Dreamcast 66: All-Star Edition

In by Rice Cube198 Comments

After the Draft, RC, Berselius, & BVS hang out to talk about the Cubs strategy, the All-Star festivities and what we liked versus what they need to change, and the usual stuff about whether this team is good enough to avoid a sell-off and make a pleasantly surprising postseason run.

You can check out the podcast page or just click on the embedded players below. You can also use the sidebar to get to our Apple Podcast pages and leave a nice review and rating if it pleases you.

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  4. BVS

    Immaculate Grid 102 8/9:
    Rarity: 362
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    Some of the old stand bys are helpful today.

    Pretty sure you can sub Mays for Bonds almost any time, except for Pitt<>SF.

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  5. Author
    Rice Cube

    It sure would be nice if they do this earlier so the Cubs can have a better shot at taking most of the remaining 8 games

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  6. BVS

    No baseball today. Forgot that new contract gave everyone 2 days off after ASG. A good thing for everyone, but it makes today seem like January to me. Except for the blazing heat index.

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  9. BVS

    Rice Cube,

    Suppose so. Walker has really cemented his place in my head yet. I had to look him up. Maybe Paulie goes to SF and then the Giants play Wade more in the OF, where they have tons of injuries.

    It would be funny if the Cards trade Willson and at least to me I’d see that more as a commentary on the Cards than Wilson.

    Assume they’ll gut their SP core, so good. I’d be curious what the Cubs could do with Jordan Hicks, who has also had his run ins with mgt, iirc. Hicks is a FA in 24, wonder what he’d cost.

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  11. berselius

    BVS: I’d be curious what the Cubs could do with Jordan Hicks, who has also had his run ins with mgt, iirc. Hicks is a FA in 24, wonder what he’d cost.

    Obviously no rational basis for this, but I figure that if the Cubs signed Hicks, his elbow would explode as he was signing the contract.

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  14. Author
    Rice Cube

    https://www.mlb.com/news/2024-mlb-schedule

    Cubs
    Opening Day: March 28 at Rangers

    Another season at Wrigley Field will get underway with an April 1-7 homestand against the Rockies and Dodgers. Plenty of intriguing Interleague opponents will make the pilgrimage to Wrigley throughout 2024, including the Astros (April 23-25), who have not played there since 2013, the first season after Houston departed the NL Central for the AL West. An Aug. 16-18 series against the Blue Jays will bring Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s Wrigley debut, while a Sept. 6-8 series against the Yankees will bring back Anthony Rizzo for the first time since his 2021 trade.

    The Cubs and MLB end their regular schedule before October!

    https://www.mlb.com/cubs/schedule/2024-09

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  16. BVS

    Continuing the discussion on attendance from last thread, I could see average age declining somewhat with the new rules if folks are more likely to bring kids to the game since it won’t last as long.

    But it seems disingenuous to be giving all the credit to the new rules vs
    1. Older fan base smaller now because of COVID
    2. Remaining older fan base less likely to come now because of COVID
    2b. Older fan base dropped season tickets because of COVID (even if they gave their tickets away a lot before).
    3. Older fans less likely to attend because of their Abraham Simpson response to the new rules/slash annoyance with the little kids (below) dripping ice cream in their toupees.

    If they released demographics on fan attendance I’d expect significant drops in >70 age group and probably a smaller increase in <12 age group, but the hike in kids, though smaller, would have a pretty big effect on overall average age.

    If that's the case, it's a long-term win for baseball because you might be growing the fan base.

    Anecdotally, Mrs BVS, who likes baseball, is more likely to go see games now that she can still be home in bed by 11:00 pm, including the 45 min drive.

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  19. Perkins

    BVS:
    Rice Cube,

    OV reunion at Wrigley, April 23-25, 2024, to boo the Astros. Bring your Milton Bradley, Jacque Jones, and Darwin Barney shirzees.

    No joke I once had a Joe Borowski authentic jersey. In my defense I bought it for like $40 right after he was DFA-ed so I didn’t spend full price on it.

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  20. berselius

    Perkins,

    My old Soto shirsey finally fell apart after the move earlier this spring. I still have a Zambrano one that I stopped wearing a few years ago to prevent this from happening (dying laughing).

