a ground rule double that just missed being a back to back HR with Willson. He later did make it over the fence in the eigth inning.

Three down:

  1. Tony Barnette made his Cubs debut after being activated off the 60 day IL, and gave up a HR to the first batter he saw. Welcome to the Cubs bullpen! He was actually pretty solid with the Rangers in the past, posting sub-3.00 ERAs in two of his three seasons there.
  2. Steve Cishek came in to close out the game with a five run lead, which *shrug*. I guess Kimbrel’s arrival is imminent.
  3. No off-day for the Cubs for another week and a half. Thanks schedule makers! Somehow they are ahead of the Brewers in games played now.

Next up: Max Fried takes on Adbert Alzolay at 7:05 PM CT. Fried was on fire early in the year and shut down the Cubs as a part of the sweep in Atlana, but he’s looked more human of late.

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  1. Author
    berselius

    By Grabthar’s Hammer, somehow I did not realize that the Brewers have a negative run differential on the season.

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  2. dmick89

    We’ll probably never know what happened between Willson and Flowers, but that was weird. I don’t want to sound biased, but it almost seems like Flowers had to have said or done something for Willson to turn around like that and immediately taunt him and then the dugout.

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  3. dmick89

    So I’m guessing Kimbrel pitches tonight and tomorrow and is recalled on the 28th if all goes well. That would be twice he’d have pitched on back to back days.

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  4. andcounting

    dmick89,

    He definitely did, basically commenting on Willson complaining about a strike call. Like batters aren’t allowed to complain about strike calls. He griped about another player complaining about a strike call. Then he acted surprised when his dumb fucking face got pointed at by the superior catcher who just homered despite Flowers’ ignorant-ass dumbfuckery. Then in Flowers’ next at bat, he was called out on strikes and complained about the call.

    He doesn’t like Contreras because he’s Hispanic. Everything else is just window dressing.

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  5. Myles

    Man, it’d seem awfully hard to hate Hispanics if you’re a baseball player in 2019, but I don’t doubt that is a component.

    I really wish Curt Schilling’s career was 10 years later than it was because we’d get so, so many moments like this with him. Would just love to see players today dunking on him.

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  6. andcounting

    Myles,

    To take a little less radical angle than my last statement, I don’t think he dislikes all Hispanics, necessarily. But in general someone being of another nationality and culture, particularly someone who doesn’t just try to stay quiet and blend in, tends to increase apprehension in people. Regardless, we know everything Flowers said about the incident is irrational, because he tried to disguise it as something that was out of his control and a product of someone else’s character. At least Willson made it pretty clear he just didn’t like what was said so he got emotional and yelled some things. Flowers acted like he and his team had no choice but to scold Contreras on the field. Because they simply can’t be talked to that way in a professional environment or something. It’s bullshit. Just say you don’t like him and it got overheated.

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  7. dmick89

    I think it’s funny when the opposing team gets upset that someone else acts in a certain way after they hit a home run even if it’s unprovoked. Let the players play and have some fun. Don’t want the guy to act like that? Don’t let him hit it that far. Pretty fucking simple.

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  8. dmick89

    One of the reasons I loved Zambrano was he wore his emotions on his sleeve and so often in this game players are taught to keep those in check. You don’t see that in other sports as much as you do baseball.

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  9. WaLi

    dmick89: You don’t see that in other sports as much as you do baseball.

    I hate bringing race into it, but baseball is probably the most diverse sport there is, at least in the states. I wonder if that has something to do with it.

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  10. Myles

    So just for baseball reasons, the Cubs should probably just cut bait on Addison Russell. He has been worse basically every single year he has been in the league, and he’s not even a replacement-level hitter this year. Every plate appearance he takes is one that David Bote doesn’t get to take (and apparently Robel Garcia), and we need to win games, not develop year-5 guys that have literally never been league-average with the bat. Maybe demote him to AAA if you think he can contribute in the future, but he’s almost certainly going to get non-tendered next year so just get it over with.

