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hawkfarmer

Well-Known Member
is a mess of mediocrity right now. The cubs are 8-8 and only a game back, but Pitt, St. Louis, and Brewers are tied there as well. If the cubs can get/stay healthy and keep up the pitching and get some timely hitting, you'd better believe they have a chance.

GO CUBS.
 
chicagohawkeye86 said:
All those teams can say the same thing. Cubs are playing a soft portion of their schedule and should be better than .500.
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They play all those teams again, so they will have more softness to their schedule. They have also been without 2 starting pitchers, and it's taking Garza and Pena time to adjust to Chicago weather. Yes a lot of teams can say the same thing, but some will get better some will fade. I don't know what the cubs will do. I hope they continue to get better.

I don't like the "softness" of their schedule. They played the best team in baseball (colorado) Pitt and Mil, have the same record as the cubs, so they can be soft, but they could say the same about the cubs (I know the cubs struggled against them, but I think they'll be better next time) the D backs are bad yes and so is Houston, but they will play some more bad teams, some more mediocre teams, and some good teams. The cubs can be in the hunt, but like I said, they need some things to go their way.

And I don't think anyone is going to run away with the central and win 100 games.
 
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I like the team this year. Castro is great, and I love the 2nd base rotation we have as well. We are .500, we haven't hit for any real power (yet) and we have 2/5's of our rotation in the DL. We seem much more like a baseball team this year than in years past, and I think if we start hitting for a bit of power (I'm looking at you Rammy and Pena) and we get healthy on the back end of the rotation we have a shot in the division.

I know one thing, the back end of our bullpen is as good as anyone else in MLB.
 
Schedules:
Cincy:
Mil
Houston
Arizona
SD
Pitt

St. Louis:
SD
Pitt
SF
Ariz
LAD

Brewers:
Cincy
ATL
Cubs
Pitt
Wash

Pitt:
Cubs
Cards
Colorado
Mil
Cincy

Cubs:
Pitt
Ariz
Mil
Houston
Colorado
SD

How can you say one is tougher than another, very similar. So to have the same record suggests similar teams and that it should be a good race.
 
The Cardinals stopper has blown 4 saves if they have a real stopper they are 12-4

That with Holiday out until recently.

if they can stay healthy they will be tough!
 
I love the Cubs, but the run differential is quite alarming at this point. Yes the standings are close, but the Cards are +23, Reds +20, MIL -2, Pit -10 and Cubs -11. It is just one thing to look at, but in the long run this will hurt.
 
If Byrd, Ramirez and Pena can start hitting something over the fence they could be pretty tough with the rest of the team hitting well for average. Pitching is my biggest concern still. Garza gets alot of K's but also gets hit a lot and gives up too many runs. I think the Brewers will win the division in a close race with the Reds. If the Cubs can finish close to .500 I'd be ok with that. Pirates will fade and the Cards will be right there with the Cubs about .500
 
goiahawks said:
If Byrd, Ramirez and Pena can start hitting something over the fence they could be pretty tough with the rest of the team hitting well for average. Pitching is my biggest concern still. Garza gets alot of K's but also gets hit a lot and gives up too many runs. I think the Brewers will win the division in a close race with the Reds. If the Cubs can finish close to .500 I'd be ok with that. Pirates will fade and the Cards will be right there with the Cubs about .500
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Thats a big if they can start hitting. It works both ways tho cuz Castro wont hit 400 all year. So if those 3 start hitting then the odds are that castro and barney will stop hitting.I love cubs fans logic.
 
I worry most about the Cubs' starting rotation. Dempster is getting shelled although I'm sure he will not be THAT bad all year, but isn't looking much like a #1 guy at this point.

Z is Z. Just never know what you're going to get from start to start. He can pitch a 2-hitter, or get rocked and end up in a dugout brawl.

Garza should be solid, but is not overwhelming to this point.

Wells & Cashner - even when they are back in the rotation, Cashner is young and unproven, and I would say the same about Wells.. Which year was the fluke - last year, or his rookie year?

This staff has the potential, and will make or break the season IMO. Just alot of unknowns.

And yes, it will help if Byrd, Pena and Ramirez start hitting for some power. 1 HR between the three of them at this point isn't what you hope for out of your 3-5 slots.
 
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DuffMan said:
I like the team this year. Castro is great, and I love the 2nd base rotation we have as well. We are .500, we haven't hit for any real power (yet) and we have 2/5's of our rotation in the DL. We seem much more like a baseball team this year than in years past, and I think if we start hitting for a bit of power (I'm looking at you Rammy and Pena) and we get healthy on the back end of the rotation we have a shot in the division.

I know one thing, the back end of our bullpen is as good as anyone else in MLB.
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Are you in the DL or on the DL? Can't remember.
 
Hawkeye11en1 said:
Oh Cubbies. 16 games in and they have are already started doing this. Funny stuff.

Sorry, grammar Nazi. Get a little angry when talking about your Cubbies, don't ya?
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No.

I'm hardly a grammar nazi, but when you leave out entire words it kinda makes it difficult to determine what in fact you were going to say.

It's a little bit than correcting spelling. I couldn't what you were saying
 
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