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  22. Perkins

    berselius:
    Perkins,

    My favorite weird cut is still seeing someone in an Cubs Emilio Bonifacio jersey at a DBacks game a few years ago

    I also had a Rich Harden jersey, which is long gone. Think I still have a Zambrano jersey though.

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  23. BVS

    Perkins,

    Borowski was the man. Too bad his arm wasn’t even rubberier.

    I’ve never had a named jersey, but my daughter had a Rizzo Tshirt. It’s long past outgrown. And I think Mrs BVS had a Bryant one. Daughter picked Rizzo because she liked how he ran over the tarp once to get a foul. Also because blondish guys with nice smiles are her thing. Pretty sure Mrs picked Bryant because of his eyes.

    I did have an Ernie Banks wood bat in little league. That’ll age me. (dying laughing). But Ryno has me beat.

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  25. Perkins

    Immaculate Grid 103 9/9:
    Rarity: 161
    IMMACULATE!
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    Lucky guess on Jays/Braves

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  26. andcounting

    Immaculate Grid 103 9/9:
    Rarity: 138
    IMMACULATE!
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    Play at:
    https://immaculategrid.com
    @immaculategrid x @baseball_ref

    By far my favorite guess ever in this game was Ron Santo getting a .08% rarity score in the HOF square.

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  29. andcounting

    Perkins,

    I forgot about Pirate Lee, but for some reason this arrangement of clues reminded me that Joe Carter began as a Cub (I want to say he was part of the deal that sent him and Mel Hall to Cleveland for Suttcliffe).

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  30. BVS

    Immaculate Grid 103 9/9:
    Rarity: 181
    IMMACULATE!
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    A surprising number of Cin+Pit players but only the most common answer had much of a career at both. I didn’t guess him though. I picked one of the more recent “Let’s see if the old vet has anything left in the tank” signings by Pittsburgh.

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  34. Author
    Rice Cube

    So Hollywood is on strike now, at least the actors and writers anyway, hope they can get what they need because the writers have been going at it for what seems like months now and they probably don’t get as much as even bit part actors sometimes…

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  36. Perkins

    Rice Cube,

    Edwin Jackson, Fernando Rodney, and Kenny Lofton are all cromulent answers when you’re out of ideas. Rich Hill is another surprisingly versatile one.

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  37. andcounting

    Perkins,

    Rice Cube,

    The other good Edwin is Encarcion. Charlie Hough is a really good one too. David Ross (and so many lifetime defensive catchers) should be really good too, but I don’t think I’ve ever been confident enough to use him.

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  40. berselius

    Immaculate Grid 103 9/9:
    Rarity: 183
    IMMACULATE!
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    Edwin Jackson WAG paid off (dying laughing)

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  41. berselius

    I used my least favorite player (vibes-wise) for the Barves 300 hitter. Love that B-ref pulled up the most Backpfeifengesicht player portrait for Chipper Jones when it came up (dying laughing).

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  43. berselius

    andcounting,

    I almost put Joe Carter in for the Jays HOFer before realizing that I mixed him up with Gary Carter, who played for a different Canadian team. Took me a while to remember Robbie Alomar.

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  44. berselius

    Perkins: I also had a Rich Harden jersey, which is long gone. Think I still have a Zambrano jersey though.

    I’d buy a Cubs Harden jersey if one ever came across my path – arguing about Rich Harden is what caused me to find ACB so it would be a good nostalgia purchase (dying laughing).

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  47. berselius

    BVS,

    I was pro, but the argument was similar to what Rice is alluding to above – I called him a fifth starter because of how few innings he pitched.

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  48. Perkins

    Harden often burned brightly, but not for very long. He always felt like a 3TO pitcher and I kind of loved it.

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  50. Author
    Rice Cube

    BVS,

    This is my biggest reason for supporting the double hook rule where teams lose the DH if their pitcher doesn’t go at least 5 innings, we need less analytically-driven hooks and more guys who can eat 6-7 innings (dying laughing)

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  51. BVS

    Looking at the jersey comments above I realize that this team doesn’t have the scrappy over-his-head player that is somehow endearing to Cub fans. No Sam Fuld, no Augie Ojeda, no Tony Campana, no Matt Szczurzrzcur.