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  11. Myles

    I’m also just about ready to call an end to the Carlos Gonzalez experiment. He doesn’t have that much left in the tank. I’d rather put Bryant in the outfield a little more often, play David Bote, and see if CarGo will accept a AAA assignment.

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  12. dmick89

    Myles,

    Considering how it’s looking less and less likely that Zobrist is going to return, there’s really no way that I’d just DFA Russell at this point even considering the off field stuff. The Cubs will need him at SS if Baez gets hurt. They should have an option on him though.

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  13. Urk

    I hate to say it, because I’d like him off somewhere where he isn’t complicating my fandom, but we probably do really need Russell for shortstop depth. But it does seem like it’d be better to have him stashed in Iowa like we would any other defense-first backup shortstop option.

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  14. andcounting

    WaLi,

    It is the most diverse of the big three in the US, in terms of the majority is the smallest, but baseball is the whitest sport around, at least this side of hockey. The NBA and NFL are somewhere in the 70-80% range majority African American. The culture of those sports reflects that. Baseball is still a mostly white sport, so its culture still reflects a kind of stodgy white church who gets upset when anyone so much as stands up and claps.

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  15. andcounting

    JKV,

    He’s got a final-out-in-the-World-Series-no-trade-waivers-or-demotions clause. All they can do is put him on the injured list every now and again.

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  16. Ryno

    So Cole Roederer had a day in A ball, hitting for the cycle plus another double.

    More minor league notes:
    AAA – Robel Garcia continues to rake. His OPS in Iowa is 1.

    AA – The rotation has come back to Earth a bit, but Cory Abbott and Tyson Miller are still intriguing options for the big club. Also, 2017 Alex Lange was promoted to AA and had a decent first outing. I wonder if he was asked to work on a pitch in A+ to start the year.

    A+ – SS Aramis Ademan is holding his own as a 20-year-old.

    A – Roederer is coming around, but the big story at this level is Brennan Davis. At 19, he’s head and shoulders above everyone else at this level with an OPS of .903 (no one else on the team is above .800) and 16 walks to 18 Ks in 84 ABs. He’s making a case to be the organization’s top prospect by season’s end. On the mound, Brailyn Marquez might have the org’s highest upside. 100 mph from the left side has led to 59 Ks in 46 IP this year. His GO/AO of 2.24 looks great too, but the 30 walks are killing him.

    A(SS) – It’s early. ’18 draftee Kohl Franklin has had two pretty good starts, though.

    AZL – ’18 bonus baby Richard Gallardo is off to a good start. If he’s what “they” say he is, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him start next season in South Bend and rocket through the system.

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  17. EnricoPallazzo

    Ryno,

    thanks for this. any news on brailyn marquez? his overall numbers at south bend don’t look great but that doesn’t mean a whole lot.

    EDIT: nevermind, i am an idiot and did not read every word.

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  18. andcounting

    Smokestack Lightning:
    I do not like this Cubs team when it loses.

    I also don’t like this team when they play every goddamn day. They’re in the middle of a stretch from May 31 through July 4 in which they have 34 games and exactly one day off with six trips thrown in for good measure.

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  19. andcounting

    dmick89,

    There is speculation you might not pitch again in the minors. I’m wondering if he might be recalled today. I’m pretty sure Montgomery “got hurt” last night, (dying laughing).

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  20. dmick89

    andcounting: There is speculation you might not pitch again in the minors.

    That’s probably pretty good speculation. I see no reason to believe that I will pitch in the minors. I’m a straight to majors kind of talent.

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  21. dmick89

    It’s possible the site will act a little weird over the next 48 hours. I’m hoping it won’t, but the host switched to cloud servers and I finally got around to changing the IP address over to the cloud.

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  22. andcounting

    Yu throws mid to upper 90s, has a pretty nasty slider, and really good stuff overall. Yeah, he struggles with control pretty consistently, so the inability to get wins makes sense. But I don’t get what makes him so easy to hit homers off of.

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  23. dmick89

    It’s kind of amazing that we’re about 12 weeks into the season and the Cubs have been good for about 4 of them, but are somehow still in first place. I guess it’s a good thing the NL Central sucks.