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  64. andcounting

    There’s been *maybe* one hitter all night that looked like he wasn’t sure what pitch was coming. If Hendricks isn’t tipping his pitches I’ll eat my Ramirez shirsey.

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  68. BVS

    Have you ever seen Jed give an interview in any shirt other than a polo? And most of the time a pastel polo? He clearly shops the Belk’s collection.

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  74. berselius

    Immaculate Grid 104 5/9:
    Rarity: 485
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    Crushed by the 300 W question, though in my defense I did pick the two wins leaders for each franchise (dying laughing).

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  75. Perkins

    Immaculate Grid 104 6/9:
    Rarity: 393
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    Forgot Thome was ever an Oriole.

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  77. BVS

    Immaculate Grid 104 7/9:
    Rarity: 346
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    Filled in old standbys on the bottom row.

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  78. andcounting

    I must have been among the first to play because every guess I made had a score of 100%. (dying laughing)

    And consider this your public service announcement that, although many people know the worst MLB team of all time was the Cleveland Spiders and some are aware they were so bad because the owner of the Spiders also owned the St. Louis Perfectos (OG Cardinals) and traded every serviceable player on the former to the latter, few people remember that Cy Young was one of those traded players. He also later pitched for the next-Gen Cleveland franchise, so he could have worked for either of two tough squares.

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  79. andcounting

    andcounting,

    It’s entirely possible Cy Young never played for a team with a mascot that’s still around, but by my understanding he works as a Cardinal, Guardian, Red Sox, and Brave.

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  81. BVS

    Procrastination behavior alert (I should be painting the guest room).

    Today’s exCubs immaculate grid numbered as on the field to make it extra fun
    Bal KC 300g
    Cle 7 8 9
    NYM 6 1 4
    StL 5 2 3

    7: Borowski, Herman Bronkie, Joe Carter*, Hank Edwards*, Owen Friend, Rollie Hemsley, Rich Hill, Trent Hubbard+, Roy Hughes, Tommy Hunter, Doug Jones, Sam Jones, Grover Lowdermilk, Morrie Martin, Kent Mercker, Bob Moncrief, Dickie Noles, Clay Rapada, Heathcliffe Slocumb, Sutcliffe, Tim Stoddard, Jairo Asencio, Hoyt Wilhelm, Brian Williams, Tim Worrell

    8: Ted Abernathy, Jose Cardenal*, Larry Casian, Dave Clark, Todd Dunwoody*, Grudzielanek, Chris Haney, Trent Hubbard*, Damian Jackson*, Franmil Reyes, Jerry Spradlin, Pat Tabler

    9: nada

    6:Manny Alexander*, Damon Buford, Brad Brach, Chirinos, Tommy Davis, Chuck Estrada+, Mychal Givens, LaTroy Hawkins, Rich Hill, Tommy Hunter, Hobie Landreth, Jim Marshall, Gary Matthews, Chuck McElroy, Randy Myers, Yorkis Perez, Taylor Teagarden, Trachsel, Villar*, Todd Zeile

    1: Miguel Batista,* Jose Cardenal, Tommy Davis, Mike DiFelice (4G, 3AB w Cubs), Kyle Farnsworth*, Terrence Gore, Billy Hamilton, Jerry Martin, Brian McRae, Glendan Rusch*, Rey Sanchez, Pat Tabler, Michael Tucker

    4: zilch

    5: Ethan Allen (pre-war days), Jose Bautista, Sheriff Bronke, Herman Bronkie*, Leo Burke, Dizzy Dean+, Frank Demaree, Jack Harper, Grady Hatton*, Moe Drabowsky, Delino DeSheilds, Rogers Hornsby*, Edwin Jackson, Cesar Izturis*, Sam Jones, Paul Kilgus, Darold Knowles, Hobie Landrith, Dick Littlefield, Grover Lowdermilk, Lee Magee, Morrie Martin, Kent Mercer, Ed Mickelson+, Eddie Miksas*, Ryan Meisinger+, Mike Morgan, Jamie Moyer, Corey Patterson, Del Rice, Ken Rudolph, Johnny Schulte, Slocumb, Miguel Socolovich, Lee Smith, Sutcliffe, Karl Warwick, Hoyt Wilhelm, Todd Zeile*

    2: Ted Abernathy, Miguel Batista, Cardenal, Mike DeFelice,* Frank DiPino, Moe Drabowsky, Rawly Eastwick, Gary Gaetti, Grudzielanek, Jon Jay, Danny Jackson, Lindy McDaniel, Mike Perez+, Ted Savage, Todd Wellemeyer

    3: Grover Alexander

    *Played the same position as number assigned to the grid
    +Only played for the Cubs and the two teams on the grid

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  82. BVS

    BVS:
    Procrastination behavior alert (I should be painting the guest room).

    Today’s exCubs immaculate grid numbered as on the field to make it extra fun BalKC 300g
    Cle789
    NYM6 1 4
    StL523

    7: Borowski, Herman Bronkie, Joe Carter*, Hank Edwards*, Owen Friend, Rollie Hemsley, Rich Hill, Trent Hubbard+, Roy Hughes, Tommy Hunter, Doug Jones, Sam Jones, Grover Lowdermilk, Morrie Martin, Kent Mercker, Bob Moncrief,Dickie Noles, Clay Rapada, Heathcliffe Slocumb, Sutcliffe, Tim Stoddard, Jairo Asencio, Hoyt Wilhelm, Brian Williams, Tim Worrell

    8: Ted Abernathy, Jose Cardenal*, Larry Casian, Dave Clark, Todd Dunwoody*, Grudzielanek, Chris Haney, Trent Hubbard*, Damian Jackson*,Franmil Reyes, Jerry Spradlin, Pat Tabler

    9: nada

    6:Manny Alexander*, Damon Buford, Brad Brach, Chirinos, Tommy Davis, Chuck Estrada+, Mychal Givens, LaTroy Hawkins, Rich Hill, Tommy Hunter, Hobie Landreth, Jim Marshall, Gary Matthews, Chuck McElroy, Randy Myers, Yorkis Perez, Taylor Teagarden, Trachsel, Villar*, Todd Zeile

    1: Miguel Batista,* Jose Cardenal, Tommy Davis, Mike DiFelice (4G, 3AB w Cubs), Kyle Farnsworth*, Terrence Gore, Billy Hamilton, Jerry Martin, Brian McRae, Glendan Rusch*, Rey Sanchez, Pat Tabler, Michael Tucker

    4: zilch

    5: Ethan Allen (pre-war days), Jose Bautista, Sheriff Bronke, Herman Bronkie*, Leo Burke, Dizzy Dean+, Frank Demaree, Jack Harper, Grady Hatton*, Moe Drabowsky, Delino DeSheilds, Rogers Hornsby*, Edwin Jackson, Cesar Izturis*, Sam Jones, Paul Kilgus, Darold Knowles, Hobie Landrith, Dick Littlefield, Grover Lowdermilk, Lee Magee, Morrie Martin,Kent Mercer,Ed Mickelson+, Eddie Miksas*, Ryan Meisinger+, Mike Morgan, Jamie Moyer, Corey Patterson, Del Rice, Ken Rudolph, Johnny Schulte, Slocumb, Miguel Socolovich, Lee Smith, Sutcliffe, Karl Warwick, Hoyt Wilhelm, Todd Zeile*

    2: Ted Abernathy, Miguel Batista, Cardenal, Mike DeFelice,* Frank DiPino, Moe Drabowsky, Rawly Eastwick, Gary Gaetti, Grudzielanek, Jon Jay, Danny Jackson, Lindy McDaniel, Mike Perez+, Ted Savage, Todd Wellemeyer

    3: Grover Alexander

    *Played the same position as number assigned to the grid
    +Only played for the Cubs and the two teams on the grid

    Not guaranteed to be 100% accurate.

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  83. Author
    Rice Cube

    Y’know…if a bunch of angry bloggers on the internet can look up a pitcher and realize he has reverse splits and the Cubs still stack righties, it either means the manager doesn’t care and/or didn’t look things up, or else the reverse platoon guys are pure crap, and actually now that I consider this roster, both could be true

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  97. Author
    Rice Cube

    Pirates lose

    Cardinals winning but Nats vs their bullpen might not be terrible

    Cubs will gain some ground on one of the Brewers or Reds, Milwaukee currently winning

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  98. Perkins

    Immaculate Grid 105 9/9:
    Rarity: 83
    IMMACULATE!
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    I’m happy with this one.