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  24. Rizzo the Rat

    The fact that the rest of the division is struggling almost makes this more frustrating. The Cubs should be running away with the division.

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  25. BVS

    Washington Post reported that the little girl hit by Almora’s foul ball had a skull fracture and seizures. She was sitting on her Granddad’s lap with her back to game. They have counsel, but aren’t saber rattling right now.

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  26. dmick89

    Rizzo the Rat: The fact that the rest of the division is struggling almost makes this more frustrating

    It makes it a lot more frustrating, but that’s because I think the Cubs have played better than they really are to this point.

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  27. dmick89

    dmick89:
    It’s possible the site will act a little weird over the next 48 hours. I’m hoping it won’t, but the host switched to cloud servers and I finally got around to changing the IP address over to the cloud.

    The change is scheduled for July 1st.

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  28. dmick89

    BVS,

    Any team that doesn’t have netting from foul pole to foul pole by the start of next season should be banned from postseason play. This girl’s life is forever changed because of this. Hopefully she recovers.

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  29. andcounting

    dmick89: It makes it a lot more frustrating, but that’s because I think the Cubs have played better than they really are to this point.

    I think they’ve actually played pretty true to form. They are and will probably wind up being top 5 in the NL in run scoring and run prevention, but not the best in either category. That’s going to keep a team in the playoffs but not make them nearly as fun to watch as a team who dominates either offensively or defensively. They also have a lot of offensive contributors showing up in the top 10 or 15 of a lot of the league leaderboards but nobody at the very top. So the Cubs are a pretty deep team, pretty solid. Definitely above .500. Willson may end up having a career year, but it doesn’t look like anyone else will. So it’s kinda fun, kinda boring, but definitely not OMG THIS TEAM IS UNSTOPPABLE. But it would also be pretty surprising if the team went through a nosedive, especially after Kimbrel joins the bullpen. The trade deadline could make a difference, I guess, but I expect the rest of the year to be mildly frustrating with an off chance of a surprising postseason.

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  30. Author
    berselius

    Pointed out in last night’s radio broadcast, we’re about to roll into July and the Cubs have played the Pirates just three times. Almost 20% of their remaining games are against the Buccos. Yay scheduling.

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  31. Myles

    5 things I’d do if I was commissioner of baseball:

    1. All new stadiums must have retractable roofs at a minimum.
    2. Netting is extended to the foul poles.
    3. Pitchers have to wear face guards.
    4. Players are granted free agency after 8 years if they are drafted out of high school, 7 years if after college, and 7 years if they are an international free agent that signs after their 19th birthday (8 years if before their 19th birthday).
    5. 6 scheduled day-night doubleheaders per team per year (on Sundays) with an off-day immediately following.

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  32. Myles

    The problem is pitchers day’s rest. You could solve that problem by putting the off day in FRONT of the scheduled DH, but I don’t like that idea. Doesn’t make sense from a rest perspective.

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  33. Perkins

    Cubs have the second best run differential in the NL, but it’s less than half that of the Dodgers. Holy shit the Dodgers are good.

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  34. dmick89

    Myles,

    One thing that I’ve thought of for a long time is that there needs to be some changes made to minor league free agency. Currently you get, what, about 6 years in the minors before you’re eligible? I think it’s 6 years, maybe 7 depending on your age when you’re drafted. I’m okay with 6 or 7 years if a player is consistently moving up in the system, but I think any player who is sent to a league they’ve played in for two seasons should become immediate minor league free agents. Obviously we’d have to exclude rehab assignments, but I’d like to see those guys who get stuck at AA given a chance in another organization.

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  35. andcounting

    Myles,

    If it were up to me, I’d just do away with the draft altogether. Recruit people and pay them, figure out contracts. Incoming players become eligible when they declare themselves eligible, and draft day becomes free agency day. You want control of someone for a long time? Sign him to a long contract. Not sure about a kid? Offer him three years, after that he’s a free agent. Want free agency to be less of a big deal? Take away the mystique. Offer it to everyone as soon as they come in. The draft is dumb. I see no reason for it.