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  100. berselius

    Immaculate Grid 105 8/9:
    Rarity: 321
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    Could have sworn that James Shields pitched for the LAAoAoLA at some point

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  101. Perkins

    berselius,

    I used John Lackey for BOS-ANA and Tommy LaStella for Cubs-ANA. Surprised LaStella is over 10% but looking at the other names after submitting was a trip down memory lane.

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  103. BVS

    Immaculate Grid 105 9/9:
    Rarity: 192
    IMMACULATE!
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    I lowered the rarity score by not picking the most obvious Cubs, or Tigers. So no Sosa. And I wanted to use Magglio for WS DET, but couldn’t remember his last name and thought his first name was Miguel, so I used Gordon Beckham.

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  106. Perkins

    My Cubs row was Tommy LaStella, Jeimer Candelario, and Derrek Lee. I wonder if Hack Wilson or Hank Sauer would have been sub-1% for the 40HR season.

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  128. BVS

    Cubs pick up PJ Higgins for cash from Dbacks, churning speculation about whether Gomes (trade) or Tucker (dfa) leaves the team first.

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  129. Author
    Rice Cube

    BVS:
    Cubs pick up PJ Higgins for cash from Dbacks, churning speculation about whether Gomes (trade) or Tucker (dfa) leaves the team first.

    Porque no los dos

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  133. andcounting

    Watching This Old Cub on Marquee really pisses me off about what they put Ron Sanyo through. It would take a lot for the Baseball HOF to be redeemed in my eyes after all the shit that’s gone down at the hands of the gatekeepers of that place.

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  135. Perkins

    Immaculate Grid 106 8/9:
    Rarity: 269
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    Wasted a guess thinking Josh Hamilton had won a GG.

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  136. andcounting

    Immaculate Grid 106 9/9:
    Rarity: 190
    IMMACULATE!
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    It’s crazy how much mental work it is to remember a) Washington includes the Expos, and b) how many greats played for the Expos. Before KC and Oakland made being MLB’s best farm team popular, there was the Montreal Expos.

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  141. berselius

    Immaculate Grid 106 8/9:
    Rarity: 396
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    Thought Anthony Rendon had won a gold glove, natch.

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  144. andcounting

    Rice Cube,

    One’s employer will offer a dude leave, but the reputation damage lost in the breaking-news game if one takes a leave of absence at the trade deadline is tougher to repair than a spine. Or not, maybe the same, pretty much?

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  155. BVS

    I really should think through the immaculate grid with exCub connections better. There were some obvious ones today that I blanked on. 5/9 complete.

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  157. Perkins

    Immaculate Grid 107 9/9:
    Rarity: 207
    IMMACULATE!
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    Despite my best efforts, I ended up using Realmuto and Yelich.

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  161. berselius

    Immaculate Grid 107 8/9:
    Rarity: 348
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    Burned by Brandon Morrow, who I thought had started with Seattle

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  164. berselius

    berselius,

    I think it was Shaun Marcum

    also I had totally erased from my memory the fact that Matt Garza started for the Brewers for multiple seasons! (dying laughing).

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  167. Perkins

    berselius:
    Amazing howthat 2-3 month stretch that Sabathia had with the Brewers in 2008 still resonates.

    I used Jim Bouton for Brewers (Pilots)/Yankees. Chris Capuano is another cromulent answer there.

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  171. Author
    Rice Cube

    Perkins,

    I would not object to that, despite the most ardent of detractors on what remains on Twitter, I still think this team is talented, they’re just massively underperforming and disappointing

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  172. Author
    Rice Cube

    I wish MLB parks still had $1 hot dogs (I-Cubs doing that tonight), having to pay over $7 for a crappy dog is robbery, and paying almost as much for a soda is dumb too although I probably should reduce my sugar intake

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  183. BVS

    berselius:
    Rice Cube,

    GW and I used to hit up Round Rock Express games on half price beer night, or as I liked to call it, actual price beer night.

    I miss GW’s deep dives into international prospects and win values.

    Hope he’s doing well.

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