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  36. andcounting

    dmick89,

    I’m guessing they make do with five pitchers until the all star break and keep Chatwood and Alzolay along with Lester, Q, and Yu. It’s pretty bad, but I was expecting a rough record through July 4 anyway. This stretch of games the last month plus is murderous.

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  37. SK

    I mean I’d understand if you’d rather get a root canal than listen to Smoltz and Buck saying the world cricket every 30 seconds.

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  38. Rizzo the Rat

    I’ll never regret the Lester signing because of 2016, but the back end of his contract will likely be ugly.

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  39. Rizzo the Rat

    The fan clearly interfered, but there’s no guarantee that catch would’ve been, so that’s just bad luck.

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  40. Rizzo the Rat

    What’s really annoying is that the Reds fan helped the Reds by doing something he wasn’t supposed to do.

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  41. BVS

    SK,

    Maybe. Have a friend in Wolverhampton and could combine baseball with visit. How much are tickets running. Hopefully less than airfare from SC, (dying laughing).

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  42. SK

    BVS,

    Much easier for me to get to, but I did hear the ticket prices were outrageous. I know several guys that went this weekend and will see what kind of feedback I get about the experience.

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  43. BVS

    SK,

    Yeah, definitely post a report. Timing is pretty good in terms of dates. Wouldn’t be surprised if my friend is closer to London anyway by then. Passports are current.

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  44. Author
    berselius

    Weirdly pissed off that Joe is still in this game given how many borderline calls have gone against the Cubs. Yeah shit happens but sticking up for his players is something that Maddon is supposed to be good at.

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  45. WaLi

    Rizzo the Rat:
    What a series by Heyward, though.

    He is by far having his best season in a Cubs uniform (though that isn’t saying much). He also so far has his second highest OPS of his career right now at .834 (highest was his rookie season .849) and is on track to have the second most HR in his career (currently at 14, he had 18 his rookie year and 27 his third year in the league).

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  46. EnricoPallazzo

    andcounting:
    dmick89,

    I’m guessing they make do with five pitchers until the all star break and keep Chatwood and Alzolay along with Lester, Q, and Yu. It’s pretty bad, but I was expecting a rough record through July 4 anyway. This stretch of games the last month plus is murderous.

    hendricks is pitching tomorrow

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  47. Rizzo the Rat

    I haven’t been this annoyed by a two-out, two-strike fastball in the strike zone to the opposing pitcher with the bases loaded since John Lackey in the 2016 NLDS.

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  48. andcounting

    I’m not sure why xBA is a valuable statistic. It assumes batted ball direction is both irrelevant and not skill-driven (by either pitcher, defensive alignment, or batter), which is particularly untrue in an era of advanced defensive shifting. Exit velocity and launch angle are important, but direction is pretty damn important, especially in stadiums with short porches or cavernous power alleys. I’m sure spin of the ball off the bat is important too, but I’m not aware of that being measured.

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  49. WaLi

    andcounting,

    I don’t know if it’s valuable, but it still can be neat when someone gets a game winning hit that shouldn’t have been or losing a game with an out that should have been a hit.

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  50. dmick89

    andcounting,

    I don’t know much about xBA, but I’ve assumed it’s some sort of calculation that includes launch angle, velocity, distance, direction (because each field is different) and distance for fly balls and line drives. I don’t pay a whole lot of attention to it for the same reason I don’t particularly care about the home plate umpire screwing up calls. Over the course of the season, every team is going to benefit from bad calls by the HPU and every team is going to benefit from lucky hits or lucky home runs. I think someone on here recently showed a Rizzo home run with an xBA of about .150 or something.

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  51. WaLi

    Ryno,

    Ronnier Quintero, C, Cubs: Occupying the #6 spot on the boards of both Fangraphs and MLB.com, Quintero will follow Willson Contreras from Venezuela to the Chicago organization. The Cubbies also have a deal with fellow top-ten-ish prospect Kevin Made, a shortstop. Sanchez puts the Quintero deal at $3MM and Made’s mark at $1.7MM. Another Venezuelan backstop, Brayan Altuve, will cost the Cubs another million bucks, seemingly setting up the organization for a search for some added pool money.

    Not saying $3MM on a 16 y/o isn’t a lot, but what are the usual signing amounts for international FA’s? Aren’t their penalties for going over a certain bonus pool?

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  52. Rizzo the Rat

    I remember when Rizzo used to hit the ball in the air more often than he hit it on the ground.

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  53. Ryno

    WaLi,

    Their bonus pool for this year is $5.7 million, so they’re in good shape.

    NYY spent like $5 million on supposedly the next Mickey Mantle. The most CHC has spent on an international signing (not including someone like Coskay Fuckyoudome), is $2.8 million on Eloy.

    So the kid is not like a transcendent talent or anything, but yeah they think really highly of him.

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  54. dmick89

    Ryno,

    They’ll probably end up trading these guys for one year rentals so I have a hard time getting all that excited. I’m expecting Nico Hoerner will be dealt for some left handed bullpen help in the next few weeks.

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  55. WaLi

    dmick89,

    Apparently the rulebook (https://registration.mlbpa.org/pdf/majorleaguerules.pdf) has no rule for what would happen if there is a five-way tie for the division leader (or any five-way tie). The most it has is a Four-Club tie.

    Major League Rules 33(c) has the tie-breaking procedures.

    (1) Division Championship Ties In Which The Non-Division Champion(s) Will Not Qualify For A Wild Card Designation. If Two or more Clubs in a League are tied for first place in a Division with identical winning percentages at the conclusion of the championship season as originally scheduled (including all rescheduled games), and the Club that is not awarded the Division Championship will not be a Wild Card Club, the Commissioner shall award the Division championship as follows:

    (C) Four-Club Tie. If four Clubs are tied for first place in a Division, the Commissioner shall schedule additional championship season games in order to determine the Division championship, as follows:

    (i) The Clubs shall choose a designation as Club “A,” “B,” “C,” and “D” for purposes of Rule 33(c)(1)(C)(ii), as follows:

    Then there are a four subsections for different criteria determining A, B, C, and D teams. I’ll go to the most confusing one:

    (dd) If the four tied Clubs have identical winning percentages in the last half of intraleague games during the championship season, then the Club that first chooses a designation as Club “A,” “B,” “C” or “D” shall be the Club among the four tied Clubs with the higher winning percentage in the last half plus one of intraleague games during the championship season, provided that such additional game was not a game between any of the tied Clubs. The Club among the four tied Clubs with the next highest winning percentage in the last half plus one of intraleague games during the championship season, provided that such additional game was not a game between any of the tied Clubs, shall choose one of the remaining three designations. The Club among the four tied Clubs with the next highest winning percentage in the last half plus one of intraleague games during the championship season, provided that such additional game was not a game between any of the tied Clubs, shall choose one of the remaining two designations. The remaining Club among the four tied Clubs shall be assigned the remaining designation. In the event there is a three-Club tie in the last half plus one of intraleague games during the championship season, provided that such additional game was not a game between any of the tied Clubs, the procedures of Rule 33(c)(1)(B) shall determine the priority of the selections among those tied Clubs. In the event there is a two-Club tie in the last half plus one of intraleague games during the championship season, provided that such additional game was not a game between any of the tied Clubs, then the Club that would be the home Club in a two-Club tie, according to the procedures of Rule 33(c)(1)(A), shall have priority over the other Club in choosing a designation pursuant to this Rule 33(c)(1)(C)(i)(dd).

    If the Clubs remain tied, then the procedure described in Rule 33(c)(1)(C)(i)(dd) of adding the immediately preceding game played by each Club, provided that such added game was not between any of the tied Clubs, and then considering the winning percentages of the tied Clubs over the period from that game through the end of the championship season, shall be continued until one Club emerges with a better winning percentage in that span of games or one Club emerges with a worse winning percentage in that span of games, and the Club that first chooses a designation as Club “A,” “B,” “C” or “D” shall be the Club with such better winning percentage and/or the Club that emerges with such worse winning percentage shall have the last choice, with any three-Club or two-Club ties at any stage of the process resolved according to the procedures of Rule 33(c)(1)(B), in the case of three-Club ties, or according to the procedures of Rule 33(c)(1)(A), in the case of two-Club ties.

    Okay, great. Now that we figured out who is Club A, B, C, and D. How do they play each other?

    (ii) Club “B” shall play one game at the ballpark of Club “A.” Club “D” shall play one game at the ballpark of Club “C.” Each of these two games shall be played on the day after the conclusion of the championship season. The following day, the winning Clubs of each of those two games shall play one game, at the ballpark of Club “A” or Club “B,” whichever has won the game between the two. The site of each game instead may be determined by mutual agreement among the Clubs involved and the Commissioner to keep travel at a minimum. The Commissioner shall award the Division championship to the winner of the third game, which is contested between the winners of the respective first two games.

    I don’t know why they didn’t consider a five-club tie.

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  56. dmick89

    Think about how awesome a 5-way tie could be. A team could go from 1st place to last place any given day or vice versa. It would be awesome and since the Cubs aren’t very good, this is their best shot at the postseason. I think the Cubs will have to get better to deserve to be in a 5-way tie, but maybe they can make a trade or two this month to improve their chances.

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  57. WaLi

    dmick89: Think about how awesome a 5-way… could be. It would be awesome. I … deserve to be in a 5-way

    It’s okay when it’s in a 5-way
    It’s not gay when it’s in a 5-way
    With a Pirate in the middle, there’s some leeway
    The area’s grey in a 1-2-3-4-5 way

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  58. Myles

    Maples seems to be just about out of chances with this organization. Something just isn’t clicking in the majors. Probably the fact that he has horrible control.

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  59. Myles

    I’d start Robel Garcia at SS a few nights to see if he can hack it there in the majors. If he can, you can feel free to eject Addy.

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  60. North Side Pat

    FanGraphs has the Cubs with a 71.7% chance of making the postseason, FWIW, which is the highest in the division. Brewers are next at 50.5%. They do not list odds for a 5-way tie.

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  61. andcounting

    dmick89:
    How many more divorces would it require for the Cubs to sign KB to an extension?

    A few well placed rumors about the Lesters might get it done.

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  62. BVS

    I think if the Cubs can get anything for Maples, they should. Maybe part of a package to Seattle for Dee Gordon. Whatever. I get that power is great, but some command is essential.

    Also the Descalso and Brach experiments should be over too.

    I’d keep Russell for now. He’s hitting better this week and fills the D replacement role pretty well.

    Let’s give Schwarber a day off soon and put Rizzo in leadoff to get him going. Also as KB and JHey feel better then maybe Bote at 3b KB in right JHey in CF and Almora on bench much more. We could probably trade Almora for bullpen help.

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  63. Myles

    As much as I like Maples, I’d cut bait on him too. He has problems this org just isn’t fixing for whatever reason. If you could get anything if value, do it.

    Descalso is useless to this team. If you can get anything for Russell, I’d trade him too.

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  64. BVS

    The DSL Yanks beat the DSL Twins 38 to 2 yesterday. Yankee Luis Velasquez got a save for pitching 4 scoreless innings. Score was 23-2 when he came in. 3h 2b 7k. We should acquire him and promote to the Cubs ASAP as our shutdown, long man reliever.

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  65. dmick89

    BVS: We should acquire him and promote to the Cubs ASAP as our shutdown, long man reliever.

    I think he should be the only option out of the Cubs bullpen.

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  66. andcounting

    Perkins,

    You don’t generally feel that way about players but you do about Kang, or you generally like Kang but today he’s really pissing you off?

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  67. dmick89

    Just saw this on Twitter.

    Most losses in the NL since May 8th:
    Cubs 29
    Dbacks 29
    Mets 29
    Pirates 28
    Cards 27
    Giants 27
    Marlins 27
    Padres 27
    Phillies 26
    Brewers 25
    Reds 23
    Rockies 22
    Nationals 20
    Braves 18
    Dodgers 15

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  68. Smokestack Lightning

    dmick89:
    Just saw this on Twitter.

    Most losses in the NL since May 8th:
    Cubs 29
    Dbacks 29
    Mets 29
    Pirates 28
    Cards 27
    Giants 27
    Marlins 27
    Padres 27
    Phillies 26
    Brewers 25
    Reds 23
    Rockies 22
    Nationals 20
    Braves 18
    Dodgers 15

    Interesting. May 8th was the day Addison Russell was called up.

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  69. dmick89

    Smokestack Lightning,

    The tweet included that bit of info, but he didn’t suddenly make the Cubs suck. They aren’t as bad as they’ve been since then, but are probably still only about a. .500 team. At no point this season have I rethought my 75-80 win prediction. There was a brief moment (about a day or two) where I started to consider it, but then they became the team I knew they always were. (dying laughing)

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  70. andcounting

    Smokestack Lightning,

    They’ve also had 3 off days since then. And, dating back to the last off day they had before May 8, they played 60 games. So, to recap:

    Losses since May 8: 29
    Games since May 2: 60
    Off days since May 2: 3
    Addison Russell PAs: 141

    I’m putting a bit more blame on the 20 games per off day rate myself.

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  71. Author
    berselius

    Given how scarce they’ve been for the past two months, I’m happy the Cubs have an off day tomorrow. But WTF at a Friday off day. The White Sox must be pissed off at pissing away a big revenue night.

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  72. Author
    berselius

    I complained about this earlier this week, but one of my biggest/weirdest complaints about Maddon is that he doesn’t get ejected enough. Glad he actually did in this one.

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  73. Smokestack Lightning

    dmick89: The tweet included that bit of info, but he didn’t suddenly make the Cubs suck.

    That doesn’t sound right to me. Cubs were good before Russell. Since Russell, they’ve been bad. Seems pretty clear he wrecked everything the moment he entered the clubhouse, and none of your macho head games can change that. Even the smallest person can change the course of the future, and on the active roster only Daniel Descalso is listed as shorter.

    Prove me wrong.

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  74. Rizzo the Rat

    dmick89:
    What? The Cubs have a scheduled off day on a Friday?

    That’s no weirder than six teams having a scheduled of day on the fourth of July.

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  75. Berdj Joseph Rassam

    The Cubs are having a decent season and should be in the hunt for the post-season in September. Whether or not they have enough to win the World Series, only time will tell.

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  76. BVS

    Think Bote will add the chin guard to his helmet now like KB has? Or his wife will make him?

    That ought to be as mandatory as foul line nets.

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  77. Ryno

    Walter Luxurious @B2__________
    By your height and weight.. what NFL position would you play?
    6:52 PM – 4 Jul 2019

    Probably only four options for me. Ranked:

    1. Good-sized CB
    2. Slot WR
    3. Kicker
    4. QB, but he won’t last in the NFL with his frame

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  78. andcounting

    dmick89,

    The president of the United States literally thinks there were airplanes involved in the revolutionary war. Not a slip of the tongue. Not a moment of confusion. He’s just that stupid.

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  79. andcounting

    Ryno: Probably only four options for me. Ranked:

    1. Good-sized CB
    2. Slot WR
    3. Kicker
    4. QB, but he won’t last in the NFL with his frame

    Punter, CB, running back.

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  80. andcounting

    In addition to the 5-way divisional tie possibility, the NL wildcard race could be interesting. Only 3 NL teams are as much as 4 games out in the WC standings. What would they do in the case of a 5-way NL Central tie and a 10-way wildcard tie?

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  81. Author
    berselius

    andcounting:
    In addition to the 5-way divisional tie possibility, the NL wildcard race could be interesting. Only 3 NL teams are as much as 4 games out in the WC standings. What would they do in the case of a 5-way NL Central tie and a 10-way wildcard tie?

    Obviously, they would award the Cardinals a few extra competitive balance picks.

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